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Leah’s Blog Parshat Lech Lecha 2024

Lech lecha – Leah’s Blog – November 2024

Difficult Roads often lead to Beautiful Destinations

Almost every night I’ve been going through bags and bags of sunflower seeds, the cracking of them breaks through nerves you can’t deny you feel at times. Their shells hump up into huge heaps. When I meet them in the morning on the counter here as the birds chip peacefully and the calm settles with the dew, I remember the night before. At night things feel different; more a time of anticipation that often collides with “feeling tired”. Everything has gone completely El Ninjo, yin and yang colliding at full speed. This morning there is a rocket alert for Massadah. Massadah- there – in the middle of the desert! In the middle of that desolation, they are aiming to hit. Why?

“And the earth was without form, helter- skelter and void: and darkness was upon the face of the deep” והארץ הייתה תוהו ובהו וחושך על פני תהום”

Moving forward, Noah builds an ark, a safe place to ride the troubled waters- for those remnants that have chosen goodness over evil.

“And the earth was filled with Hamas ” ” ותישחת הארץ לפני ה ותמלא הארץ חמאס

After the “dust settles”, Noah and his family are instructed to leave the ark, that safe place, and begin the journey of fixing the world.

Our Parsha, Lech Lecha is nestled upon these two foundational chapters of destruction but promise. Blooming into growing light in the world, Avraham Avinu chooses Hashem, the one G-d. In all likelihood his mission will not be easy as we have already learned about the chaos, havoc and “nisayone” (being tried) in the world and that surrounds him. Let’s face it, Avraham began as one, while the whole world was “on the other side”. The book of Bereishit and the time we are in now opens a new page. A few years ago, Moshe and I were on a train that left from Helsinki to St. Petersburg. In his usual custom, he pulled out his Talmud and began to learn. Soon enough the ticket collector (who was Russian) asked about “the book” he was holding. “Oh, it is very old! Ancient actually” Moshe said. “What! You have collateral worth money that was not claimed?!”- taking the book in his hand and inspecting it but seeing it actually looked quite new. After explaining that this was linked to the Bible, the oldest book on earth he settled down, gave us a puzzled look and continued checking tickets, looking into our eyes even as he stood at a distance

We are an ancient people promised an ancient Land. We review the Torah in its entirety every single week. Now we are back to the beginning. “In the beginning G-d created the heavens and the earth but there was a great darkness”. Canaan was not a perfect place. At the time Avraham lived in the world, it was sparsely populated. Hashem could have sent Avraham to Hawaii or the Maldives to live a life of Zen and serenity. But to be blessed is be on a mission. Canaan had to be rectified. Land covenants were sealed here on the spinal cord of this Land- the portal to heaven. Israel sits on the middle axis. Soon we will be reading about the stairway to heaven. This is story of fixing TOHU VEVOHU. It’s about difficult roads that often lead to beautiful destinations; Lord do I know it. There are wars, anguish and even at times you are asked to sacrifice the most precious. Good and evil are clashing now- Hashem promised us complete victory and redemption- the sun is rising- I can see it! The focus will be on these very places our forefathers tread upon- on the eternal Land Covenant places. STAY TUNED! We are in for a ride.

Shabbat shalom- Leah

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Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxxo sending you all my love and blessings, Leah