Thought for the Week Parshas Lech Lecha - A Man Alone, Rabbi Yaakov Winner - 5787

Khaverim, how are you? I hope everyone is gezunt, shtark, and full of bracha and hatzlacha. I hope everyone is healthy, strong, and happy physically and spiritually. Today is Erev Shabbos Kodesh, Parshas Lech Lecha. Before we start, as usual, we'll give some tzedaka. Today we'll start tzedaka to make a rebbes a geulah. Tzedaka brings Mashiach. Mashiach should come now. We'll say a prayer. This is a prayer we say every single day by Shacharis where it mentions Avraham Avinu specifically, and that is we say in "Vayivarech Dovid" where it says, "Ata Hashem Elokeim asher bacharta b'Avram v'hotzeiso mimeni Ur Kasdim v'samta sh'mo Avraham." Hashem, you chose Avram. You brought him out of Ur Kasdim, and you gave him the name Avraham. U'matzosa es l'vavo ne'eman l'fanecha. And you found this heart faithful before you. So, Avram is seen as the role model and the example, the first of our forefathers, and something someone, a hero, a superhero, we're meant to think about every single day to inspire us. So, everyone knows the famous saying of the Rebbe in that Parshas Lech Lecha is the emtza felliga parsha. There was Parshas Bereishis, there was Parshas Noach, and we really begin living with the parsha in a whole different level when we start Lech Lecha. We start living every single day with Avraham Avinu. That's the saying of the Rebbe. So, what I'm going to speak about today, we spoke already once before. It's a sicha in chelek I think chelek chof. Lech Lecha beis. It talks about the idea of reward for mitzvos. But today, as usual, we're going to put it together a bit differently and talk about more relevant, in a way, and applicable to situations that are going on in our lives. But, let's start right away with the famous words "Vayehi bin Avram", the first pasuk of this week's parashah. Hashem tells Avram "Lech l'cha, go for yourself." And Rashi says "Lech l'cha, what is the interpretation of go for yourself? La'anatcha u'ltovatcha, for your pleasure and for your benefit." So, [snorts] as usual, the point and the purpose of all this shiurim is to shed light through the interpretation of Chassidus and to bring it to a whole new level. On one level, when we're learning this week's parashah, and it starts where it says "Lech l'cha, la'anatcha, go for yourself, for your pleasure and for your benefit." So, is that something special? That someone is going to follow a command for the Avishter, for his pleasure and for his benefit? That's what it means when you're doing something shelo lishmah, not for the right reasons. You're not doing it because it's the right thing, you're doing it because it's good for you. It's good for your bank account. And like all these amazing brachos that Hashem gives Avraham Avinu. And that's the whole point, that even though you might think that travel is going to diminish areas of blessings, the pasuk right away immediately mentions awesome, awesome blessings. But, the question is an obvious question. Number one, who is seen as the epitome of serving the Avishter lishmah, for no ulterior motives? Actually, >> [laughter] >> the utmost example is Avraham Avinu. It's in the Perek Halacha at Rambam. The very famous Halakha Rambam Hilkhot Teshuvah Perek Yud Halakha Bet. And what does the Rambam say? Oved me'ahavah. And by the way, this is why the pasuk says um tzos asher levavi. Whose heart does Hashem favor? Avraham Avinu. Because when you love someone, the ultimate of love means you're doing it totally, absolutely, purely for the other person. That means love. As we mentioned many times, the word ahavah comes from the word hav, which means to give. You're completely selfless. It's all about giving the other and bringing benefit to the other, so to speak. And the Rambam says as follows, Oved me'ahavah, the one who serves Hashem out of love, obviously true love, is one who's osek baTorah u'mitzvos v'holech b'nisivos haChokhmah. He goes in the path, he occupies himself with Torah u'mitzvos, and he goes in the paths of wisdom, lo mipnei davar b'olam, not for anything of this world, v'lo mipnei yiras ha'onash, not because he's scared of evil or punishment, v'lo kedei l'hasiag ta'avah, not in order to acquire benefit, like for olam haba, so to speak, for the world to come. These words are the most very famous words of the Rambam, one of the most famous words. Ela oseh emes mipnei she'emes. He does what's true because it's true. Truth for truth's sake. And then the Rambam says, v'hi ma'alas Avraham Avinu, and this is the quality, the superiority, of Avraham Avinu, shekara'ahu Hakadosh Baruch Hu ohavo, that Hashem called Avraham the one who loved me, lifnei shelo avad ela me'ahavah. He's the only one that served the only out of love. So here it comes out to be so ironic that precisely the one who is seen as the example specimen A of someone who served the nation is and over here we have this whole description description of reward. Not only that later on the person in the partial also says it's you'll get exceedingly rewarded. So we see the reward is stressed many times. And we have to understand how does the truth of him mean? So before we get to the answer specifically about the reward, there's a couple of things to say over here. And that is something we've mentioned many times and it cannot be stressed enough. The superiority, the