לקוטי שיחות חלק א׳ - לך לך

Parshas Lech Lecha

1. It is stated: "With ten trials was our father Avraham tested."^[1] One of the first trials — and perhaps also one of the greatest — was the trial of Ur Kasdim. Nevertheless, this trial is not mentioned explicitly in the Torah, but only by way of an allusion. The first trial that is mentioned explicitly in the Torah is the trial of "Go for yourself from your land, from your birthplace and from your father's house."

One can offer a reason for this: because the matter of "Go for yourself from your land…" is present in the service of every person — both from above to below and from below to above^[2], and also within the "below" itself.

2. In brief, this means:

In the descent of the soul below into a body, we find two opposites: a) "Against your will you live"^[3], for the life of the soul in a body is a matter of compulsion for the soul. For the soul — before it descends into a body — is "hewn from beneath the Throne of Glory"^[4], and that is only the lower level of the soul. There is a higher level of the soul, as it is at the level of "it is pure," and higher still.

Because going down into the world is a great descent for the soul — and especially as the Previous Rebbe relates in a sicha^[5], that before the soul comes down below it is shown Gan Eden together with Gehinnom, so that it should know what it has to do in the world — therefore the descent of the soul to give life to a body is a compelled thing for the soul: "against your will you live."

b) On the other hand, however, notwithstanding that the descent is so great, it is precisely through this descent that the soul comes to a level that is higher still than it was before, as in the well-known saying^[6], "descent for the sake of ascent."

3. These two matters are alluded to in the verse, "Go for yourself from your land, from your birthplace and from your father's house, to the land that I will show you."

"From your land" refers to the soul as it stands at the level of the Supernal Will — which is higher than what is stated in Tanya (ch. 2), that the soul derives from supernal Chochmah, of which "He and His wisdom are one" — for will is higher than wisdom^[7].

— This is also the meaning of what is said in Tanya (ch. 32), "for they are all equal, and they all have one Father": "they are all equal" — this is from the standpoint of the level of will; "and they all have one Father" — from the standpoint of the level of Chochmah. —

"From your birthplace and from your father's house" — this is the soul as it stands in the Sefiros of Chochmah and Binah: "birth" comes, after all, from "father and mother," and Chochmah is "father" and Binah is "mother"^[8].

"Your birthplace" is the soul as it stands in the Sefirah of Chochmah, and "your father's house" is the soul as it stands in the Sefirah of Binah; for "father," as mentioned, is Chochmah, whereas "the house of my father" — a house and a vessel for the father — is Binah.

In another manner one can say: "your birthplace" includes both Sefiros, Chochmah and Binah, which give birth; "your father's house" is the soul as it is found in the Sefirah of Malchus.

And in a lower manner: "from your land, from your birthplace, from your father's house" refers to Binah, Z'eir Anpin and Nukva^[9].

The three above-mentioned levels in the soul are also present as they exist in the order of the worlds: "your land" — the soul as it stands even higher than the world of Atzilus; "your birthplace" — the soul as it stands in the world of Atzilus, for the root of all souls is in Atzilus^[10], and in Atzilus in general it is Chochmah that shines — the yud of the Name Havayah^[11]; "your father's house" is the soul as it comes down into the world of Beri'ah, where the Sefirah of Binah shines^[12], and Malchus of Atzilus becomes Kesser of Beri'ah^[13].

And this is what is said to the soul: "Go for yourself from your land, from your birthplace and from your father's house" — that it should descend from its root and source in all the above-mentioned levels, until — "to the land that I will show you" — it is enclothed in an earthly, physical body; for it is precisely in this physical body that it will attain the higher ascent.

In the morning blessings we say: "The soul which You have given within me is pure… and You guard it within me." "It is pure" refers to the soul as it is in the world of Atzilus; "which You have given within me" is higher still. Nevertheless it descends from there to "You created it" — the world of Beri'ah; "You formed it" — the world of Yetzirah; until "You breathed it into me," into the physical body. And precisely through "You breathed it into me" it reaches "and You guard it within me" — which comes from a root that is higher even than "it is pure" and even than "which You have given within me," for the guardian is, after all, stronger than the one who is guarded.

