In this week's Parsha, Parshat Lech-Lecha, G-d says to Avraham, “Go from your land, from your birthplace and from your father’s house, to the land which I will show you,” where G-d tells him he will become a great nation. Avraham, along with his wife, Sara, and nephew Lot, travels to Canaan, where Avraham builds an altar and speaks the message of the one G-d.

Throughout this Parsha, we see Avraham go through a series of trials and tribulations.  A famine leads them to Egypt, where Sara is taken to the Pharaoh, but Avraham escapes death by claiming that he and Sara are siblings. A plague stops the Egyptian king from seducing Sara, persuading him to return her to Avraham and reward the brother-turned-husband with gold, silver, and cattle before insisting they leave Egypt. We then see Lot, Avraham’s nephew, separate from Avraham and settle in the evil city of Sodom. He is taken captive when Chedorlaomer's armies and his three allies conquer the five cities of the Sodom Valley. Avraham leads a small group to rescue his nephew, overcomes the four kings, and is praised by Malki-Zedek, King of Salem (Jerusalem).

Several messages may be derived from this story, but Avraham's unwavering resilience and faith in G-d are the most relevant. He continues to build altars and spread the word of one true G-d, regardless of a world that seemingly rejects everything he strives to teach. 

The concept of leaving our comfort zone —what we are familiar with —in the hope of understanding and embracing something larger than ourself resonates with me now more than ever. Having just returned from our journey to Poland, where we visited sites of both Jewish tragedy and resilience, we may initially describe the Holocaust as a time of unimaginable destruction and hatred. However, as we stood in those places where Jews were once targeted for extermination, the fact that we, as Jewish students from a Jewish school, were there – alive, learning, and remembering – gave an entirely new meaning to the concepts of resilience and faith.

The journey of Lech Lecha teaches us that every trial and challenge, no matter how great or small, is merely a stepping stone we must overcome to achieve our greater purpose.

Thank you and Shabbat Shalom

Written by Lili, Grade 12