Parashat Lech Lecha: Up toward enlightened consciousness

We must stop to take deep breaths, to pray, and do acts of kindness. We can keep sending love and light to the captives.

According to our sages, the meaning of lech lecha is to “go to yourself”– toward your soul’s essence. 

Abram, later Abraham, was commanded to go to the essence of his being, a process to which we are called forever. This essence is always associated with enlightened or expanded consciousness. The Slonimer Rebbe says that all the riches of the world are worth nothing compared to one hour of enlightened consciousness, which he calls yishuv hada’at (settled knowledge), where the knowledge referred to is intimate knowledge of God.

The Gemara (Nedarim 4) calls da’at a “prized possession” and tells us that one who has this expanded consciousness has everything. King Solomon in his great wisdom said, “All the days of a poor person are bad, and a good heart is constantly feasting” (Proverbs 15:15). Our sages say that poverty is not lack of material wealth but restricted consciousness (da’at ketzara), while the good heart that feasts is one whose consciousness is expanded (Sanhedrin 100:101).

To reach this state, Abram had to go through a long and difficult process. The parsha begins with the promise of eternal blessings, as God tells Abram to leave everything behind and go to the Holy Land: “And I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great. And I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse.” And then as Abram begins traveling in the land (Rashi says toward Jerusalem), we are told: “There was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt.” 

Egypt – Mitzrayim – is the place of constriction and hardship.

Why this seeming reversal of Abram’s journey toward fulfillment?

We learn that the seeming reversals are a necessary part of the process. In the words of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, “We should understand that all of the descents, veils, and concealments are merely external factors. When looking at the inner dynamic, one appreciates that, on the contrary, the world does not control its own destiny. 

“It is being directed by God, and we can be certain that God’s intent is that everything that occurs in the world – even those elements which appear to be darkness and descent – is intended to lead to the world’s refinement and elevation. Thus this descent is really merely a preparatory step for – and itself a part of – that ultimate ascent” (Chabad.org, Crown Jewels, Parshat Lech Lecha).

LIKEWISE, Sarah Yehudit Schneider writes, “Sometimes the light coming through is just bigger than who we are in the present. Instead of waiting for our initiative, it forces its way in which one can feel harsh and even violent. It meets us with a whack… manifesting as an awful life circumstance that is traumatizing and the opposite of what we hoped and prayed for” (Post Massacre-Zohar on the “Three Cries” as a Model of Trauma, www.astillsmallvoice.org.). Ultimately we arise from these crises stronger, richer, and wiser, as Abram, like his descendants centuries later, left Egypt with great wealth.

Abraham is regarded as a man of hessed (loving-kindness), yet in this parsha, we see him doing battle with the kings who had captured his nephew Lot, among other captives from Sodom. It is after he has defeated the four kings and freed the captives that he is given a vision of the future: 

“After these incidents, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, ‘Fear not, Abram; I am your Shield; your reward is exceedingly great,’ And He took him outside, and He said, ‘Please look heavenward and count the stars, if you are able to count them.’ And He said to him, ‘So will be your seed.’”

Rashi brings the following midrash on this passage: “Go forth from your astrological speculations – that you have seen by the planets that you will not have a son. Abram indeed may have no son, but Abraham will have a son… Another explanation: He brought him forth from the terrestrial sphere, elevating him above the stars, and that is why he uses the term habbet (look), for this word signifies looking from above downwards.” 

We might say that at this point Abram received elevated and expanded consciousness.

Yoram Raanan’s painting Lekh Lekha hints at this vision. As so often with Raanan, meaning emerged from an open-minded experimentation with the paint. He started the painting using regal colors of the Beit Hamikdash (Temple) – purple, royal blue, and crimson. Then, to make it more cosmic, he splashed gold and iridescent pearl.

As the paint flowed, it created the standing blue figure in the center of the painting. The figure has strength, but also humility. There is a strong sense of upward motion in the picture. The dark area beneath the figure could be the starry heaven, or the reaches of time in which Abram’s seed will be numerous as the stars. Abram’s consciousness has expanded to include all time and space. This is the ultimate yishuv hada’at.

Da’at can also mean intimate knowledge of God. This is suggested by the lighter figure facing the central figure and connected to it. Inside the lighter figure, near the point of connection, there is a sphere or circle – symbolic of the cosmos, suggesting the transmission of a cosmic awareness.

IN THESE days of war, while our children, brothers, and sisters are held captive and our hearts are sad and aching, what can we do to strengthen ourselves and our faith? How can we acquire yishuv hada’at in this troubled time and ease our pained hearts?

In this scene, God tells Abram that although he is old and childless, his seed will be numerous as the stars of heaven, “and he believed (he’emin) in the Lord” (Gen. 15:6). It is the first time that Scripture uses the root aleph-mem-nun, which is also the root of emuna (faith). To reach this consciousness, we need to strengthen our faith. 

The root aleph-mem-nun also appears in the verb lehitamen (to practice). Emuna is a process of going to the higher self, above and beyond feelings of insecurity, worry, and fear. This is not to say that we do not have such feelings. But even while recognizing and accepting them, we can practice emuna, expanding our consciousness with prayer, meditation, and Torah.

We must stop to take deep breaths, to pray, and do acts of kindness. We can keep sending love and light to the captives. And we must keep on believing that much good will come out of this, that the descent to a place of constriction and suffering will be followed by our going out with great wealth and peace.