Commento su Genesi 12:1

לך לך GET THEE OUT (literally, go for thyself) — for your own benefit, for your own good: there I will make of you a great nation whilst here you will not merit the privilege of having children (Rosh Hashanah 16b). Furthermore, I shall make known your character throughout the world (Midrash Tanchuma, Lech Lecha 3)

AND THE ETERNAL SAID UNTO ABRAHAM ‘LECH LECHA’ (GET THEE OUT). This means, “For your own benefit and for your own good. And there I will make of you a great nation whilst here you will not merit the privilege of having children.” Thus the language of Rashi.
Now there is no need for it¹Ramban’s intent is that it is unnecessary to explain the word lecha (literally, “to you”) as meaning “for your own benefit” for it is merely the idiomatic usage of the Hebrew language, as explained further in the text. for such is the normal expression of the Hebrew language as in the verses: The rain is over and gone ‘lo’;²Song of Songs 2:11. Literally, “gone to itself.” I will get ‘li’ unto the great men;³Jeremiah 5:5. Literally, “get to me.” Rise up, and get ‘lachem’ over the brook Zered;⁴Deuteronomy 2:13. Literally, “and get to you.” and many similar examples. Our Rabbis, however, have made a Midrash — (a homiletical interpretation) — concerning the verses [addressed to Moses] which state, And thou shalt make ‘lecha’ an ark of wood,⁵Deuteronomy 10:1. Literally, “make to thee.” The Midrash of the Rabbis is as follows: “Here the verse states, And ‘thou’ shalt make an ark, meaning Moses, but in Exodus (25:10) it states, And ‘they’ shall make an ark! This teaches us that the people of a community are commanded to do the work of a Torah-scholar who resides in their midst.” (Yoma 72b.) and Make ‘lecha’ two trumpets of silver,⁶Numbers 10:2. Literally, “make to thee.” The Rabbis commented: “As though it were possible, I would prefer it to be from that which is thine to that which is theirs.” (Yoma 3b.) since it was not his work and it would have been proper for these verses to be stated in the same way as that concerning the tabernacle, i.e., And thou shalt make the tabernacle.⁷Exodus 26:1.

אל הארץ אשר אראך, to the specific area within the country which I will show you in a heavenly vision. This is why Avram kept moving further into the land without pitching his tent to settle down until he received the appropriate sign from G’d. This occurred when he reached Shechem, where we are told that G’d appeared to him (verse 7)

ויאמר ה׳ אל אברם, G'd said to Abram, etc. There are two reasons for the most unusual phenomenon of G'd speaking to Abraham without having first appeared to him in some kind of vision. 1) Abraham's constant endeavour to get to know his Creator, something no one had ever done before him. According to our tradition Abraham already recognised his Creator at the age of five without having received any guidance from a teacher. G'd therefore did not have to prove His existence to Abraham by appearing to him in a vision. He could take it for granted that Abraham was aware of who was speaking to him.

ויאמר ה' אל אברם לך לך מארצך וממולדתך ומבית אביך אל הארץ אשר אראך, in this instance the word ויאמר refers to something G’d had already said to Avram before he had even moved away from Ur Casdim, a move he made at the command of G’d. We know this from Genesis 15,7 where G’d reminds him that “I am the Lord Who has taken you out of Ur Casdim.” It is possible that G’d repeated this directive once more while Avram was in Charan. As to the meaning of the word lecha, i.e. “for your own good,” this does not have any special significance, being a commonly used figure of speech. One example would be Exodus 18,27 וילך לו where Yitro’s return to Midian is described in a similar way, and no one suggests that he did so “for his own good.” Another such example is found in Jeremiah 5,5 אלכה לי, “I am going,” where no one suggests that Jeremiah had ulterior motives in going to the wealthy people to speak to them in the belief that they knew the ways of the Lord. Still other examples of a similar construction are found in Numbers 22,34 אשובה לי or in Genesis 45,19 קחו לכם.

