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Go Forth!—Go to You!43

“The Lord said to Abram, ‘Go forth from your native land and from your father’s house to the land that I will show you . . . Abram went forth . . . .” (Gen 12:1–4)

All the commentators already related to the expression, “Go forth” (Lekh l’kha) (an idiom which, hyperliterally, would read, ‘Go to you’). It is known from holy books that Abraham investigated and sought God in order to serve Him. In the beginning he explored the possibility that the sun is God and then that the moon and the stars were divine rulers and he examined their character. Then he considered the world of the angels, in which each angel is appointed over a certain aspect of the world, and he concluded that they are not God. Then, upon coming to the land of Israel, he continued to investigate and determined that there is a ruler who is beyond our reach, for in the land of Israel God Himself acts in a providential way, as it is written, “It is a land which the Lord your God looks after, on which the Lord your God always keeps His eye . . .” (Deut 11:12), and he understood that this Ruler is above all the other forces and that He alone is the true God who is worthy of worship, and he served Him with all his heart.

But he then thought that he had already attained all that it is possible to comprehend and that one cannot advance beyond that point, that having already reached the goal and purpose of such service he needn’t endeavor to go beyond that level of understanding. But in truth he was only at the very opening of the gate at which the truly righteous (holy men) ask of God, “Open for me the gates of righteousness” (Ps 118:19). And it is explained in the holy book, Noʿam ʾElimelekh44 concerning this verse that it is the way of the truly righteous ones to constantly examine their deeds with humility every single day, for in their own eyes they have not yet satisfactorily fulfilled their duty in respect to religious devotion, and with that recognition and striving it is possible for them to reach the place of their Root from which their souls were hewn.

And for this purpose God said to him, “Go forth” (go to you), meaning that you must go to your deeper self, for you have not yet reached the Root of your soul. And you must further humble yourself, in the way of the truly righteous, to realize that you are still situated only at the very opening of the gate and have not attained all that is possible. And you must engage in further effort to “go to yourself”—meaning to the very Root of your soul. . . .

And Abram went as the Lord had spoken to him, ascending higher levels, as God directed him. And this is understood in the holy Zohar45 on this verse as his need to go forth from his present level. Though he had already proceeded to explore and investigate the existence of the Divine, only now did he proceed further to go forth from one level of understanding to another.

Comment: While in the narrative context of the command to Abraham as it appears in the Torah one would understand the wording of the command as calling for a change of location, the Zohar read that command in a way that alluded to Abram’s need to know his deeper and truer self and to become aware of his real nature. Elimelekh of Lyzhansk, Kalonymus Kalman’s own mentor, and also the author(s) of the Zohar similarly overheard in that verse a command involving more than a change of geographical location.

In this passage, Kalonymus Kalman drew from earlier lore concerning Abram’s own religious searchings in his youngest years.46 Transcending the spirit of those tales, however, to the mind of the preacher the searchings of young Abraham went beyond a cognitive, mental or intellectual level as they required a depth of humility along with a deepening of the quality of devotion.

Abraham’s “going forth” is read here in a way that extends beyond both physical relocation itself and beyond his successfully crossing a line in rejecting polytheistic paganism in favor of a monotheistic worldview. In that sense, the Kraków preacher clearly transcended and deepened the nature of the aggadic tale of Abraham’s mental investigations. Abram goes forth, the homily makes clear, not in a single move either of body or mind, but rather in continuing to deepen his spiritual understanding also after having adopted a monotheistic view. The call to go to a deeper place within oneself is a continual command and challenge. Elimelekh of Lyzhansk explained concerning those very words that the essence of spiritual devotion and quest is to know that it is never complete.47 And to the mind of the homilist, in Abraham’s continuing to ascend from one level of understanding to another, he becomes a mystic.

Purity and Impurity of Motivation48

“Abram went forth as the Lord had commanded him, and Lot went with him.” (Gen 12:4)

One must analyze why the text made a point of reporting that “Lot went with him.” To what do those words allude? It would appear to make clear that the principal desire and motivation of our father, Abraham, may he rest in peace, was to do God’s will, and even though the blessed Holy One promised him material blessings, he was moved to go to the land of Israel solely in order to fulfill the command of his Creator and not at all by the promise of (physical) blessings; he went simply because God commanded him.

