Lech Lecha: Struggling in a Promised Land You Don't Possess

Rabbi Asher Lopatin

Abraham: "My God, Lord: How will I know that I will inherit the Land?"
Genesis 15:8

Yitzchak Rabin: "For years I had secretly harbored the dream that I
might play a role . . . in restoring the Western Wall to the Jewish
people. . . . Suddenly I wondered why, I, of all men, should be so
privileged." (from his memoirs)

We usually think of Avraham and Sarah as leading successful lives.
They make the move to Canaan, they have a following, they finally have
the children they want. They pass monotheism to at least some of their
children and grandchildren, and they merit to live and die in the Holy
Land. But late in this week's parshah of Lech Lecha, Avraham reveals
his frustration with all the promises God has given him: the promise of
becoming a great people, not yet fulfilled; and the promise of being
the father of all nations, not yet fulfilled - as we see in the stories
of the kings who attack Lot, Avraham's nephew, and the wickedness of
Sodom, whom Avraham later rescues. Finally, Avraham has not taken
possession of the land which God has promised him. In fact, the
Midrash believes that part of the tension between Lot and Avraham, and
the reason for Lot leaving for Sodom, is that Lot's shepherds thought
that they had a right to graze their sheep anywhere in Canaan since God
had given it to Avraham's family, whereas Avraham's shepherds knew that
even though it was promised, it was not in their possession yet.

When will that possession take place, Avraham wants to know? How will
it happen? This Land that God asks Avraham to walk through ? "Get up
and walk through the length and breadth of the land" (13:17) ? when
will it become Avraham's? Perhaps when Avraham conquers those four
kings who took Lot hostage and oppressed the Sodomites and their
allies? No! Avraham is the model for the Israel Defense Forces, lean
and motivated, backed by God, and victorious! But in victory, he gives
up all conquered property and land, returning everything to the wicked
Sodomite king, except for compensation for his allies' expenses.
Perhaps this is why Avraham was afraid: was he really supposed to give
up possession of the Holy Land that he had just conquered? God
reassures him, "Do not fear, Avram: I will protect you; your reward is
great." (15:1). How difficult it must have been to return to Sarah and
tell her that he had gone out to war, been given a stunning, Six-Day-
War?style victory over far greater powers, and yet had nothing to take
home from it: no land, no booty, nothing!

Yitzchak Rabin a"h, whose Yahrzeit is this Sunday night, the 12th of
Mar-Cheshvan, did not live to see Israel at peace in the Holy Land, nor
did he live to see Israel in peaceful possession of the entire Holy
Land. Even though he lived almost four thousand years after Avraham
Avinu, he lived through a time not so different from our forefather's.
He lived to see Lech Lecha ? the Zionist dream of a people returning to
the Land. But he lived to see failure: in 1948, even though Rabin led
forces into the Old City of Jerusalem, God did not give him or the
Jewish people the merit to hold onto historic Jerusalem until 1967.
Then, God did make Rabin the commander who liberated the great capital
of the Jewish people: "The sacrifices of our comrades have not been in
vain," Rabin writes in his diary. "The countless generations of Jews
murdered, martyred and massacred for the sake of Jerusalem say to
you, 'Comfort ye, our people; console the mothers and the fathers whose
sacrifices have brought about redemption.' "

But then Rabin struggled, as we all do, and as Avraham did, with trying
to live in peace in a land where those around you want to destroy you
merely because you are Jewish. The Midrash says that when Avraham
wanted to circumcise himself and his family, just to fulfill the
commandment of God, he had to deal with the fear that all the enemies
and gentiles around him would try to prevent him from keeping this
mitzvah. Avraham was not trying to circumcise other people's children
in Canaan ? only his own family. Still, just because he wanted to
be "Am Chofshi B'artzeinu" ? Jewish in our Land ? those around him
fought him and hated him.

So Rabin in our time tried to come to terms with terrorists and those
who hate Jews and our entire history. He was willing to lead the
State of Israel to give up the territory that God allowed him to
conquer in 1967, just as Avraham gave up territory he conquered from
the many kings in Lech Lecha. Perhaps 1993 was not yet the time to
possess the land, just as the shepherds of Avraham were correct in not
letting the sheep graze on Canaanite grasslands, because Avraham was
not yet ready to possess the Land, despite his ability to do so. 4000
years ago this must have been frustrating to the shepherds of Lot, who
felt that God had already given Avraham the land. And just two decades
ago this was frustrating to all those who loved the Land of Israel. I
remember how frustrated I was in 1976 when, as an 11-year-old living in
Israel, I read about Rabin's government expelling Jews living in
Hebron. These were Jews who wanted to restore a shul in Hebron that
had been owned by Jews, if not from Avraham's times then at least from
Turkish times. This holy place had been used by the locals as an
animal pen, after the Jews were driven out of Hebron by the murderous
Arab population in 1929. How can a Jewish government, I asked myself,
not let us possess the land that God had given us? I embraced Menachem
Begin and his vision of Israel.

But Yitzchak Rabin loved the land as well; he was someone who
throughout his life walked the land as Avraham had done, fought for the
land as Avraham had done, and conquered parts of the land as Avraham
had done. Rabin felt he was living in times similar to those of
Avraham and Sarah, times when divine promises seemed so close, but then
ended with the circumcision which meant more Jewish sacrifice, more
Jewish blood. Our beloved State of Israel is showered with promises of
peace and of redemption one day. But for now, we continue to struggle
as Avraham did, and we continue to struggle as Yitzchak Rabin did. We
fight to live and thrive in our land and to be able to fulfill our
destiny in our land. But we don't know when or how God will give us
the ability to possess the land in peace and security. Maybe it is
now, maybe later. In the meantime, we show our willingness to
sacrifice, to spill blood, for our State of Israel. We might only have
a tent to dwell in, but that we will not give up, just as Avraham did
not give that up. And we have faith in God's promise: do not fear,
Avram, I will protect you.

In the merit of Yitzchak Rabin's life, a life of fighting for Israel
and for the dreams of the Jewish people, may God give us the strength
of Avraham and Sarah, and the confidence to stay the course until, one
day, we will possess the Land in peace, and especially until those
nations around Israel will finally understand the third verse of Lech
Lecha: "And all the nations of the earth will be blessed through you."

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Asher Lopatin