ויאמר ה' אל אברם לך לך, “The Lord said to Avram: “go forth for yourself, etc.” Rashi interprets the words לך as meaning “for your own benefit, and for your own satisfaction.” Rashi explains this verse in this fashion, although he was aware that our sages considered this verse as introducing one of the ten trials G’d subjected Avraham to. Having to move away from his birthplace was considered one of these trials. Nachmanides does not interpret the word לך as meaning “for your own benefit,” i.e. the repetition of the words לך לך. He feels that the wording לך לך is not at all unusual, and therefore does not call for a special interpretation at this point. He quotes Song of Songs 2,11 הגשם הלך לו, “the rain has ceased,” as well as the preceding words לכי לך, “go forth,” as examples of the pronoun לך appearing without any ulterior meanings having to be looked for. Other similar examples are (Jeremiah 5,5) אלכה לי אל הגדולים, “so I will go to the wealthy, etc.” However, our sages (long before Rashi) have used this kind of syntax in order to derive additional meanings from it. (Deut. 10,1) ועשית לך ארון עץ, “make yourself a wooden ark; or Numbers 10,2 עשה לך שתי חצוצרות כסף “make for yourself two silver trumpets.” The Talmud Yuma 3 explains the word לך to mean that these trumpets were to be Moses’ personal property, and in fact they were hidden after his death so that no one else could make use of them. In view of the above, there is no reason for Nachmanides to criticize Rashi’s interpretation of the word לך in our verse. (seeing that the Tabernacle was not Moses’ personal property, the expression לך used in connection with it would not fit the interpretation Rashi gave it here, whereas the trumpets were specifically not communal property.)

It is there that I will make you into a great nation. Rashi is explaining his comment of above: “For your own benefit, for your own good.” What is the good? “I will make you into a great nation.” And what is the benefit? “I will make your character known to the world.” Since the next verse elaborates by saying, “I will make you into a great nation ... and make your name great,” we learn that it was for this purpose that Hashem told Avraham to go there. The [repetitive phrase] לך לך does not present a difficulty, for [similarly] it is written in Shir HaShirim 2:11: הגשם חלף הלך לו. Thus we could explain the phrase לך לך is common in Scripture. Nevertheless we explain [such a phrase] where possible, [as Rashi does here]. So wrote Re’m, but it seems to me that it indeed presents a difficulty everywhere it appears. With הגשם חלף הלך לו, it means that the rain ceased, following its nature and inclination. But here, Hashem told Avraham to “Go from your land” against his will, [so that explanation does not fit]. Thus Rashi explains, “For your benefit...” The Maharshal writes: There is a difficulty with Rashi’s first explanation, [“It is there that I will make you into a great nation.” For in v. 2,] we need to insert the phrase, “It is there that.” Thus Rashi offers the second explanation, “I will make your character known to the world.” But according to this explanation, a question arises: What is meant by (v. 2), “I will make you into a great nation”? Therefore, Rashi needs both explanations.

לך לך. Wenn hiermit nur gesagt sein sollte: reise von Aram nach Kanaan, so würde es nicht heißen: לך לךָָ, sondern לֵך, oder vielleicht צֵא. Es wäre dann aber auch, mit der räumlichen Entfernung von dem Vaterlande schon eingeschlossen, die Entfernung von dem Geburtsorte und dem Vaterhause gegeben, das ממולדתך ומבית אביך wäre überflüssig, ja in einer der Wirklichkeit entgegengesetzten Reihenfolge ausgesprochen. Die Trennung geschieht in entgegengesetzter Folge: vom Hause, vom Orte, vom Lande. Der satzteilende Akzent auf מבית אביך macht ohnehin das לך לך zu einer für sich geschlossenen Anforderung. Die Pronominalbeifügung bei הלך, wie וילך לו אל ארצו ,אלכה לי אל הגדולים usw. und ebenso קומי לך רעיתי usw. gibt immer der Bewegung eine besondere, individualisierende, oder isolierende Richtung.

ויאמר ה' אל אברם לך לך, The Lord said to Avram: “go for yourself, etc;” While Terach and Avram were still in Ur Casdim, G-d told Avram to leave his homeland. He did not specify his ultimate destination. A different interpretation of the words: מארצך, “from your homeland.” “Leave the land in which you are currently residing.”