But concerning Lot, why did he hasten (to join his uncle)? He joined Abraham only because he had heard that the blessed Holy One had promised Abraham blessings in the form of wealth, children and fame, and he was moved by the expectation that he would similarly be blessed. And so it was that he was blessed for the sake of Abraham.

“Abram went forth as the Lord spoke to him”—he went for the purpose of fulfilling the command of his Creator, while Lot simply “went with him,” in order to acquire wealth and share in what was promised to Abram.

Comment: The distinction between one’s acting in a certain way for the sake of God as one fulfills a divine command and between one’s being motivated by the possibility of worldly reward is sounded in much earlier sources. Echoing talmudic comments, the contrast between these two types of motivations is defined clearly, for example, in the code of Maimonides in the distinction between ʿavodah mi-yirʾah (serving or obeying God either from fear of punishment or from expectation of reward) and ʿavodah meiʾahavah (serving God purely out of love without any consideration of reward).49

That distinction, however, was further accentuated in Hasidic teaching with its emphatic focus upon the purity or impurity of a person’s inner intent. The Torah, in various places, makes the point that following the commands of God will bring material reward. While the Hasidic masters did not negate that aspect in principle, they went out of their way to emphasize that doing any mitzvah for the purpose or consideration of reward impugns the integrity of one’s very deed. It is this distinction that the homilist located in the wording of a single verse within the episode relating to Abraham and Lot.

As the Stars That Shine by Their Own Light50

God brought Abram outdoors and said to him, “Count the stars,” and he told him “So shall your offspring be” (Gen 15:5), meaning that they will be similar to the stars which are intelligent beings, as it is written “And the knowledgeable will be radiant (like the bright expense of the sky, and those who lead the many to righteousness will be like the stars forever and ever,” Dan 12:3). For the stars do not receive brightness one from another; rather, each one shines by itself, by its own light, and therefore the light of one star is not similar to that of another. And God promised him, “So shall your offspring be,” in that each one of them will serve God according to that person’s own intelligence (and inner lights), and their mitzvot will not be in the manner of something that one person learns from another. Rather, all will be true (springing from an inner truth of the person). And understand.

Comment: Just as, echoing the Zohar, Kalonymus Kalman provided a meaning to the words Lekh-l’kha, which directed the listener’s understanding in quite an unexpected direction, so he similarly provided an unexpected suggestion for the reference to the stars in connection with God’s words to Abraham. This is the case even though the Torah-text makes it quite clear that the implication is numerical in nature: Abraham’s descendents will be too numerous to be counted.

Kalonymus Kalman heard in that reference to the stars something very different—not their vast number, but rather the idea that “each star shines by its own light.” To the Kraków preacher, the stars are to serve as a model for the individual. One should not seek to be a carbon copy of anyone else. Rather each person has to reach deep within himself to find the gateway to understanding. That image of “shining by one’s own light” is reflected in a number of the preacher’s other homilies and serves as one of the principal thrusts and concerns of the homilist. In his turning to the stars as a model of true community, Kalonymus Kalman was perhaps inspired by an early rabbinic source which taught that “just as among the stars there is no hatred or envy or rivalry, so it is the case among the righteous, and just as among the stars the light of one is not similar to that of another, so it will be among the righteous.”51

43. Maʾor va-shemesh, I, 8b-9a.

44. Noʿam ʾElimelekh (Lekh-l’kha).

45. Zohar, I, 78b.

46. See Sefer ha-yashar, ed. Dan, 68; also Ginzberg, Legends, 5:210, n. 16.

47. Likkutei shoshanah (affixed to Noʿam ʾElimelekh), beginning.

48. Maʾor va-shemesh, I, 9a.

49. Maimonides, Mishneh torah, Hilkhot teshuvah, ch. 10.

50. Maʾor va-shemesh, I, 11a.

51. Sipre: ʿEkev, 83a, #47, on Deut 11:21.