עִנְיַן "לֶךְ לְךָ", "וַיֵּלֶךְ לְמַסָּעָיו" – The Journeys of Avraham

Torah Or | תּוֹרָה אוֹר
מַאֲמָר עִנְיַן "לֶךְ לְךָ", "וַיֵּלֶךְ לְמַסָּעָיו"
פָּרָשַׁת לֶךְ לְךָ, דַּף יא, א

“The Journeys of Avraham”

In Parshas Lech Lecha, the Torah starts by describing Avraham’s journey from Charan to the Land of Kenaan, and ends by describing the commandment of Bris Milah. The Torah seems to indicate that Avraham’s “journey” started, at least on some level, from the time he was commanded to leave his homeland, and that this journey concluded, on some level, with the mitzvah of Bris Milah.

The Alter Rebbe will explain that the mystical level of Avraham was the Lofty Hidden Intellect, an extremely lofty level of Hashem’s Wisdom. Avraham’s journey was to take this lofty level, and bring it down into this world.

This took many stages: The first stage was the command of “Lech Lecha,” when Hashem told him that this Wisdom must travel down from its lofty place. At that point, Avraham was able to bring down this Wisdom in the spiritual levels, called Atzilus, and to bring people spiritually closer to Hashem. However, the end of this journey is only when he is given the mitzvah of Bris Milah. With that mitzvah, he is able to bring down this Wisdom in the very physicality of this world, as a precursor for the mitzvos that the Jew would receive by the Giving of the Torah.

Now that he completed his journey from Above to below, in bringing down this Wisdom all the way to the physical world, he starts the second part of his journey: To elevate the “Sparks of Holiness” trapped in physicality and bring them back up to their source in holiness, a journey from below to Above.

(א) Chapter 1

(עִנְיַן "לֶךְ לְךָ", "וַיֵּלֶךְ לְמַסָּעָיו"; מִמַּטָּה־לְמַעְלָה וּמִמַּעְלָה־לְמַטָּה כו'; "לַה' הַנִּרְאֶה אֵלָיו כו'", "לַה'" סְתָם.)

We need to understand the idea of the command of Hashem to Avram “לֶךְ לְךָ-go travel for your own good,” which he fulfilled when “וַיֵּלֶךְ לְמַסָּעָיו-he went on his journeys,” in the plural form, implying two types of “journeys,” one journey is the process of spiritual elevation “מִמַּטָּה־לְמַעְלָה-from below to Above,” and the second journey is that of Hashem’s revelation “מִמַּעְלָה־לְמַטָּה-from Above to below.”

We further need to understand how the elevation of Avram from “below to Above” was from connecting to Hashem on the level of “לַה' הַנִּרְאֶה אֵלָיו-Hashem as He revealed Himself to Avram,” to a deeper level of connection to Hashem, on the level of “לַה'-to Hashem,” with no description.

The Alter Rebbe will start by explaining the journey “from Above to below;” the journey of the descent of the spiritual level of Avram in the highest spiritual realm down to the physical world.