OUT OF THY COUNTRY, AND FROM THY BIRTHPLACE. Rashi wrote,⁸In Verse 2 here. “But had he not already departed from there together with his father and reached as far as Haran?⁹Above, 11:31. But thus, in effect, did the Holy One, blessed be He, say to him, ‘Go still further away from thy father’s house.’”
And Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra explained the verse as follows: “And G-d had already said to Abram, ‘Get thee out of thy country,’ since this command came to him when he was still in Ur of the Chaldees, and there He commanded him to leave his country, his birthplace and his father’s house, in which he was.”
But this is not correct, for if so, it would follow that Abram was the central figure in the journey from his father’s house by command of G-d, while Terah his father voluntarily went with him. Yet Scripture says, And Terah took Abram his son,⁹Above, 11:31. which teaches us that Abram followed his father and that it was by his counsel that Abram went forth from Ur of the Chaldees to go to the land of Canaan! Furthermore, [according to Ibn Ezra, who says that the above command came to Abram when he was still in Ur of the Chaldees], the verse stating, And I took your father Abraham from beyond the river and led him throughout all the land of Canaan,¹⁰Joshua 24:3. should have stated, “And I took your father from Ur of the Chaldees and led him throughout all the land of Canaan,” for it was from there that he was taken, and it was there that he was given this command. In addition, the following difficulty may be put to Rashi and Ibn Ezra: when Abraham commanded Eliezer to get a wife for his son, he said to him, ‘But thou shalt go unto my country and to my birthplace,’¹¹Genesis 24:4. The word moladeti, generally translated “my kindred,” connotes, according to Ramban, both “my birthplace” and “my family.” This is made clear further on in the text. and he went to Aram-naharaim, to the city of Nahor.¹²Ibid., Verse 10. Aram-naharaim is Mesopotamia. See Ramban above, 11:28. If so, that is his “country” and his “birthplace!” And there, Scripture further says [when Eliezer recounts Abraham’s charge to him], But thou shalt go unto my father’s house and to my family,¹³Ibid., Verse 38. thus clearly indicating that there (in Mesopotamia) were his father’s house and his family which is “his kindred.” This is not as Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra erred in interpreting, “Unto my country,¹¹Genesis 24:4. The word moladeti, generally translated “my kindred,” connotes, according to Ramban, both “my birthplace” and “my family.” This is made clear further on in the text. Haran; and to my birthplace, Ur of the Chaldees.” Now since Ibn Ezra says here that in Ur of the Chaldees it was said to Abraham, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, Abraham would thus have many countries!¹⁴Ramban points out the following contradiction in Ibn Ezra’s interpretation: Here in our verse he says that the command was given to Abraham in Ur of the Chaldees. Accordingly, Ur of the Chaldees is Abraham’s “country” for the verse says, from thy country. And further (Chapter 24, Verse 4) Ibn Ezra interprets my country as meaning “Haran,” which is Mesopotamia! Thus Ibn Ezra has “many countries” assigned to Abraham. But the essential principle you already know from what we have written in the preceding Seder,¹⁵Above, 11:28. namely, that Haran is Abraham’s country, and there is his birthplace, it having always been his father’s country, and there Abraham was commanded to leave them. In Bereshith Rabbah,¹⁶39:8. The Rabbis here interpret the double expression of the verse as signifying two departures which Abraham is to make: one from Mesopotamia generally, and one from his city in particular. the Rabbis similarly say “Lech lecha: one departure from Aram-naharaim, and one from Aram-nahor.”
The reason for mentioning out of thy country, and from thy birthplace, and from thy father’s house is that it is difficult for a person to leave the country wherein he dwells, where he has his friends and companions. This is true all the more if this be his native land, and all the more if his whole family is there. Hence it became necessary to say to Abraham that he leave all for the sake of his love of the Holy One, blessed be He.
UNTO THE LAND THAT I WILL SHOW THEE. He wandered and went about from nation to nation, from kingdom to another people,¹⁷Psalms 105:13. until he came to the land of Canaan, where He said to him, Unto thy seed will I give this land.¹⁸Verse 7 here. Then the promise, Unto the land that I will show thee, was fulfilled, and Abraham tarried and settled there. The verse which states, And they went forth to go into the land of Canaan,¹⁹Verse 5. means that he was not heading for Canaan for the purpose of settling there since he did not as yet know that he had been commanded concerning this land. Rather, the righteous one²⁰Abraham. set his goal towards the land of Canaan for that was his intention as well as that of his father when they originally set forth from Ur of the Chaldees. This is the reason why Abraham later said, And it came to pass, when G-d caused me to wander from my father’s house:²¹Further, 20:13. he was indeed gone astray like a lost sheep.²²Psalms 119:176.
It is possible to say that Abraham knew from the first that the land of Canaan was “the inheritance of the Eternal,” destined that His special Providence be bestowed upon it, and he believed that the Divine promise, Unto the land that I will show thee, alluded to the land of Canaan either in its entirety or to one of all those lands [which together comprise Canaan]. He set his direction towards the land of Canaan generally for [he was certain that] there was the land which He would indeed show him.

"Go, yourself," A hint to him, "When you will be 100 years old (30+20+30+20), then I will make you a great nation." For then Isaac will be born.

