Lech Lecha
Genesis 12:1-17:27
Isaiah 40:27-41:16
Let’s be honest. How many of us really enjoy running errands? Usually errands feel like things we simply have to do to get through the week. They are endless. There is always one more errand to do — food shopping, the dry cleaners, the bank.
As much as we may not like it, errands are a necessary part of life. But these mundane errands are not the only kind that we do. There are other kinds of errands as well. We’ll call these spiritual errands. And they, too, are obligatory.
A few years ago, as religiously-themed television programs started to become more popular, one show in particular caught my attention. The show, “Joan of Arcadia,” depicts a teenage girl who routinely encounters God in her life. God appears to Joan in various forms and in each episode reveals a different message or task. During one of the earlier episodes, when Joan questioned why God was asking so much of her, God replied, “People are put on earth to do God’s errands.”
We might say that in this week’s Torah portion, Lech Lecha, God directs Abraham to perform one long spiritual errand. The portion begins with the call to Abraham: “Go forth from your native land and from your father’s house to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you shall be a blessing” (Gen. 12:1-2). Abraham is told to leave his native land, the land of his ancestors, and journey into a new place where God would direct him.
Abraham heeds God’s call and goes forth with his wife, Sarah, his nephew, Lot, Lot’s wife and all their worth. And, as we know, Abraham indeed becomes the father of a great nation.
According to Pirkei Avot (the Ethics of our Ancestors), the call was the first of 10 trials, 10 tests of faith, that Abraham would undergo. Why did he do it? Why did he not question God’s intention? The Torah does not comment.
The Chassidic commentary of the Sefat Emet goes on to say that Abraham went only because of the command of God, without any other specific motive. The test, therefore, was whether Abraham would be able to do as God wanted, without contaminating the act with his own motives or confusing it with his own benefit.
This portion raises the additional question of why Abraham was singled out to do God’s will. The rabbis thought that Abraham was chosen because he rejected the worship of idols in his own home. Other commentators thought the Abraham possessed other special qualities. One Midrash teaches that Abraham always quoted fair prices in his business dealings and that people came to him for advice in times of trouble.
Whatever the reason, our tradition affirms that Abraham possessed positive qualities that caused God to single him out. Jewish tradition also pictures Abraham from his earliest youth in search of God. It was a mutual relationship, just as it continues to be today. People search for God, and God needs people who are capable of responding.
God needs people to do God’s errands on earth. The fictional teenage Joan had a harder time heeding God’s call, but eventually she learned how to do it, sometimes even without complaining. God continues to call us today. How will we respond?
God needs us to feed the hungry, house the homeless, visit the sick, comfort the mourner, rejoice at each others’ simchas, make peace with our neighbors, care for those around us and treat others as we would want to be treated. The “why” may simply be because we find ourselves in the right place at the right time, or, because God wants us to do it. God is searching for people to run lots of errands. Are you ready?
Rabbi Karen S. Citrin is the associate rabbi at Reform Peninsula Temple Beth El in San Mateo.