This section of text about the Keshet comes after the flood – after God in his anger almost completely destroys the world. The Keshet is a reminder to God to avoid global destruction in the future. This raises a larger question about our relationship to the world and our care for it. Molly Cone’s poem invites discussion around our sensory experiencing of the world and our care for it. You might like to create your own poem or artwork that draws on the way your students’ own experiences of connecting to the world through their senses.
Look upon this land— Touch it. Sand under your bare feet, The squish of mud, Silky coat of cat, Soft rose petals, A smooth round rock, Rain on your face.
Touch it with your eyes. Cherry trees blossoming pink, Lake of blue and summer sky, The green of life, Purple grapes and apples red, Moon rising yellow, Orange sun going down.
Touch it with your ears. Splatter of rain, Crack of thunder, Wind whispering, Birds singing, The crying of babies and puppies, Kittens and ducklings.
Touch it with your nose. Pine-scent of woods, lilacs blooming, new-mown grass, smoke of chimneys, strawberries in the sun.
Touch it with your tongue. Lick of sugar, Tang of lemon, ginger, or spice, Bite of cold snow, Gulp of pure water.
Look upon this land— Touch it. Touch it in every way you can, For this land is part of you, And you are part of it.
Given into your care is this earth. See how beautiful it is. Be careful not to spoil it, For if you destroy the world, There will be no one after you to restore it.
(Molly Cone, Listen to the Trees, UAHC press, 1995, pp. 42-43)
Molly Cone was a well known children’s author, having published over 45 books. She was a founding member of Temple Beth Am in Seattle.
When God tells Avram “Lech lecha” he mentions three kinds of leaving:
Leave your country
Leave your birthplace
Leave your father’s house
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’.
‘Lech l’cha’ is generally taken as an expression meaning “Go forth”. But this isn’t the only way of reading it. While Lech l’cha on its own is a command (like sit! or stop!), lech on its own means ‘go’ and l’cha’ on its own generally means ‘to you’. What might these mean when put together?
In this unit we explore the following different readings of the phrase ‘Lechl’cha’.
Go forth: move forward, leave where you are (pick up your tent and go pitch it elsewhere)
Go for yourself: for your own benefit, for your own material good (financial, social, etc)
Go to yourself: discover yourself – go to greater self-understanding (as an inner existential journey – become aware of who you currently are, get in touch with yourself)
Go to the person you will become: Go toward you’re the person you will one day be (eg, your ‘better self’ or your destiny, or the person you are striving to be – as in the joke that has a mother describing her 6yr old son as ‘my son the doctor’) – this captures the idea that we are all on a journey of self-formation, and we become who we are over time.
Each of these offers a different understanding of Avram’s journey. The resources here both provide voices from within our tradition that speak to these interpretations and resources for students to apply the distinctions in their own lives and thus to come to internalize the different meanings as resources for making sense of different kinds of ‘Lech!’ in their own lives.
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.
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.
This custom is a nice way of bringing gratitude and spirituality into your family on Shabbat and at other special occasions. There are different customs as to when the blessing is recited. Some families bless their children immediately before or after Kiddush. Others prefer to bless just after lighting the Shabbat candles. Usually the person giving the blessing places one or both hands on the child’s head. Some parents bless each child in succession, others bless all of the girls together, and all of the boys together, while other families have developed their own rituals around this practice.
In Pairs, take it in turns to give the blessing one to another – do it with Kavanah (focused intentionality). What did it feel like to give the blessing? What did it feel like to receive the blessing? (Physically, how did you experience it? How did the relationship with the other person feel during this experience?)
The words of the blessing are taken from the priestly blessing (Bamidbar 6:24-26) and traditionally the introduction is constructed differently according to the gender of the person being blessed. Some people like to ‘mix this up’ and include both male and female figures in blessing their child.
For males: יְשִׂימְךָ אֱלהיִם כְּאֶפְרַיְם וְכִמְנַשֶּׁה May you be like Ephraim and Menashe.
For females: יְשִׂימֵךְ אֱלהיִם כְּשָׂרָה רִבְקָה רָחֵל וְלֵאָה May you be like Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, and Leah.
For both genders, the rest of the blessing is: יְבָרֶכְךָ יְהוָה וְיִשְׁמְרֶךָ יָאֵר יְהוָה פָּנָיו אֵלֶיךָ וִיחֻנֶּךָּ יִשָּׂא יְהוָה פָּנָיו אֵלֶיךָ וְיָשֵׂם לְךָ שָׁלום
May God bless you and guard you. May God show you favor and be gracious to you. May God show you kindness and grant you peace.
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.
Which of these blessings are asked for and which given without asking? Do you think this makes a difference? Who or what are the blessings directed toward – how does it change the thing being blessed?
Divine Blessings Does the blessing recognize something (a quality) that is already present or does it create something new? What is the meaning of the blessing? What is intended by the blessing?
Human Blessings Does the blessing create something new or recognize something (a quality) that is already present? Is the blessing freely offered? What is intended by the blessing?