מארצך, G’d had to add this as it is difficult for a person to leave a homeland in which he had dwelled for many years, all the more so if that land was at the same time the place where he had been born. This is why G’d added: וממולדתך, since it is doubly difficult to separate from one’s family also and to go to a country where one knows no one. This is the meaning of מבית אביך, “away from your father’s house.”

מארצך וממולדך ומבית אביך, “from your homeland, your birthplace, and from your father’s house.” The trial became progressively more difficult, as separating from one’s father’s house is more difficult than separating from the land one has been born in.

2) During the ten generations since Noach that preceded Abraham not a single human being had recognised his G'd so that G'd had found him worthy to speak to. G'd therefore decided to test Abraham before speaking to him. He did this by demanding of Abraham that he leave his home, etc. Only after he had successfully passed that test did G'd decide to reveal Himself to Abraham in a vision as we find in 12,7. G'd did not relate in this manner to later generations because those generations had already absorbed a measure of faith in G'd through the example of their patriarch Abraham. They were born into an environment of some sanctity, an advantage not enjoyed by Abraham. As a result, G'd was able to commence His communications with such people by granting them a vision before He spoke to them. In Psalms 45,11 the Psalmist refers to Abraham's experience when he says: "Take heed, lass, and note, incline your ear; forget your people and your father's house." Our sages declared that the first half of that verse שמעי, listen, applied to our patriarch Abraham, i.e. when G'd spoke to him in 12,1. The second half of the verse where the Psalmist speaks about דאי, i.e. a visual experience, refers to 12,7 when G'd is reported to have appeared to Abraham in a vision. The sound and the vision did not occur simultaneously. To signify this the Psalmist did not say שמעי וראי בת, but placed the word בת in the middle. The best proof for the correctness of our view is the comparison with Moses' experience at the burning bush (Exodus 3,2-4) when a visual phenomenon preceded G'd speaking to him.

הלך verwandt mit חלק, geteilt sein, d. h. so, dass zwei Stoffe in keiner Ver- bindung mehr mit einander stehen, und glatt sein, d. h. eine Oberfläche haben, an welcher gar nichts mehr haftet; daher auch עלג, die getrennte, unzusammenhängende Sprache: stammeln, stottern. In הלך liegt also schon an sich das sich Lossagen, sich Trennen von dem Standpunkte, auf dem man sich befindet. Diese Entfernung kann nun ein Mittel sein, um ein Ziel, einen anderen Standpunkt zu erreichen; kann aber auch Selbstzweck sein, die Bewegung selbst kann schon an und für sich ein bedeutsames Ziel in sich tragen. Durch die Pronomialbeifügung ist dies noch mehr präzisiert. לך לך: "Gehe für dich, isoliere dich!" So bei Jithro: וילך לו er leistete auf die Vorteile Verzicht, die ihm die Verbindung mit Israel gebracht hätte. So auch Josua zu den Söhnen Gad und Reuben: ועתה פנו ולכו לכם לאהליכם (Josua 22, 4), jetzt habt ihr der Pflicht gegen die Gesamtheit genügt und könnt nun "für euch" gehen. Also hier: Gehe für dich, deinen eigenen, von deinem Lande usw. von allen deinen bisherigen Verbindungen dich isolierenden Weg. Die erste Auswanderung aus Ur-Kasdim war vielleicht ein Fortgehen um einer Rettung willen. Diese Anforderung setzt die Entfernung zum Selbstzweck.

וממולדך, “G-d added this to prevent Avram from returning to his birthplace, Ur Casdim. ומבית אביך, “and from the house of your father.” G-d did not want Avram to ever return to his father’s house in order to receive his share of the inheritance. He promised to reward him far beyond anything he could expect as his share of his father’s estate. Rashi here adds a peculiar comment, writing that here the meaning of בית אביך is that where Avram had resided thus far he would not be able to become a father of children. Apparently, he bases himself on our sages in the Jerusalem Talmud, Taanit: 2,1: that there are three things which are apt to cancel a decree against someone siring children: changing the place of one’s residence, changing one’s name, and observing a fast, praying for children. (Compare also B’reshit Rabbah 44,11)