And this is the meaning of "to the land that I will show you" — that I, the Essence (G‑d) Himself, will show you. For it is precisely here below, in the world, that one can grasp the Essence, as stated in Tanya ch. 4, that "no thought can grasp Him at all, except when it grasps and is enclothed in the Torah and its mitzvos" — which are "not in heaven"^[14], but precisely in this physical world.

4. After the soul has carried out the "Go for yourself from your land" from above to below — it has descended from all its lofty levels and entered the physical body — it receives the power to carry out "Go for yourself from your land… to the land that I will show you" according to the second interpretation, as it is from below to above.

The evil inclination, after all, enters a person first — "I came first: from the moment the child stirs to emerge from its mother's womb"^[15] — so one needs strength to overpower it. Thus, when the soul comes down here below, it is given this power, so that it can go out "from your land" (artzecha) — a term related to "will" (ratzah)^[16] — from the desires of the animal soul; "from your birthplace" — from its assumptions, which derive from natural, worldly intellect and from its worldly emotional traits; "and from your father's house" — from such things as come to him from improper upbringing and habit^[17]. From all these things he is to go out, and to go — "to the land that I will show you" — to the synagogue and the house of study, where the desires of the G‑dly soul prevail; and this will nullify the natural, worldly desires, the assumptions of the natural, worldly intellect, and the natural, worldly traits and habits of the animal soul.

5. After the soul has accomplished this in its service — it has gone out of the "land," "birthplace" and "father's house" of the animal soul — a higher service is demanded of it: to go out of the "land," "birthplace" and "father's house" even of the G‑dly soul.

"From your land" — from the desires of the G‑dly soul; "from your birthplace" — from the Chochmah of the G‑dly soul; "and from your father's house" — from the contemplation of holiness — "to the land that I will show you": to attain a level that is above reason and knowledge, to the axiomatic grasp and the "seeing" of Chochmah — the inner dimension of Abba — which is above intellect, even above the intellect of Chochmah.

(From a talk of 13 Tammuz, 5714)

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6. The Previous Rebbe often spoke of the fact that a Jew is bound up with the Torah, and that the Torah's division into separate parshiyos means that from the parshah read each week one can draw directives for how to conduct oneself in the events that take place during that week.

7. The content of today's parshah is the story of the birth of Yishmael and Yitzchak.

People hope, after all, that their children will carry on their ways. The parshah relates that G‑d gave Avraham two children — first Yishmael and afterwards Yitzchak.

When G‑d promised Avraham that Yitzchak would be born to him, he already had Yishmael. Our father Avraham said to G‑d: "If only Yishmael may live before You" — meaning that he would be content even if Yitzchak would not be born, so long as Yishmael would live "before You": he would conduct himself as one should and walk in G‑d's ways^[18].

To this G‑d answered him: No — it is precisely Yitzchak who will be born to you; that is your true nachas. As for what you ask regarding Yishmael — "and regarding Yishmael I have heard you" — from him too you will have nachas, but you cannot be content with that; rather, it is precisely "through Yitzchak that offspring will be called yours."

8. Our father Avraham was then ninety-nine years old. For decades he had served G‑d and gone through many trials. It is therefore understood that our father Avraham had a true concept of what nachas from children means. When he asked, "If only Yishmael may live before You," he surely meant that Yishmael would walk in the paths that he — Avraham — would show him, until he could have from him nachas according to the concept that our father Avraham understood. And nevertheless G‑d tells him that, despite all this, your true nachas you will have specifically from Yitzchak.

Yishmael's mother, Hagar, the Midrash relates^[19], was very pious — to the extent that her conduct was fitting for the service of the Beis HaMikdash, and therefore she is called by the name Keturah^[20].

She also had mesirus nefesh, as our Sages relate^[21], that Hagar was the daughter of Pharaoh, king of Egypt — an emperor of one of the mightiest kingdoms of that time — and nevertheless she agreed to leave the royal palace and become a maidservant to Sarah, just so that she could be in Avraham's home.

