Lech Lecha: What’s So Special About 75?

Hi, this is Rabbi Laskin with the Parsha in 5, where in 5 minutes we try to give you a little insight into the Parsha. Parsha's Lech L'cha. I've always felt that Parsha's Lech L'cha is really the beginning of the year because Bereishit and Noach is really the story of the world. Starting with Lech L'cha, we start to tell the story of the Jewish people. As Rashi explains in Divrei Hayamim, when you lose a pearl in the sand, you dig around in the sand till you find the pearl and then you know, you toss away the rest of the sand. So, when we start with the story of the Jewish people, that's that's the main part. And how old is Avraham Avinu at Lech L'cha? 75. How do you know? Cuz the Posuk says Avraham Avinu is 75. It's really pretty straightforward. The only problem is that Rashi makes a calculation that at the Bris bein habetarim he was 70. Now, how you work out those 5 years, that's for a different discussion. But this much is clear. Even though the story of what takes place in Lech L'cha has an incident that happens when he's 70, we introduce the Parsha, Avraham Avinu is introduced when he's 75. Why is that? So, you know, numbers have significance. And 7 and 8 are two numbers that are very important. 7 is this world. And whenever you see the number 7, you're describing this world. The 7 days of creation, the 70 nations of the world. 7 is the number that basically captures this world and the description is I think of a cube, which is a three-dimensional figure, four sides and up and down. And the point in the middle that brings it all together is the 7. I used to say this, but I heard Rebbetzin Heller say it, so I'd rather quote her." Yeah, it's the little bull inside of the Rubik's Cube that allows all of the pieces to move. It's the little hexagon in the middle of the Magen David that hold the little six points together. That's what the seven is. There's the six sides and the point in the middle that brings it together. That's what seven is and that's this world. So, what then by definition is eight? Outside of this world. And so, parashah's Noach is filled with sevens. Um he tells them to bring seven of every clean bird, seven of every clean animal. When he finally gets on to the ark, he tells them to wait another seven days. Yeah, when he is ready to get off when the when the when the ark rests, the teivah comes to rest on Har Ararat, he sends out uh the raven and it won't go anywhere. So, he waits seven days. Then he sends out the dove and it comes back. And he waits another seven days and he sends out the dove again. Yeah, and it's always seven days and then he comes out and he gets what are known as the sheva mitzvot b'nei Noach, the seven Noachide laws. And then Hashem makes a bris with him with the rainbow, the seven colors of the rainbow. And then we hear about the 70 nations and how their languages get split into 70 languages. 70 and seven is the same number, right? Seven, 70, 700, they're all the same number, right? It's just taken to a higher level. And you have all of these sevens. And then when you come to Lech Lecha, Avraham is 75, says the Maharal. 75 is seven and a half. Because Avraham Avinu is coming out of the world which is seven and he's going into the world that is eight. He's moving beyond the limitations of this world and that's why as Rashi reports when he says to Hashem, "I see in the stars that I will never have a child." So, Hashem lifts him above the stars. He takes him out of the seven and brings him into the eight. And he says, "When you make that transition from the seven to the eight, when you go into a world of kedusha that is outside of this world, outside of the limitations, all things are possible." And that's why that parsha Lech Lecha ends with the bris milah on the eighth day. And after he has the bris milah, then he's able to give birth to Yitzchak, somebody who is capturing that power of that eight, the holiness, which takes you beyond the limitations of this world. That is the story of the Jew. We go that journey from the seven to the eight. In the middle, we are 75, seven and a half, and we make that transition because the Jewish people are beyond the normal rules. As Mark Twain in his famous essay concerning the Jews said, "Everything is mortal but the Jew." The Jew is outside of the existence. And so, Lech Lecha is the story of that journey from becoming a regular person to becoming a Jew who is outside of the limitations of the world. And then we begin our job in this world to perfect the world and become the chosen people. Good Shabbos.