…and for this reason it did not say at the beginning of this vision, ‘and Gd appeared to him’ but rather only once he (Avraham) had entered the land, because then he was prepared to behold visions of the Divine Presence. Beforehand, when he was still outside the land, he only heard a voice speaking of things. This is because Gd did not appear to him until he came to the land, as is explained shortly. Therefore he called that place the ladder of Tzur (sulma shel tzur) as it says in the Yalkut on this portion (remez 62) that once Avraham arrived at the ladder of Tzur he said ‘let my portion be in this land.’ Who told the author of this midrash that Avraham arrived at the ladder of Tzur? He certainly meant Mount Moriah, because that was the location of the ladder which Yaakov saw standing in the house of Gd (Bet El). Via that ladder souls ascend and descend, and there is the bedrock from which the body is hewn as it says, “…look at the rock whence you were hewn...” (Isaiah 51:1) because from that rock, which is called the foundation stone, the world in general was founded. Also man, who is called a microcosm (olam katan), was fashioned from the place of that rock, which is the also the place of the ladder for the soul as stated. For this reason it says “go to you” (lech l’cha) here and at the binding of Yitzchak, and so too in the verse “…I will go to the mountain of myrrh…” (Shir HaShirim 4:6) and so too “…the rain is over, and gone (to itself – halach lo)” (ShirHaShirim 2:11) it returned to the place of its source, 'because a mist comes up from the land' (compare Bereshit 2:6 and Taanit 9b). The same construction is found in the verse “Now get up and cross (to yourselves) the brook of Zered…” (Devarim 2:13) that is, so too into the land of Israel. And also “I will go (to me) to the great ones…” (Jeremiah 5:5) because there is the dwelling place of the whole ones. This is true of all ‘to me, to him, to you, to them’ (li, lo, lecha, lahem) in the Bible that they should be interpreted so. Therefore Avraham understood from the phrase go you (to yourself – lech lecha) to go to the land of Canaan, even though it was not stated to which land he should head.

אל הארץ אשר אראך, if G’d had told Avram that He would show him a land which was rich, fertile, good, etc., it would not have been as difficult to comply with such a directive. But the fact that G’d did not add these inducements made it more difficult for Avram to decide. The reason why G’d did not offer these inducements was to show us, the readers, how great was Avram’s love of G’d that he unquestioningly abided by what G’d had asked him to do. He was determined to carry out the wishes of his G’d.

אל הארץ אשר אראך, “to the land which I will show you.” It is an additional hardship to be ordered to undertake a journey the destination of which has not been revealed beforehand. Avraham considered all this as easy, as he was anxious to fulfill G’d’s request out of a feeling of love for Him. Rashi queries that this commandment was not new, seeing that Avraham had already left his homeland a number of years ago when he went to Charan with his father? He therefore explains that we must understand what G’d is reported to have said here to Avraham to make an even more drastic break with his past by leaving his father’s house. Ibn Ezra views the basic commandment as having been formulated by G’d already when G’d said to him לך לך מארצך as well as ממולדך ומבית אביך, at a time when he was still in Ur Casdim. G’d had known that Terach, Avraham’s father, would not go beyond Charan. In fact, Terach died 60 years after Avraham had continued his journey to the land of Canaan. Nachmanides disagrees, writing that if correct, the paragraph describing the move from Ur Casdim should have portrayed Avraham as the principal, instead of describing Terach as having taken the other family members with him. (11,31) Clearly, at that time Avraham followed his father’s instructions, not G’d’s. No mention had been made of G’d having communicated with Avraham as yet. Furthermore, in the verse from Joshua 24,3 G’d is quoted as having said: “I have taken your father (Avraham) from beyond the river Euphrates.” If Ibn Ezra were correct, Joshua should have quoted: “I have taken your father from Ur Casdim, etc.” Still another proof that Ibn Ezra is not correct can be found in the instructions Avraham issued to his trusted servant Eliezer when he sent him to get a wife for Yitzchok. In Genesis 24,3 Avraham instructs Eliezer to take a wife for Yitzchok from ארצי ומולדתי, “my homeland and the place where I was born.” Eliezer proceeded to travel to Aram Naharyim, not to Ur Casdim in order to discharge his master’s mission. Ibn Ezra is wrong when he interprets the words in that verse as meaning ארצי=חרן and מולדתי as Ur Casdim. How could he say here that this directive was given to Avraham while he was still in Ur Casdim? Avraham had a number of countries that he called “his country” at different times, though he had only one birthplace and one father’s house. The fact is that Charan was both his homeland, his birthplace, and the location of his father’s house.

לך לך מארצך. "Go forth for yourself from your country." Why did G'd tell Abraham to leave his birthplace after He had already told him to leave his country? Surely, leaving one's country includes leaving one's birthplace?

