Is it for you or for you? Lech Lecha 5787

 When Avraham - the father of the Jewish people - is introduced at the beginning of this Parsha, he was already the greatest man alive. Earlier the only thing the Torah has told us about him is that he traveled with his father and family. Then we begin his story with Hashem appearing to him and telling him “Lech Lecha” (which can be translated as go forth, or go for you, or go to you) from your land, your birthplace and the house of your father. 

From a simple reading of the verse and Rashi’s commentary, it would seem that Abraham needed incentives of personal gain in order to fulfill Hashem’s command. Rashi comments in this verse and the next that says “I will make you into a great nation and bless you and aggrandize your name…”. He says that “go for you” means for your benefit. When you travel to the place I show you, you will be blessed with becoming a great nation, with money, and with fame. 

Now Avraham’s life seems to prove that he would have done anything for Hashem, even at great sacrifice. He was the only one who believed in one G-d, and was not afraid to go against everyone else in the world to teach this. He was even thrown into a furnace for his beliefs and his teachings, and was saved by a miracle. It therefore seems strange that the command to travel is accompanied by promises of personal gain. 

There is lot written on just these two verses. I have been thinking about it and I want to approach an answer based on the two interpretations of Lech Lecha, go for you and go to you. Chassidus teaches that “go to you” means go into your inner self. Leave your land, your birthplace and your father’s house refers to letting go of negative habits, behaviors and character traits embedded in our nature and picked up from the environment. Going to your inner self means connecting with the part of Hashem within each of us and transforming our desired and habits to conform with who we truly are in essence. 

When a person is completely in sync with their inner self, everything they do is on full harmony with who they are and what they want to accomplish in the world. All their possessions and everything they encounter is used to fulfill their mission. Their desire for things is only in service if their mission. A truly altruistic and generous person wants to have many resources with which to help people, while for a selfish person that could be greedy. 

So perhaps we can put the two together. Go “to you” and then all the benefits and blessings of “for you” will serve your mission. Avraham dedicated his life to spreading the teachings faith in Hashem, and to kindness and hospitality. The more money he had the more he could give and help. The more fame he had the more people he would attract to goodness and faith. The more his descendants promulgated, the more the message would be spread in the world. 

Material goods and honor and fame for their own sake can lead a person in the wrong direction. But when a person is completely living their mission and devoting everything to improving the world, the more they have the better. 

This also explains an interesting phenomenon. The pinnacle of our daily prayers is the Amida. We stand with our feet together like angels and Chassidus explains that we are then in attachment to Hashem. And what do we pray for?  Health. Good produce. Personal needs. You’d think we would be thinking only about spiritual matters. 

But this is the point. Now that we are one with Hashem, we are fully tuned in to His will, and that is for us to transform the physical world.  When we are on that level, our requests are not to increase our materialism. We are asking Hashem to give us health and abundance in order to build the home for Hashem and fulfill His purpose for Creation.