quality of a Jew that makes the Jew outstanding and different is selfless. Selflessness. There's selfish, there's self, and there's selfless and selflessness. The novelty of a Jew and only a Jew and I'm not going into the length right now is that the idea of selflessness is only possible because a Jew has a neshama which Abraham had. Hashem chose a Jew. He inserted in the Jew, injected the Jew with a spark a and this gives him the ability to be selfless absolutely. And therefore from that comes many things. Let's start with Abraham. There is an interpretation here by Abraham let go could mean not only as Rashi says, for yourself, but Lech Lecha means go to yourself, to your true self. We'll get to that soon. But it also means Lech Lecha, go on your path. Lech Lecha, go to yourself and meaning to say by yourself. The Jewish way is going to be a way which is lonely. In other words, the whole idea which is a very important point that has to be stressed again and again, look at this possuk for a second. What is Hashem telling Avram? What's the first test? Lech Lecha Me'artzecha Me'moladetecha Me'veis Avicha. Separate yourself from your entire social world. Separate yourself from society. Separate yourself from your country. Separate yourself from whatever was your comfort zone, whatever was which you were relaxed. And what do you have to do now? Go. Where? He doesn't tell him where. In other words, it's about sticking with Hashem, following his instruction, even though it means that he has to separate himself several times with everything of his life and whatever his life was beforehand. And why? Cuz this is a Jew. Echod Hu Avram. The way of the Jew is that he's going to be as the story with Avram and this week's parsha later says the words, Avram Ha'ivri, as explained what is Ivri mean? Ivri means from the other side. The entire world is on one side and Avram is on the other side. At that time, the world was a world that did not believe in monotheism. They bowed down to idols and to statues, etc. And Hoy Avraham Avinu was one man against the world. And here comes the famous question. Was the entire world wrong? And the answer is yes. And this is so important right now, especially when we're dealing with the situation with Israel and the criticisms and the anti-semitism and the hate core and this organization, human rights, etc. Genocide, schmenocide, it's all bubbe meises. But then someone's going to come to you, "Hello, you're right and the whole world is wrong?" >> [laughter] >> How could that be? And the answer is alte kasha. It's alte maise. It already happened before with blood libels and so on and so forth and I have no time for you. Yaakov Winner is not the advocate for Jewish history and for Judaism. But know, my son, that it starts with the first Jew. Echod Hoy Avraham. That's the way of the Jew. He's going to be standing on one side with the world and the entire world is going to be against him. And you're fighting against the current. You're fighting with etc. Now this is so important and we It cannot be emphasized enough and enough that this is the way of the Jew. And it also sheds light on another situation. I don't want to get into it now. There's so much to talk about and so much to learn and so much to think about. Lech Lecha, these two words themselves. But as a side point, even though I didn't want to speak about it today, is there's another question about being engaged with the world or not being engaged with the world. The Lubavitcher Hasidim were very much living with the purpose, with the mission statement of to transform the world to make it a dwelling place for Hashem. But what has to be emphasized again and again is the only way you could successfully make this world a dwelling place for Hashem and to transform the world is first you have to be a part of the world, a part, a p a r t as a word in itself. Lech lecha me'artzecha, miladitecha, mibes avicha, sever all ties to your social media, to your social world, to your comfort zone, wherever you came from before, and transcend. Understand that the entire world has a different world view and a different perspective. When a person is connected to that which is totally higher than the world and he transcends, then he could be part, a part as two words, of the world and then transform it. But first, my friend, it starts with lech lecha me'artzecha, miladitecha, mibes avicha, first severing ties and realize this point that you have to be above it, connected to a superior force, to a superior power, and only when you connected to that superior force, to superior power, power of the truth, of the truth, what the truth is, then you'll be able to successfully transform the world and elevate the world. Okay. Now, to really understand the mission of Avram, which lech lecha, to understand the contest that Rashi says over here, for your benefit, but the truth is there's a Medrish, which that Medrish really explains and illuminates what's going on over here. There's a Medrash that said like this, "Omer Reb Berachiah, Reb Berachiah said, "Lemah hoyah Avraham Avinu dameh?" To what was Avraham compared? L'etz lo'eich she'el la'pufles shamen. To a flask of balsam oil, a fragrance. She'hayah shomen neichah b'zavis, who was sitting in a corner. She'hayah shomen neichah b'zavis achas, who was sitting in a corner at one corner, v'lo hayah rei'ach no'deif. Its