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Glossary – Lech Lecha (Go Forth) Parsha – Weekly Torah Portion

Go Forth

Go forth from your desire, regardless of how fine it may seem to you. You must come to a new state, a new degree. Each time, “Go forth” indicates that you will constantly be on the way, going upward.

Canaan

Canaan is the land of Israel when it is still not fully corrected.

Hunger

Hunger means I cannot satisfy my will to receive, if I am as an Egyptian, or that I cannot satisfy my desire to bestow, if I am as a Jew, seeking unification with the Creator.

Sister

There are several names that we use to refer to the will to receive. Among them are “sister,” “wife,” and “servant.” The word, “Sister,” refers to the will to receive you can use with filling of Hochma (wisdom), as it is written, “Say unto wisdom, ‘You are my sister’” (Proverbs, 7:4).

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What Is the Meaning of the Dungeon that Abraham Was Thrown into, in the Bible Story?

Continuing the story of Abraham’s defiance of Nimrod, Abraham is thrown into a dungeon for ten years.

The dungeon that your Abraham is thrown into is the optimal state for your development at this time. Your Abraham must realize that he is hopelessly attached to his ego. He must experience it first-hand, not conceptually, but really feel it. And the only way to feel it and clearly see that the ego is an evil force of darkness robbing you of your freedom, is to put yourself “deep into the earth,” in the dungeon—the darkest and innermost part of your ego, where you can’t help but feel terrible and shackled by it. This can only be done in the prison of the ego, in the bowels of the earth.

Here, Abraham is going through a phase that every person who cannot let go of his ego goes through. You try everything in your power to reconcile the ego with what you’re studying; you wish to remain an egoist, yet connect to the Creator at the same time. Thus, Abraham finds himself imprisoned.

You already know about the existence of the Upper Governance when you are already with Abraham, but you realize that your nature cannot be defeated.

This is the state called “imprisonment,” which lasts until you begin to realize that you can regain your freedom, but not by your own efforts. Rather, you can be free only if the Creator rescues you.

It takes time to realize this.

As the Midrash states, your Abraham remains in prison for ten years. Needless to say, we’re not talking about corporeal years, for your liberation can happen in an instant. Ten years later, Nimrod finally realizes that Abraham cannot be broken, and orders to have him executed.

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What Is the Meaning of Abraham Shattering the Idols of Terah in the Bible?

A woman came into Terah’s idol shop, carrying with her a bowl filled with flour as an offering to idols. Abraham took an axe and shattered all the idols except for the biggest one. When Terah returned and saw the destruction in his shop, he shouted, “What happened here?”

“Why should I conceal the truth from you?” Abraham answered. “While you were gone, a woman came in and made an offering of flour to the idols. Every one of the idols exclaimed that he wanted to eat it first. The biggest idol grew angry, grabbed the axe, and shattered all the others.”

“What is this nonsense?” Terah asked angrily, “You know as well as I do that idols don’t eat and don’t move, to say nothing of fighting.”

“Is that right?” Abraham countered. “But if what you say is true, why do you serve them?”

Here your Abraham springs into action. He begins to explain to your other desires, great and small, men and women, about the ego that rules over you. That is, the first time Abraham is revealed in you, it is as a teacher. He says to you the following: “The ego cannot protect you; it cannot raise you or fulfill you. It cannot!”

What’s interesting here is that Abraham appeals to you, an egoist, saying that your egoistic desires will never be fulfilled. Or rather, he appeals to the ego to seek out new ways to fulfill itself. The search for self-fulfillment is egoistic, to be sure, but it is precisely this search that will bring you to the Creator. Essentially, the ego willingly embarks on the path of self-destruction.

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What Is the Meaning of Abraham’s Development in the Cave in the Bible?

What are the growth conditions you must provide for your Abraham? You must put him in a cave.

It means to create in the earth, in your own ego, a special place in which Abraham (Bina, the part of the Creator in you, the intention to bestow) can develop.

In other words, in this egoistic, material world, filled with corrupt calculations and hatred, where people exploit one another for personal profit, you must dig a cave for yourself, meaning choose a special environment.

You must find like-minded friends who also aspire to the spiritual, books that describe the exalted, spiritual worlds, and a guide who will lead you toward the spiritual goal. If you do this, it will mean that you have dug a cave in the earth.

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What Is the Meaning of Abraham and Terah in the Bible?

As we read in the story of Babylon, initially the ego, “Nimrod” is in power, demanding to always be worshipped. “Do whatever it takes to make others respect you,” your ego keeps murmuring.

It follows that your Nimrod is incredibly dependent on other people. He must support them, pay them, nurture them, and at the same time, oppress them.

Indeed, the ego rises precisely when it oppresses others. Hence, the next degree of the ego’s (Nimrod’s) development in you is when it begins to recognize its own dependence, vulnerability, and fragility.

This process is called “the recognition of evil in Nimrod.” It is when you finally get the feeling that your freedom is somehow restricted.

You are dependent on everybody else. That is the problem of kings, presidents, and whoever else might be in power. But in reality, it is the problem of every person.

So your next degree is Abraham. He is freedom, he is ascent, he is the revolutionary idea that comes to you after all the suffering, and the discoveries that bestowal, not reception, must be the sole purpose of your existence. He wants to deny and discard all the lies and excesses. This is the new degree arising in you, in your Nimrod.

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