UNTO THE LAND THAT I WILL SHOW THEE. He wandered and went about from nation to nation, from kingdom to another people,¹⁷Psalms 105:13. until he came to the land of Canaan, where He said to him, Unto thy seed will I give this land.¹⁸Verse 7 here. Then the promise, Unto the land that I will show thee, was fulfilled, and Abraham tarried and settled there. The verse which states, And they went forth to go into the land of Canaan,¹⁹Verse 5. means that he was not heading for Canaan for the purpose of settling there since he did not as yet know that he had been commanded concerning this land. Rather, the righteous one²⁰Abraham. set his goal towards the land of Canaan for that was his intention as well as that of his father when they originally set forth from Ur of the Chaldees. This is the reason why Abraham later said, And it came to pass, when G-d caused me to wander from my father’s house:²¹Further, 20:13. he was indeed gone astray like a lost sheep.²²Psalms 119:176.
It is possible to say that Abraham knew from the first that the land of Canaan was “the inheritance of the Eternal,” destined that His special Providence be bestowed upon it, and he believed that the Divine promise, Unto the land that I will show thee, alluded to the land of Canaan either in its entirety or to one of all those lands [which together comprise Canaan]. He set his direction towards the land of Canaan generally for [he was certain that] there was the land which He would indeed show him.

מולדת ,ארץ und בית bilden zusammen den Boden, aus welchem die ganze Persönlich keit erwächst. Aus ארץ, dem Vaterlande: die Nationalität mit allen leiblich, geistig und sittlich gestaltenden und bildenden Einflüssen, die diesem Begriffe innewohnen. ארץ, als Land, ist ארם: das unserem ganzen Wesen Angetraute, ערש, die Wiege, in der wir zum Dasein und Hiersein erwachen, ערס: der "Trog" in dem wir gebildet werden, ערץ: das Gewaltige, dem sich niemand entzieht. ארץ, "als Erde, ist unsere"Wiege׳ und darüber steht in שמים unser שם, unsere Zukunft. — ארץ gibt also unserer Versönlichkeit das nationale Gepräge und den partiellen Anteil an der Macht und Würde einer Nation. — מולדת, der Geburtsort, gibt uns die bürgerliche Stellung und Selbständigkeit. — בית, das Haus endlich, ist der engere Raum, in welchem unser Wesen individuell erblüht und individuelle Pflege und Entwicklung findet. בית ist lautverwandt mit בגד und בגד .פקד ist das Gewand, die Hülle, die sich eng dem Menschen schützend und darstellend anschließt. Auch בית ist nichts als das erweiterte Kleid, als die den sich entwickelnden und wirkenden Menschen schützend und fördernd umgebende Begrenzung. Der Mensch hal drei Hüllen: כשר, den Leib (בסר, die Fruchthülle), das Kleid und das Haus. Auch פקד ist nichts anderes als bekleiden, denn פקד heißt ursprünglich: einem Gegenstande die entsprechende äußere Umgebung geben. So zunächst vom göttlichen Verhängnis. Gott gibt jedem Individuum seine äußeren, ihm entsprechenden Verhältnisse, sie bilden sein Kleid, seine äußere Erscheinung. Dann: im Geiste einen Gegenstand in den Kreis, in die Atmosphäre seiner Attribute einsetzen, ihn sich mit seinen Prädikaten vergegenwärtigen, d. i. ihn denken. Dann sozial: ihn in ein Amt einsetzen, entgegengesetzt zum deutschen; hebräisch bekleidet das Amt den Menschen, die Aufgabe, die das Amt involviert, bildet den Kreis, in welchem er sich zu bewegen hat. Daher auch הפקיד, jemandem etwas in Verwahrung geben, eigentlich: es bei ihm seine Stätte finden lassen. —

אל הארץ, “to the land;” the definitive article ה, is to remind Avraham that seeing he was descended from Shem, he had a legal claim to this land. This conforms to how Rashi (Verse 6) explains why he was instructed to walk throughout this land (Genesis 13,17) in order to claim it through having set foot in it. G-d Himself guided him.

אל הארץ אשר אראך, “to the land which I will show you.” He would be wandering until he would eventually get to the land of Canaan. Having arrived in the land of Canaan, G’d told him (verse 7) that He would give that whole land to his (non existent) descendants. When we had been told earlier (11,31) ויצאו אתם מאור כשדים ללכת ארצה כנען, “They departed together from Ur Casdim to go to the land of Canaan,” this was not a journey designed to settle in that land, as Avraham had not yet known at that time that G’d’s commandment had envisaged the land of Canaan as his ultimate destination. We have proof of this from when he explained to Avimelech (Genesis 20,13) that G’d had made him wander without a specific objective through many locations, so that he had adopted the practice of describing Sarai as his sister in all the locations where they had stopped for a period of time. It is possible that Avraham had known that the land of Canaan was G’d’s inheritance on earth, and that therefore he had been heading in that direction. He had understood that the words “to the land which I will show you” were a hint that he should head towards the land of Canaan.

