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Secondary Source: The Meaning of Lech L’cha
Lech l’cha: lech (go, walk) involves an outward movement.
The word l’cha (for, to yourself) is an inwards movement.
Lech l’cha is a movement both outwards and inwards at the same time.
Go forth, to walk or go, the sense of separating, “taking leave of”
Can you think of journeys that are both inward and outwards?
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Exercise: Circles of Attachment
What in your life are you most attached to? Think of your home – if you were to leave home, what would be most difficult to leave behind? What not as difficult? Draw three circles. In the center put the thing it would be most difficult to leave, then move out in the circles with things that would be less difficult to leave (from hardest to less hard). Pick a different community you are part of (school? sports team?) – what would be hardest to leave behind if you were leaving that community?
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Leading Idea: Circles of Attachment
When God tells Avram “Lech lecha” he mentions three kinds of leaving:
Several scholars have noted that it seems strange to list the circles of attachment in this order. The text from Nechama Leibowitz and the commentary Haktav Vehakabala both offer an interpretation for this.
This next set of exercises and discussion plan explore these different ‘layers of leaving’.
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Secondary: Circles of Attachment
Haktav Vehakabala
Nehama Leibowitz: from Studies in Bereshit, pp.113
“לֶךְ-לְךָ מֵאַרְצְךָ וּמִמּוֹלַדְתְּךָ וּמִבֵּית אָבִיךָ”
“get you out of your country, and from your birthplace, and from your father’s house…”
Scholars have spoken about the unusual order of ‘leaving’ here. The verse should have read, in the ordinary way: “מבית אביך, ממולדתך ומארצך” (from your father’s house, your birthplace and from your country.”) This is the logical sequence, since a person first leaves home, then his place of birth and then his country.
The commentary הכתב והקבלה (Haktav Vehakabala)* suggests that there we are referring to a spiritual rather than physical withdrawal, beginning with more distant connections and ending with the most personal. Leaving your place of birth is not so hard as cutting the connection to your family. First, therefore, Abraham was told to cut his connection with his country, then his city and finally the most intimate bond, that of home.
*Haktav Vehakabala was written by Rabbi Yaakov Tzevi Mecklenburg, a German Jewish scholar of the 19th century. Rabbi Mecklenburg served as Rabbi of Koenigsburg, East Prussia for 35 years (1831-65). Haketav Vehakabbalah was first published in 1839.
Nehama Leibowitz -1905-1997, was a famous Israeli Bible scholar who developed a particular style of Bible study that was very popular around the world.
Picture source: www.lookstein.org/nechama_
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Activity: Blessing of the Kohanim
This is the way Kohanim hold their hands when giving the priestly blessing – the fingers form a Shin to represent Shaddai (God’s name.) Can you hold your hands this way? Look up the blessing Bamidbar 6:23–27.
Image from: http://ggorelik.narod.ru/LeHaim_W/LeHaim_W1.htm
Image by Kleuske – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=20497346
PDF Exercise: What do we eat and why/why not?
