Parsha Lech Lecha 5766: Aliyah — To The Jewish Big Leagues
By Moshe Burt
“Hashem said to Avram, Go for yourself from your land … to the land that I will show you. I will make you into a great nation…” (Breish’t, Perek 12, posukim 1 & 2) I call this the “Aliyah Parsha.”
Rashi writes on the posukim, “For your benefit and good. It is there that I will make you a great nation …” (Rashi on Breish’t, Perek 12, posuk 1)
Sefat Emet asks, “if G’d himself promised … that the move would be for his good and his benefit, why should this have been such a great test?” It seems that it was exactly because of Hashem’s promise to him that the test was of greater magnitude because when Avram actually went, he did so “as Hashem had spoken to him.” (Breish’t Perek 12, posuk 4) “In other words, he went purely because he had been told to do so by G’d, without any intention of deriving any benefit from his actions. The test … was whether, after all of these promises. he would still be able to fulfill G’d’s will without even the hint of any desire for any benefit for himself.” (Word and quotes attributed to Sefat Emet, Torah Gems, Aharon Yaakov Greenberg, Parsha Lech Lecha, pge 97) read more