Making sense of the sedra: Lech Lecha

Imagine meeting someone for the first time and, before they have even spoken, being handed their entire biography: their family history, their upbringing, education, their successes and failures. Would that tell you who they truly are? Or would you learn far more by discovering the person they are becoming?

We live in a world fascinated by back-stories. Yet, when it comes to Abraham, the founding father of Judaism, the Torah offers us almost nothing about his early life.

We might expect the Torah to explain how Abraham became the first monotheist, how he came to recognise God and what made him so extraordinary. Instead, we must turn to the Midrash, which tells us that as a young man, Abraham smashed the idols in his father’s house. But the Torah itself remains silent.

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Why?

The first time we encounter Abraham is when God calls to him: “Go forth from your land, from your birthplace and from your father’s house, to the land that I will show you.”

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We can infer that the Torah is teaching us a profound philosophy of life: it matters less where you have come from than where you are going.

Whether we are educated or ignorant, privileged or impoverished, our background does not determine our ultimate worth. What matters far more is the direction in which we choose to travel.

As the explorer and writer Isabelle Eberhardt wrote: “The farther behind I leave the past, the closer I am to forging my own character.”

The Torah tells us so little about Abraham’s past because his mission is not defined by it. Indeed, God instructs him to leave behind his land, his birthplace and even his father’s house. He must step away from everything familiar and embark on a journey into the unknown.

Abraham’s greatness lies not simply in where he began, but in his willingness to move forward.

The same applies to us. We may be products of our upbringing; we may carry regrets or have a past of which we are not proud. But this does not need to dictate our future. What matters is whether we are moving towards God, growing as Jews and deepening our understanding and spiritual development.

The journey itself is central to our purpose. Our starting point does not define us; the direction in which we travel does.

Ethics of the Fathers teaches: “This world is like a corridor before the world to come.” Even the Hebrew word Halacha, meaning Jewish law, shares its root with the word halichah, walking or going. Jewish life is not about standing still, but about continually moving towards our ultimate goal: a closer relationship with God.

Significantly, the seeds of redemption are expressed in Ruth’s words to her mother-in-law: “Wherever you go, I will go.” Abraham, the founder of our faith, and Ruth, the ancestor of King David and the future Moshiach, are defined not merely by their ancestry, but by the spiritual paths they choose to follow.

To discover our true selves, we must sometimes leave behind our comfort zones, our assumptions and the limitations we impose upon ourselves. Only then can we grow, move forward and uncover the blessings within us. The question is not where we have come from, but where we are prepared to go.

Rabbi Alex Chapper is at Borehamwood & Elstree Synagogue