Lech Lecha
We went to Spain last week. I spent a semester in university studying in Spain. Though I had been on a journey of self discovery before that, my time in Spain was the catalyst that has allowed me to transform my life. I had forgotten about that until I returned last week.
I had not been to Spain this eon and though the currency was different, most other details had not changed. Returning to a place that had seemed so different and yet had changed so little reminded me of who I was, what I have left behind and what I still need to leave behind.
Journeys have the power to transform us, but only if we are prepared to return to a different home than the one we left. This week Avraham starts out the journey that will change the world and while he gains material possessions he keeps losing those things that make him who he is. He starts out by losing his home, his wife is taken from him in Egypt, his nephew leaves him to settle in Sedom and finally at the end of the Parsha he parts ways with his name and part of his body when he sanctifies himself through Brit Mila. The path to who we are is littered with the discarded remnants of who we were, are we brave enough to let go?
Shabbat shalom,
Rabbi Yehoshua Ellis