| I eat this | Someone else in my family eats this | Other people in my culture eat this | In the Torah it says we shouldn’t eat it | People from other cultures I know of do eat it | I don’t think anyone eats this – but it wouldn’t be wrong if they did. | No-one should eat this– it is harmful or morally wrong | |
| Fish | |||||||
| Dried flowers | |||||||
| Mushrooms | |||||||
| Buttons | |||||||
| Raw eggs | |||||||
| Animal Hair | |||||||
| Cats | |||||||
| Gum | |||||||
| Pork | |||||||
| Leftovers | |||||||
| Strawberries | |||||||
| Ants | |||||||
| Mouldy bread | |||||||
| Human Beings | |||||||
| Dolphins | |||||||
| Paper | |||||||
| Someone else’s half eaten sandwich |
Download the discussion plan here: Word PDF
Discussion Plan: Being Blessed
PDF Intertextual Resources: Adam & Noah
| To Adam and Chava: | To Noah and his sons: |
| כח וַיְבָרֶךְ אֹתָם, אֱלֹהִים, וַיֹּאמֶר לָהֶם אֱלֹהִים פְּרוּ וּרְבוּ וּמִלְאוּ אֶת-הָאָרֶץ, וְכִבְשֻׁהָ; וּרְדוּ בִּדְגַת הַיָּם, וּבְעוֹף הַשָּׁמַיִם, וּבְכָל-חַיָּה, הָרֹמֶשֶׂת עַל-הָאָרֶץ. כט וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹהִים, הִנֵּה נָתַתִּי לָכֶם אֶת-כָּל-עֵשֶׂב זֹרֵעַ זֶרַע אֲשֶׁר עַל-פְּנֵי כָל-הָאָרֶץ, וְאֶת-כָּל-הָעֵץ אֲשֶׁר-בּוֹ פְרִי-עֵץ, זֹרֵעַ זָרַע: לָכֶם יִהְיֶה, לְאָכְלָה. |
א וַיְבָרֶךְ אֱלֹהִים, אֶת-נֹחַ וְאֶת-בָּנָיו; וַיֹּאמֶר לָהֶם פְּרוּ וּרְבוּ, וּמִלְאוּ אֶת-הָאָרֶץ.
ב וּמוֹרַאֲכֶם וְחִתְּכֶם, יִהְיֶה, עַל כָּל-חַיַּת הָאָרֶץ, וְעַל כָּל-עוֹף הַשָּׁמָיִם; בְּכֹל אֲשֶׁר תִּרְמֹשׂ הָאֲדָמָה וּבְכָל-דְּגֵי הַיָּם, בְּיֶדְכֶם נִתָּנוּ. ג כָּל-רֶמֶשׂ אֲשֶׁר הוּא-חַי, לָכֶם יִהְיֶה לְאָכְלָה: כְּיֶרֶק עֵשֶׂב, נָתַתִּי לָכֶם אֶת-כֹּל. ד אַךְ-בָּשָׂר, בְּנַפְשׁוֹ דָמוֹ לֹא תֹאכֵלוּ. ה וְאַךְ אֶת-דִּמְכֶם לְנַפְשֹׁתֵיכֶם אֶדְרֹשׁ, מִיַּד כָּל-חַיָּה אֶדְרְשֶׁנּוּ; וּמִיַּד הָאָדָם, מִיַּד אִישׁ אָחִיו–אֶדְרֹשׁ, אֶת-נֶפֶשׁ הָאָדָם. |
| And God blessed them [Adam and Chava], and said to them: ‘Be fruitful, and multiply [be many], and fill the earth, and bring it under your control [subdue it]; and have command over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the heavens, and all living things that crawl upon the earth. And God said: ‘Here, I give you all plants that bear seeds, that are upon the face of all the earth, and all trees, in which there is fruit of the tree that bears seeds—for you they shall be for eating. | And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them: ‘Be fruitful and multiply [be many], and fill the earth. And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon all the wildlife of the earth, and upon all the fowl of the heavens, and all that crawl on the soil, and all the fish of the sea – into your hand are they given. All things crawling about that live, for you shall they be, for eating, as with the green plants, I now give you all of it. However – flesh with its life, its blood, you shall not eat. |
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Discussion Plan: Giving and Receiving Blessings
Leading Idea: Eating Meat
This text parallels strongly elements of the text in Bereshit 1:28-29. Yet there is a striking difference. In the account of creation in Bereshit, God blesses human beings and gives us dominion over all of creation, but only the plant kingdom is given to us to eat for food. In this blessing, God not only gives us plants, but also the animal kingdom as food. In this, it marks a transition for humans from being herbivores to omnivores (eating both plants and animals).
What does this transition signify? What might it say about our relationship to creation and about our nature as human beings? How do we decide what is acceptable to eat and how is this connected to our identity? To what extent are we what we eat?