Rabbi Asher Vaknin
D’var Torah
In Parashat Lech Lecha, we encounter one of the most transformative moments in the Torah — the call to Avraham Avinu: “Lech lecha me’artzecha, u’mimoladetecha, u’mibeit avicha, el ha’aretz asher areka” — “Go for yourself, from your land, from your birthplace, and from your father’s house, to the land that I will show you.”
This is not just a geographical command; it is a spiritual invitation. God is asking Avraham to leave behind not only the physical place of his comfort but the identity and limitations that come with it.
It is the first great act of faith in Jewish history — a journey into the unknown guided only by trust in the Divine. Growth in life always begins with a step beyond what is familiar. A student once asked his teacher, “How can I know if I am truly growing?” The rabbi answered, “If everything feels easy, you are standing still. When you feel stretched, challenged, even afraid — that’s when you are on the path of growth.” Avraham did not know where he was going, but he knew Who was sending him. That is faith — not knowing the destination, but walking anyway because you trust the One who leads you.
Soon after, God promises Avraham, “Veheyeh beracha” — “You shall be a blessing.” Avraham’s mission is not merely to receive blessing, but to become one. In that moment, God redefines greatness: true success in life is not measured by what we gather, but by what we give. To be a descendant of Avraham means to live as a source of light in the world, to make others feel valued, seen, and uplifted. Rabbi Aryeh Levin, known as “the Tzaddik of Jerusalem,” once met a man who looked utterly broken. Rabbi Levin approached him with a warm smile and said gently, “You look like a very special Jew.” The man burst into tears and said, “Rabbi, no one has spoken a kind word to me in years.” That single moment of kindness brought light back into a darkened heart. This is what it means to live as a blessing — to transform the lives around us with love, compassion, and faith.
As Avraham travels, the Torah tells us that “he built an altar to Hashem” everywhere he went. Avraham didn’t wait to arrive in a holy place to serve God; he brought holiness wherever he stood. The Chafetz Chaim was once asked how he maintained such purity and sanctity even when traveling among people of all types. He answered, “If a person carries Hashem in his heart, then every place becomes holy.”
This is one of the greatest lessons of Avraham’s life — that holiness is not confined to synagogues, yeshivot, or sacred sites. It is carried by the person who chooses to see every moment and every encounter as a chance to serve God. Whether at work, at home, or among strangers, we too can “build altars” — not of stone, but of gratitude, integrity, and kindness.
Yet perhaps the most profound moment of Avraham’s faith comes when he is promised descendants despite being old and childless. The Torah simply says, “Vehe’emin ba’Hashem” — “And he believed in God.” It is one of the shortest yet most powerful verses in the entire Torah. Faith is easy when life aligns with logic; it is tested when reason gives way to impossibility. A survivor of the Holocaust once said, “I now understand what faith truly means. It is not believing when miracles happen — it is believing when nothing makes sense, and still saying Shema Yisrael.” Avraham’s greatness lay not in knowing but in trusting, not in certainty but in surrender. Faith begins precisely when understanding ends.
Then comes one of the most poetic scenes in the Torah. God takes Avraham outside and says, “Look toward the heavens and count the stars, if you can count them.” The stars are countless, distant, and bright — and God tells Avraham, “So shall your offspring be.” This is more than a promise of children; it is a lesson in vision. Avraham is being taught to think beyond limitation, to dream big, to lift his gaze from the dust of earth to the infinite sky. Rabbi Yisrael Salanter once said, “A small Jew asks, ‘What difference can I make?’ A great Jew asks, ‘If not me, then who?’” Each of us, like Avraham, is called to see higher and farther — to believe that our lives can illuminate the world far beyond what we can measure.
When we weave these five moments together — the courage to leave comfort, the call to become a blessing, the power to create holiness, the strength to believe when logic fails, and the vision to dream beyond boundaries — we discover the essence of Jewish destiny. Avraham’s story is not ancient history; it is a living pattern for our own lives. Every Jew is asked, in some way, to hear the words Lech Lecha — to go forth, to take a step beyond what is familiar, to trust, to give, and to grow.
Each of us is given moments in life when God whispers, “Lech lecha” — leave behind the comfort of what you know and step into your true purpose. Some hear that call when facing challenge, others in moments of opportunity. For some, it means changing careers, for others deepening relationships or returning to faith. Whatever the form, the message is timeless: don’t be afraid to move when God calls. Avraham taught us that when you take the first step in faith, the ground appears beneath your feet.
May we all learn from Avraham Avinu — to walk with courage, to live as a blessing, to carry holiness wherever we go, to believe even when we don’t understand, and to keep our eyes lifted to the stars. For it is only when we look upward, beyond what seems possible, that we begin to touch eternity.