This exercise strengthens our reasoning skills by asking us to reason toward the best explanation. If someone sets out with these items (amongst others) on a journey, what might you infer about:
Where they might be going;
What they might be planning to do;
How they plan on getting there.
Sunscreen, thick boots, compass, a water bottle and a back pack with a box of worms
Shorts and T-shirt, a leather jacket, gloves, goggles, a beach towel and book.
A can of gasoline, bottle of water, spare tire, MP3 player, and horse in a trailer
A 50ft rope, pegs, hammer, hard helmet, 4 wheel drive
Iced chocolate cake, change of clothes, a CD wrapped in wrapping paper, train schedule, candles
As a variation, in pairs prepare to tell the story of this journey to the rest of the group.
Returning to the Lech l’cha text – what do we know about what Avram took with him? What might we infer from this about his thoughts about the journey he is making?
Leading Idea: Thinking about Journeys and Journeying
The books of Bereshit and Shemot are full of journeys. Several ideas are explored here that prepare students for the pieces of narratives that they will encounter. In this regard the first set of discussion plans and activities can act as induction exercises to ‘journeying’ in general, as well as being used to explore more deeply questions students raise. Attention is drawn here to two aspects of journeying that can prepare students for thinking about this Parashah.
The meaning of journeying– what makes something a journey and what does journeying involve?
The act of going on a journey – what do the things people take on a journey tell us about the kind of journey they are on?
Secondary Source: Different Meanings of Lech L’cha
Rashi: Go forth: Heb לך לך, literally go to you, for your benefit and for your good, and there I will make you into a great nation. If you stay here I won’t give you children. Moreover. If you go, I will make your character known in the world.
— Rosh Hashanah 16b, Tan.
Picture: By Guillaume de Paris, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=41460972
Avivah Zornberg: was born in London and grew up in Glasgow, Scotland, where her father was a Rabbi. She studied with him from childhood; he was her most important teacher of Torah. For the past thirty years, she has taught Torah in Jerusalem.
“Lech L’cha” – start travelling – this is a travel narrative. Not to go to a particular place to do business, but as an open-ended travel. To discover something about the place you are in – like in Gulliver’s Travels or the Odyssey – it seems the journey itself offers you something you wouldn’t get by staying home… You can never know how it will change you, but the journey itself changes you. Matan lecture: http://www.matan.org.il/eng/show.asp?id=35416 Photo: http://www.avivahzornberg.com/
Joel Lynn: was a journalist for a New Jersey newspaper. He now lives and teaches in Israel.
A look at the Hebrew in this sentence reveals something.
The word “Lekh” is the command form of the word, “L’lekhet“–“to go.”
The next word, “l’kha,” tells us that the previous word is directed to a second person (for example, “Ten l’kha” would mean “give to you“).
“… Commentators offer various meanings of this extra word, translating the sentence as “Go for yourself,” “Go by yourself” or “Go to yourself… [My] favorite of the three is “Go to yourself.”
While Abraham had many difficult tests to overcome in his lifetime, the most important one is the first one we read about in the Torah: “Go to yourself.” Realize what your mission in life is. Recognize your potential. Become YOU. Without this, there would never have been a covenant, a circumcision, a binding of Isaac, or a founding of the Jewish people.
Source: http://www.myjewishlearning.com
Rabbi Naftali Citron: Rabbi Citron is now serving as Rabbi of the Carlebach Shul in New York.
This week’s Torah reading, Lech Lecha, is especially significant because it represents the first Divine encounter of our forefather Abraham. The words “Lech Lecha” are often translated as “Go forth!” but these words may also mean that Abraham is supposed to “travel more deeply into himself.” As we begin our spiritual inner journeys modeling those of Abraham and Sarah, it is important to experience the depth of our own souls as we go forth to face the world. The word that is often associated with such intention and devotion in Judaism is kavanah.
Discussion Plan: What is the Meaning of “Blessing”?
If I bless you saying “May God grant you long life”, is that the same as wishing you a long life?
If I bless you saying “May God grant you long life”, is that the same as hoping you will have a long life?
Can people give blessings, or only God? If people can give them, do you think there is a difference between a blessing given by God and a blessing given by a person? Explain.
Can you ‘give a blessing’ without blessing someone /something?
Is there a difference being blessed and being a blessing?
If a quality of ‘being hot’ is that the thing that is hot gives off heat – then is it possible that a quality of ‘being blessed’ is that the thing that is blessed gives off blessings?
Could you ‘be a blessing’ if you had no effect on those around you?
1. God said to Avram, “Go, take yourself from your land and from where you were born, and from your father’s house to the land that I will let you see:
3. I will bless those people who bless you And those that curse you, I will curse; And all the families of the earth shall find blessing through you [by way of you.”
5. Avram took Sarai, his wife, and Lot, his brother’s son, and all their belongings that they had gained, and the people they had made their own in Haran; and they went to go to the land of Canaan.
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