fragrance, its smell, its beautiful aroma could not be smelled. Kivan she'hayah m'taltlin o'so, when you move that flask about, hayah rei'ach no'deif, then its good smell was spread. Kachah amar Hakadosh Baruch Hu l'Avraham Avinu, "So, too, Hashem told Avraham Avinu, taltel atzmecha mi'makom l'makom, move yourself from place to place, v'shimcha yisgadel b'olam, and then you'll become great. Lech l'cha." So, the Medrash, as an introduction to Lech L'cha, is saying that he has a mission. And his mission is to spread the goodness and the kindness and the belief, monotheism, spreading godliness and the knowledge and appreciation and awareness and consciousness of Hashem throughout the world. As long as Avraham Avinu was in that place where he was before, mei'artzecha u'milad'techa u'mibeis Avicha, so the world was not getting the message. And the mission and the purpose of Avraham's existence wasn't realized. And how does it realized? When he's going to move about. So, in other words, for us Lubavitchers, it's shlichus. The words lech lecha represent shlichus. I'm sending you on a mission, lech lecha. And what's the mission? The mission is to spread the perfume. There's a problem. We need perfume. You are the perfume. The spiritual perfume, which can either bring beauty to the world and elevate the world. And here comes another point, we're based on something else that the Rebbe says. Rashi brings out over here that you would think that travel diminishes certain blessings, see there. But according to what the Rebbe writes in different places, the tiltul atzmecha, which is like shlichus, really, it's not despite the travel we get the blessings, but in a way the disruption brings the blessings. Because there's another element over here to the story of Avraham Avinu, which is the basis of all adventures and journeys and fiction, and that is the hero has to go through some adventure. He has to go through some journey. And this journey is going to challenge him to his very core, and only by digging deeper will reveal aspects of his personality that he never had before, and then he brings out his true greatness. Guess what? That's exactly the story of Avraham Avinu. It's by the tiltul atzmecha mimokem lemokem, when you have a disruption and you have movement, and you go out of your comfort zone, and it's the opposite of complacency, and you face a challenge, you become stronger, greater, better, deeper, higher because of it. And that's another aspect to this whole idea of lech lecha. Now, we understand what lech lecha means. We understand that the whole point over here is connected to selflessness, number one, the idea of the test and why this is the first test. Imagine someone today being told, "Sever ties with your entire previous life." Yes, your wife is going with you. But besides for that, sever ties with your entire previous life, whatever your job was, whoever your neighbors were, your entire world, your entire world. How could a person have the ability to be able to transcend his entire world? In other words, in other words, exercise selflessness. Selfish, forget about it. But even severing ties from your previous self. And the answer is, this is the story of a Jew, that he has that power to exercise selflessness. And it starts with lech lecha, cuz if you reach the true essence of a Jew, he has that ability ability to be absolutely selfless. And now we understand that when we talk about benefit and we talk about s'char, what does it mean? And this is what the Rebbe says in that sicha, that all the reward that Avraham Avinu is getting, it's all, so to speak, for the good of the company. L'maan If you have a person who does the right thing, and he's happier, and every single area of his life is blessed, so that's the best advertisement for the truth of the true way. And as we spoke many times, the word emes, aleph mem saf, means that it permeates every single layer, every single level, every single arena. So too over here by Avraham Avinu whatever blessings he's getting the blessings, of course, mean that you're going to be blessed on a simple level, which is very, very good. But the real meaning of these blessings is it's because it's good for the company. It's good for Yiddishkeit. It's good for the Aibershter. That's going to spread Yiddishkeit more. When a person sees that the person who lives with Yiddishkeit has a better life, a more meaningful life a true happiness then more people will be attracted to it and see the truth of this way of life. And that's the truth and that's the meaning and the interpretation of reward. The whole point of the reward in Avram's life is that the mission the company the cause should be enhanced. Nothing to do with self but about the cause. Ha'emes min ha'shamayim emes. See the sicha over there at length. Now just to bring an example of this and it's really, really a very, very deep story but there's a story of the Rebbe the there's a story but the Rebbe um um says and quotes in Yonoshan Teresach Sidos a very, very famous talk of the Rebbe and he brings over there a famous story which the story is printed in Hayom Yom of Av Cheshvan and I'm going to read you the story as it's printed in Hayom Yom and where the Rebbe explains it in the story in Kuntres Inyanim. It says in Hayom Yom as follows, when the Alter Rebbe wanted to bless Reb Kitsis Leple with wealth, he says he doesn't want it