It is therefore understood that she also raised her son Yishmael in this way.

All this gives us further understanding of why Avraham wished to be content with Yishmael alone, hoping that he would have complete nachas from him. On the other hand, however, it makes it even harder to understand why G‑d said that it is specifically "through Yitzchak that offspring will be called yours."

9. The difference between Yishmael and Yitzchak was this: Yishmael's birth was in a natural manner, not through miracles, whereas Yitzchak's birth was through miracles. In a natural manner it was impossible that Avraham and Sarah, at their age, should have a child. No one believed that such a thing could happen, and even our father Avraham himself did not believe that he was worthy that G‑d should show him such miracles.

Because of this there resulted yet another difference between Yishmael and Yitzchak — the matter of bris milah, the one special mitzvah through which there was then (before the Giving of the Torah) a covenant with G‑d.

Yishmael was circumcised at thirteen. When one becomes thirteen years old one becomes a person of understanding; that is why one then becomes obligated in mitzvos^[22], because one can then rely on the person's own discernment. And with his intellect Yishmael agreed to bind himself to G‑d — so he was then circumcised.

Yitzchak was circumcised when he was eight days old. With a child of eight days there is no question of asking him. And nevertheless he was bound to G‑d while still a child, and with a kind of covenant that can never be undone or erased — an eternal covenant, a "bris olam," as the verse calls it.

10. In light of the two above-mentioned differences between Yishmael and Yitzchak — a) Yitzchak's supernatural, miraculous birth, in contrast to Yishmael's natural birth, and b) Yitzchak's covenant with G‑d in a manner that is above intellect, whereas Yishmael's covenant was according to intellect — we will also understand why our father Avraham's true nachas is specifically from Yitzchak.

A child is born and grows up under the supervision of his parents, protected from every breeze; he is educated to have the proper understanding, and on account of his proper understanding he binds himself to G‑d — this is the path of Yishmael. He was raised in Avraham's home, and on account of the education he received he had the proper intellect and understood that one must bind oneself to G‑d.

But there is no certainty in this, because his entire Yiddishkeit derives only from intellect, from understanding. One cannot know what will be if some change or other comes in his life. Moreover: even before the change comes, one also cannot know how far his Yiddishkeit will extend — to its whole, full measure, or only as limited by what his understanding agrees to.

And therefore with Yishmael too — as soon as it merely touched upon his inheritance^[23], he could no longer be kept in Avraham's home, and G‑d commanded that he be driven out, for "through Yitzchak will offspring be called yours"^[24].

G‑d indicated: When one sets out to establish Jewish generations, one cannot approach it according to the measure of nature. The entire existence and being of the Jewish people is above nature. With Jews, right from birth, one begins with miracles, without reckoning with nature.

G‑d said to Avraham: True Jewish nachas can be had precisely from a child whose birth and whose entire life, right from birth, are in a G‑dly manner; and when he is a child of barely eight days — that is, as soon as there is the first possibility for it — he is bound to G‑d, and with a bris olam, an eternal covenant, even though he does not yet understand anything and one cannot yet ask him.

With such a child, Yiddishkeit will be not merely according to his intellect, but with mesirus nefesh, and from him one will have true Jewish nachas.

11. The Torah is not, G‑d forbid, a "history book"; the Torah is eternal. The proof is that every year one begins once again to read the Torah from Bereishis. This means that what the Torah relates to us are directives for every time and every place — how a Jew must conduct himself in his home, in society and in the community.

So too the narrative of this parshah is a directive for life in general, and for Jewish education in particular, which is the main point.

12. There are those who think that the proper order in education is to wait until the child grows up and understands by himself, with his own intellect, how to conduct himself, hoping that since they are, after all, children of Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov, they will arrive on their own at an understanding of Yiddishkeit. We have a directive in this parshah: if one were to go according to human intellect, then however much one exerts oneself, intellect is not the way to bind oneself to G‑d; the way to it is precisely mesirus nefesh.

13. The lesson from this is also: one should not think that a child should be given a "watered-down" Yiddishkeit, and that afterwards, when he grows older, he will be given more.

