Promising to carry out G-d’s commandments even before knowing what they were and what they entailed. This is also the approach one takes when guiding a Jew who is taking his first steps in Judaism. However, the adherents of this approach feel that this is not the real way one should be carrying out the Torah and its mitzvos.
For a newcomer to Jewish practice who has no basis in understanding what the Torah is, there is no alternative; he cannot wait until he reaches that level. However, fundamentally, their thinking is that the observance of mitzvos should follow the acquisition of knowledge and awareness of their import.
This week’s Torah portion negates that approach. By relating that “G-d said to Avraham, ‘Go out’” before recounting Avraham’s lofty character traits, the Torah is teaching us that the very foundation and inception of Avraham’s relationship with G-d began with this command, with a directive to act upon and carry out G-d’s commandment.
This constitutes not only the beginning of the Jewish people’s relationship with G-d in a chronological sense; it is the fundamental basis of their serving Him. How does a Jew bond and become one with G-d? Through carrying out and obeying G-d’s commandments.
The cornerstone of a Jew’s Divine service is simple faith and kabbalas ol, the unswerving commitment to carry out and obey G-d’s commandments in actual practice.
To What Should a Person Aspire?
The very same approach that defines the Divine service of the Jewish people as a whole also applies to each individual Jew in his personal Divine service. Such an approach is relevant even to a Jew who observes the Torah and its mitzvos and is familiar with both the Torah’s laws and its inner, mystical teachings. He may have gained an awareness of the Creator and may relate to Him with love and fear. Nevertheless, when it comes to fulfilling G-d’s mitzvos he must realize that “the first stage of Divine service, its base and its core,” is kabbalas ol, being sensitive to the fact that he is about to fulfill G-d’s commandment.
He should focus on the fact – to borrow the wording of the blessing recited before performing all mitzvos – that “He sanctified us with His commandments and commanded us.” Were He to have “commanded us to chop down trees” – i.e., to perform an activity whose virtue is not readily apparent – we would carry out that command with the same total commitment with which we fulfill those mitzvos whose virtue we do understand, conscious of the fact that now, at this moment, our connection with G-d focuses solely on fulfilling that command.
All other spiritual heights that a person might attain through his Divine service are merely gradations within the scope of a created being’s development. It is specifically through observing G-d’s commandments that a Jew rises above the limits of a created being and “is subsumed within G-d’s light and will and united with Him in utter oneness.”
Where G-d Will Lead Us
On this basis, one can appreciate why the above concept – that the true bond between a Jew and G-d is achieved through a Jew’s fulfilling His commandments – was expressed through G-d’s command, “Go out from your land, your birthplace, and your father’s house.”
In several sources, the command, “Go out from your land, your birthplace, and your father’s house” is interpreted as follows: “Go out from your land” refers to the necessity of transcending one’s own will, for the Hebrew words ratzon (רצון, “will”) and eretz (ארץ, “land”) have the same root letters. “Your birthplace” refers to one’s innate tendencies and emotional traits. “Your father’s house” refers to one’s intellectual capacities, for av, “father,” refers to chochmah, “wisdom.”
Even when a Jew is conducting himself in an appropriate manner – when all his desires and energies are focused on G-dliness and matters of holiness (as were Avraham’s, even prior to his having been commanded to leave Charan) – the way for him to unite with G-d involves “going out,” transcending his own identity – relinquishing his own will, emotions, and intellect – even when that identity is characterized by holiness.
The Ultimate Goal of Lech Lecha
What is the ultimate goal of Lech lecha, this process of self-transcendence? To reach “the land that I will show you,” to carry out the will (“land”) that G-d will reveal.
On this basis, it is possible to resolve Ramban’s question cited at the outset: Why did G-d promise Avraham such great reward for carrying out His command to leave the land of his birth? In resolution: It is through carrying out G-d’s command – simply following His directives – that a person demonstrates what mitzvos truly are. The fulfillment of G-d’s command is, in and of itself, the ultimate goal, and it brings about the consummate reward.
The ultimate perfection in the observance of a mitzvah – which constitutes a person’s bond with and connection to G-d – lies in carrying out the mitzvah solely because it is G-d’s commandment (and not as a result of man’s feelings). When a person fulfills a mitzvah with such a motive, G-d also grants unique goodness, a reward – to refer back to Ramban’s words – “that had never before been granted,” one that transcends the limits of the natural order.
When G-d Grants Blessings
It is possible to explain that the above concept is also alluded to by the wording employed by the Torah to describe the blessings that Avraham was granted as a reward. Firstly, G-d’s threefold promise to him, that “I will make you into a great nation, I will bless you, and I will magnify your renown,” is couched in the active voice and not in the passive “and you will become a great nation...,” highlighting the fact that G-d is the one who is granting these blessings – that is, that they cannot be attained by man’s efforts.
In addition, the blessings place an emphasis on greatness: “I will make you into a great nation... I will magnify....” Only G-d possesses genuine greatness. Created beings do not on their own accord possess genuine inherent greatness. Their greatness is only relative; they are great in comparison to others. Any true greatness existing in creation comes from bonding with G-d, (as reflected in the promise, “I will make you into a great nation... I will magnify....”)
The wording of the other blessings that G-d granted Avraham also underscores the fact that he will be elevated above the limits of an ordinary created being and unite with G-d. Thus he is promised by Him, “You will be a blessing,” which Rashi interprets as implying: “The blessings are now invested in your hand; until now they were in My hand. From now on you will have the power to bless whomever you desire.” Moreover, G-d promises Avraham that “I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you,” i.e., blessing Avraham will, as a matter of course, bring G-d’s blessings to those people who bless him. And the converse also applies.
