Parshat Lech Lecha opens with G-d's famous call to Avraham, launching his life's mission. The verse reads, "G-d said to Avram, 'Go for yourself from your land... to the land that I will show you'" (Bereishit 12:1).
At first glance, G-d seems to give only part of the instruction, the command to depart, leaving the destination for later. However, the difficulty with this reading, as Rabbi Shem Tov ibn Shem Tov points out, is that such a directive cannot be acted upon. A person cannot travel toward a generality. One sets out for a specific place, along a specific road. What, then, was G-d promising to show him?
Rabbi Shem Tov therefore reads the verse differently. Avraham knew where he was heading. What G-d promised was to show him what that land truly was, the place destined for him and his descendants. Indeed, G-d continues, "I will make you into a great nation, I will bless you and make your name great, and you shall be a blessing" (Bereishit 12:2). This was the place where Avraham's mission would flourish. There he would teach the world about G-d, and there he would see his blessings unfold.
"The land that I will show you" is therefore not a land whose name is still to come. It is a land whose very nature is to show. Other places shelter us. This land will show us. Here a person sees, clearly and tangibly, who they are meant to be and what their life is truly accomplishing.
Every person carries a quiet uncertainty about whether they are on the right path, and whether their life is making the difference it was meant to make. To Avraham, G-d gives an answer. You will not have to wonder. You will see it.
This is the story of every Jewish person, every child of Avraham. G-d places each of us where our mission can come to life. May we merit, as He promised our father Avraham, to see it.
Shabbat Shalom