The Torah lists the departures according to the pain of leave-taking involved. It is less painful to leave one's country than to leave one's birthplace, and it is even more painful to leave one's family. Abraham is commanded to leave in an ascending order of the nostalgia involved. He complied with the most difficult part of the test by leaving his parental home. The manner in which the Torah describes the process indicates that Abraham received an additional reward for each stage. We have a similar description of the gradually increasing difficulty of complying with G'd's command when G'd told Abraham to take: "your son, your only one, the one you love," as an introduction to the עקדה in Genesis 21,2.

Wir haben an diese jüdischen Sprachgedanken erinnert, um zu vergegenwärtigen, wie tief und innig schon unsere Sprache den Wert des Vaterlandes und der Heimat fühlt und würdigt, und es gewiß nicht Geringschätzung dieser Momente ist, wenn hier die Pflanzung des ersten jüdischen Keimes die Lossagung von Vaterland, Geburtsort und Vaterhaus, die Lossagung von Nationalität und Heimat fordert. Vielmehr liegt gerade in der Würdigung dieser Momente die Größe der hier geforderten Isolierung. Diese Anforderung selbst setzte Abraham in den entschiedensten Gegensatz zu der herrschenden Richtung seiner Zeit. Nicht Individualisierung, nicht Anerkennung des Wertes und der Bedeutung des einzelnen, vielmehr Zentralisierung, die den Menschen seinen persönlichen Wert verlieren lässt und ihn zum Handlanger, zum Ziegelstein für den Ruhmesbau einer angeblichen Repräsentanz der Gesamtheit erniedrigt, das war, wie wir gesehen, die Richtung der Zeit, die unter der Parole ihres נעשה לנו שם den Turmbau des Menschenruhmes begann. Diese Richtung erzeugt den Wahn einer überall und für alles geltenden Majorität, macht, dass zuletzt alles, was in dem Vaterlande der Majorität als Höchstes gilt, auch damit schon ohne weiteres von jedem als Höchstes angesehen und verehrt wird. Es sollte allerdings eine jede Gesamtheit die Vertreterin des wahrhaft Höchsten und Heiligen sein, und in dieser Voraussetzung würdigt auch das Judentum den Anschluß an die Gesamtheit in seiner vollen Bedeutung. Jedoch an der Spitze des Judentums steht: לך לך "das für sich gehen" als das noch Höhere. Niemand darf sagen: ich bin so gut, so gerecht, als es eben Mode ist. Jeder ist Gott für sich selbst ver- antwortlich. Wenn nötig: "mit Gott — allein!" wenn es sein muß, wenn das in der Majorität vergötterte Prinzip nicht das wahrhaft göttliche ist — dies Bewusstsein ward von Abraham als der Ausgangspunkt für seine und seines einstigen Volkes Bestimmung gefordert. Wohl lehrt, wie wir gesehen, schon unsere Sprache in den Worten mit wie starken Banden der Mensch an beide geknüpft ist: jedoch stärker ,בית und ארץ als das Band, das uns mit Vaterland und Familie verbindet, soll das Band sein, das uns mit Gott verknüpft.

It is also possible that whereas Abraham's departure from Ur Casdim had included a migration of his whole family, now G'd demanded that he leave his family behind. Abraham did not understand this correctly; this is why he took Lot with him. Alternatively, Abraham did understand that he was not supposed to take Lot with him, but the latter was so attached to him that he insisted on coming along on his own. When the Torah says in 12,5 that he did "take" Lot with him, the meaning is merely that he did not push him away until he found a suitable pretext as he did not want to shame his nephew. As soon as Abraham found a minor pretext to separate from Lot, such as when the shepherds of Lot and those of Abraham began to feud, he used that incident as an excuse to separate from Lot (13,8). It sounds quite uncharacteristic for Abraham, the model of making people welcome in his environment, to push someone away with both hands by saying: "if you want to go to the right, I will move to the left; if you want to move to the left, I will move to the right." The fact that G'd had not communicated with Abraham for a while until immediately after he separated from Lot (13,14), indicates that G'd had been waiting for the moment when Lot would finally separate from him. Only then did G'd show Abraham the extent of the land that would eventually belong to his descendants. G'd delayed fulfilling the last part of the promise contained in our verse until Abraham had rid himself of Lot.

