Lech Lecha and the unwrapping of our Souls

Last weeks Torah energy validates the sacred “Ark” spaces that we all devise — our designated escape hatches that we crawl through when we feel the need to “forget about life for while.”

This week Lech Lecha, we see the other side of the coin, the way Judaism respects retreat, but only till a certain point.

This week we are gently evicted from those arks, fully disengaging from the bubble of the days of Awe, coming off the — high of the high holidays, completely launched back into a re-engagement with the fullness and complexity of life.

We are reminded that the reason that Noah was not tapped to be the first official Jew in the world was due to a rejection of his worldview, one that treated escape as a lifestyle unto itself.

Rashi gives us important insight into his way of thinking when he describes Noah the Tzadik, as a “believer AND a non believer.”

How does this work? It seems as strange as describing someone as a “partial atheist?”

The Chassidic Rebbes explain.

When Noach is described as a believer, it’s referring to his faith in G-d. When he’s described as a non believer its referring to his lack of faith in himself, his lack of faith in the transformational capacity of man in general, or as Reb Shlomo put it “he didn’t believe that g-d believed in him” which is why he built the ark without even putting up a fight.

Today we disembark, and free ourselves from that way of being in the world. We are greeted at the bottom of the ramp by Abraham welcoming us into the world that he pioneered, the Lech Lecha world.

Abraham was considered the first Jew, because he taught the first “big idea” of Torah —

While Noah might have been a man who believed in the existence of a celestial G-d up in the heavens Abraham discovered how that same G-d can be found right here in the thick of our lives on earth.

Abraham welcomes us this week — into a world in which we are emboldened to travel Inward to our “Lecha” authentic self.

Though we can always duck into the outside places when we don’t want to feel pain, or face adversity, the Noah story helps us understand that we cannot permanently outrun the uncertainties of life, they will catch up to us sooner or later.

The Ark gives Noah temporary relief.

Avraham wants us to think long term.

The only way to do that he teaches, is through Lech Lecha. Go to it. Get inside it. Think of it like an elevator. Your trapped by it, but you can ride in that trap, all the way up to the top floor. Don’t try and outrun the challenging areas of your life! Follow them bravely, and they can lift you all the way up to the promised land of your own authentic soulfulness — to the “Land” of your own Neshama, the “Land which I will show you.”

Avraham the first Jew says “if you feel like something is cracking in you, don’t run to the ark — don’t shelter yourself from it.

Follow its sound.

Hear what its trying to tell you.

Use it.

Befriend it.

Suddenly what seems like a cracking suddenly becomes a hatching. A birthing. The cracking layers peel away and reveal the true self. The real Neshama. Finally unwrapped.

Our true Lecha selves await us all.

Rabbi Yossi ☺))))))