cuz he doesn't want the wealth to shalat tadri milim chassidus. He didn't want to interfere with his study of chassidus and his involvement in serving Hashem. And then when the Alter Rebbe wanted to bless him with long life, so Reb Kitsis Leple answered "I need parnassah but not with peasant years, vos anaim yiru, vos anaim yishmu. Not years of those who have eyes but do not see, who have ears but do not hear." Men zekenu ketalkhait, umen ketalkhait. They neither see nor hear godliness. So, the Rebbe asks on this story, "I don't understand. If someone's going to give you a blessing, you're going to make conditions on the blessing? If someone's going to give you a blessing for life, you're going to say, "Amen, ken yehi ratzon" for long life. You can say "Amen, ken yehi ratzon." Thank you very much. You're not going to go say, "You know what? I don't like that. I want a better life, such a life, etc., etc." And the Rebbe answers to that, "So in other words, why is he making conditions?" And the Rebbe answers on this that Reb Kitsis Leple was not making conditions. It was defining to the Alter Rebbe what does life mean. What does it mean what does life mean? Exactly this point. In other words, like this. There's one way to say there's a life, and life is a good thing. Leviticus is a good zach. And in addition to that, a higher life, a better life, a deeper life is when this life is connected to the kodesh. That's one way to look at it. Or there's a deeper, deeper way, much deeper way, and now's not the time to elaborate. Is that lev the kite made garnished? Life by itself means nothing unless it's a life connected to God. Not that it's a better life. That is the definition of life. You know, they make a joke. They say football is not a matter of life and death. It's much more important than that. So, it's the same thing over here. I have the love of dollars. Yiddishkeit is more important than life, so to speak. Life itself has no meaning unless it's a life connected to Yiddishkeit. And the Rebbe gives an example. Imagine if you went over to a prince and you told him, "I want to give you a long life living in a zoo together with a gorilla." He's not going to say, "Amen." That's not going to be a life at all for someone who's a prince, etc. And the Rebbe in the kuntres in Yoma Shoteh Achsidis what he says over there is such an amazing vort and I will read it to you. Hashem He says that when we say modeh ani lifanecha melech chai vekayam sheh he chazarta bi nishmasi b'chemlah rabah umehemanuscha, when you thank God that he returned your soul, my soul to myself, what are we thanking Hashem for? Most people when they say modeh ani, they think about their idea >> [snorts] >> of being maleh emunah. Thank God that I'm alive. Al derech hamedush it says kol haneshimah letabeach YK kol neshamah uneshimah. Every breath you take you have to thank Hashem, which is true. On a lower level. But if we're talking about as the Rebbe says in the sicha over there yechidah sheh benehesh, when we talk about the essence of your soul itself, the highest level, there's nothing else. Kul ha'olam kulo ein od milvado, there's nothing else but Hashem. What are you thanking Hashem for? What's your greatest joy? And the only joy is that you're a Yid. And that's why it says "I am before you always." I thank you for giving me my soul. My soul. What's the emphasis on the word "my soul"? My soul. And what does it mean my soul? The soul of a Yid. So, this is the lesson that we have to take from this week's portion. Go forth. And living with the first Jew. And the story of Abraham our father starts with selflessness. And what does it mean to be a Jew? To exercise your selflessness. Your life is about others. Your life is about bringing benefit to others. Your life is about serving. Your life is about the mission. Like the Rambam says, that he does the essence of the issue essence. Now, even though literally speaking we're not only by that level, obviously. But every single day of our life, we have a bit of that we have that in us. That's our unique soul. And every single day when we say "I thank you for giving me my soul." I thank you for giving me my soul. We're meant to think that idea. Thank God that I'm a Yid. And thank God that God gave me this ability to be able to transcend. And this concept of transcending and selflessness is something you have to work on every single day. That my level of selflessness today is more than it was yesterday. And tomorrow it's going to be even more. And the more we will exercise our Jewishness, which this is the definition of Jewishness. Our Jewishness means that we're completely obsessed with God, and with what the mission is. And with what the mission is, and what the cause is, and by us dedicating ourselves to have such a life, we'll get rewarded at every single level like all the rewards that Avraham Avinu had, all mankind every single Yid should be blessed in all areas of his life like Avraham Avinu was blessed in but as usual in order for us to be Caleb vehicles to these blessings, we have to make ourselves a vehicle and how do we make ourselves a vehicle? By pledging our allegiance hinayni like Avraham Avinu said, so we're all shouting out loud hinayni. We are here for Hashem to do what he wants, to play our role in the army of Hashem and through this we'll bring about the ultimate redemption take it from me mamash.