Wie hätten wir existieren können und könnten wir existieren, hätten wir nicht von vorn herein von Abraham den Mut einer Minorität erhalten!

An additional meaning of the instruction to Abraham to "go for yourself," is not so much that he was to be alone but that he was to benefit spiritually by this migration. Although man's success in this world does not depend on the amount of effort he invests in his material progress as we know from Psalms 75,7: "for what lifts a man comes not from the east or the west or the wilderness of hills;" our sages say that every time the word הרים, mountains appears in the Bible it means mountains except in this instance. In Psalms 75,7 the word describes a spiritual uplift. This comment of our sages notwithstanding, the fact that a change of one's physical environment brings in its wake an improvement in one's fortune is not to be ignored. This was why G'd commanded Abraham specifically to leave his country. Our sages (Chulin 95) say that there are three things, which do not actually constitute forbidden superstition even if one does pay attention to them. However, such attention borders on superstition. They are: בית, תינוק, ואשה. [If the enterprise one undertakes after building himself a house, after a baby is born to one, or after one has married, turns out well, it may be taken as a good omen. If not, it may be a sign that one should not persevere with that particular endeavour. Rabbi Eleazar adds that one should not be influenced by such failure unless it occurred three times in succession. Ed.] Baba Metzia 75 also said that if one experiences bad luck in one place without moving to another place one has oneself to blame if one's fortunes do not improve.

Zeitgemäßes Judentum! Der lauteste Protest dagegen ist das erste jüdische Wort: לך לך! War Abrahams erstes Auftreten zeitgemäß? In Mitten von Chaldäa, Babylon, Assyrien, Phönizien, Ägypten! Vergötterung der Sinnlichkeit und der Macht war da die zeitgemäße Predigt, vergöttertes Genussleben in Asien, Vergötterung der Menschenmacht und Ertötung des freien Menschen in Ägypten; der Gedanke "Gott" war bis auf wenige Spuren verschwunden, — da soll ein Abraham auftreten, und während die ganze Welt sich fest anzusiedeln, sich anzubürgern trachtet, soll er seine Heimat, sein Bürgerrecht aufgeben, sich freiwillig zum Fremdling machen, den von allen Nationalitäten vergötterten Göttern den Protest ins Angesicht sprechen; das erfordert den Mut und die Überzeugung von der Wahrhaftigkeit der inneren Gesinnung und des Gottesbewusstseins, das fordert das jüdische Bewusstsein, den jüdischen "Trotz" — und das war das erste, worin Abraham seine Berufung zu bewähren hatte.

וממולדתך, and from your birthplace. The lesson here is that living in a place endangered by lions is preferable to living in a place surrounded by sinners, though the latter appeared secure.

So begreifen wir auch wohl, wie unsere נביאים, jene von Gott bestellten Zeiten Wächter, צופים, die ihrem Volke die Merkzeichen aller erlebten und noch zu erhoffenden Zeitenenden, Erlösungsausgänge, unverlierbar in die Endbuchstaben seines Alphabets ,קצים hineingeschrieben haben, und die ganze jüdische Weltgeschichte in den doppelt-^ doppelt-ö, doppelt-!, doppelte und doppelte, des לך לך des Abraham, עצמת ממנו des Jizchak, הצילני נא des Jakob, פקוד יפקוד der צמח שמו ותחתיו יצמח ,גאולת מצרים der einstigen des Abraham den ersten Ausgangspunkt לך לך zusammenfassten, wie sie in dem גאולה der גאולה erblicken konnten. Mit dem Isolierungsrufe, welchem Abraham gehorchte, war die jüdische Welterlösung entschieden.

אל הארץ אשר אראך, to the land which I will show you. G'd did not tell Abraham if he was meant to set out on his journey immediately or if he should wait till He would specify the exact location He wanted Abraham to move to. This ambiguity was part of the test to which G'd subjected Abraham. G'd also hinted that He would show Abraham the whole of the land of Israel by broadening his field of vision, etc, as we know from 13,14: "lift your eyes from where you are and look northward, southward, eastward, and westward."

G'd also hinted that Abraham should move to ארץ ישראל, a land suitable for the Presence of G'd to become manifest, and for people who are worthy to experience such a manifestation. The Sifri on Numbers 35,34 states that (full) manifestation of G'd's presence depends on the Jewish people being in the land of Israel. Accordingly, the meaning of the word אראך is both: "I will show it (the land) to you," and: "I will show you to it (the land)." One will not achieve its full potential without the other.