That would be correct if it were a matter that depends exclusively on understanding and calculations. With Jews, who are above natural calculations, we have the directive of the preceding Torah narrative: in Jewish education the order is that when the child is only eight days old, he must already be given the strongest measure of Yiddishkeit; he must already be bound with an eternal covenant — not only for a year, or for ten or twenty years, but with a bris olam.

14. What does it mean that children too must be given the strongest measure of Yiddishkeit?

One must relate and explain to the youth, right from childhood, that the Jewish people in general, and therefore every Jew in particular, is not bound by natural calculations. One must tell the youth that calculations must be set aside. One who descends from a people which from its very birth was not built in a natural manner — one who descends from the oldest people, which has the oldest Torah and has gone through so many years of trials and hardships, and whose entire existence is only through miracles — such a person is not bound by any calculations, and he has no reason to think about them.

And when he is led on this path while still a small child, so that he knows that a Jew is above calculations and is bound to G‑d with an eternal covenant, then G‑d promises: "Through Yitzchak will offspring be called yours" — you will have true nachas, both in spiritual matters and in material matters.

(From a talk of 7 MarCheshvan, 5718)

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15. The week of Parshas Lech Lecha is a week in which, all its days, one lives with our father Avraham, the first who opened the channel of mesirus nefesh^[25] and passed it on as an inheritance to all Jews throughout their generations.

Even converts are included in this, for they have a connection to Avraham; they are, after all, called "children of Avraham." To Yitzchak and Yaakov only those who descend from them trace their lineage, but to Avraham converts too trace their lineage.

That is why the Rambam writes in his well-known responsum^[25*], which is based on the Yerushalmi^[26], that converts too may say "our fathers," since our father Avraham is a father to all converts. Accordingly, it is understood that converts too are included in what he passed on as an inheritance to all Jews — the power of mesirus nefesh. Therefore of them too it is demanded that they fulfill Torah and mitzvos with full strength, even though this depends on mesirus nefesh^[27].

And it is self-evident that the week following Lech Lecha must certainly be a joyous one, for it speaks of our father Avraham after he fulfilled the mitzvah of milah, which was an exceedingly lofty matter.

The Previous Rebbe says in the sicha of Simchas Torah 5710^[28] that our father Avraham was a Jew of seventy-five years, a Jew who was a "possessor," a master over all his conduct — "the intellect hidden from all conception"^[28*] — and all this was still before the "Lech Lecha," and thus before he circumcised himself. One can therefore understand what kind of level he attained through the mitzvah of milah.

The mitzvah of milah is connected with the matter of birth. All the matters Avraham attained until the mitzvah of milah relate to created beings; therefore he could attain them with his own power. The mitzvah of milah, however, is a matter that was given from Above, as it is stated that the circumcision of Avraham is the matter of the supernal milah^[29] — "And the L‑rd your G‑d will circumcise your heart." And so in general — through the mitzvah of milah one draws down exceedingly lofty lights, which are entirely above creation and the order of hishtalshelus^[30]. Therefore milah is connected with the matter of birth: when a child is born, that is something new and the revelation of the power of the Infinite below, as is explained in Chassidus^[31].

Accordingly, this week must certainly be a joyous one, and so too the weeks that follow should also be joyous, as the Previous Rebbe says^[32] that on Simchas Torah the general makif is drawn down, which includes all the makifim of the entire month of Tishrei, and from Simchas Torah this is drawn down for the entire year.

(From a talk of Shabbos Parshas Lech Lecha, 5711)

Key Lesson

"Lech Lecha" is the story of every soul: it goes down from the highest levels into a physical body, because only here, through Torah and mitzvos, can it grasp G‑d's very Essence and rise higher than before. That ascent continues in our own service: first leaving the desires, assumptions and habits of the animal soul, then going beyond even our own holy understanding. The same principle shapes how we raise children. Yitzchak, born by miracle and bound to G‑d at eight days, shows that Jewish education should begin from infancy with the full, undiluted measure of Yiddishkeit, an eternal bond above calculation, and not wait for the child's reasoning to agree.