From Ayeka to Lech Lecha: Finding Our True Selves

Discover how bechira shapes our connection to Hashem—a thought for Parashas Lech Lecha. Print and enjoy over Shabbos.

There is a famous Rashi at the beginning of Bereishis that quotes a Midrash: Rabbi Yitzchak asks why the Torah begins with the story of Creation rather than the first mitzvah given to Israel, "This month shall be unto you the first of the months"¹. The Midrash answers that if the nations of the world accuse Israel of unjustly seizing the land of the seven nations of Canaan, Israel can respond: "All the earth belongs to HaKadosh Baruch Hu; He created it and gives it to whom He pleases. He first gave it to them, and then, by His will, gave it to us".²

I have a similar question. Chazal tell us³ that the world exists on a 6,000-year timespan: 2,000 years of Tohu v'Vohu (emptiness), 2,000 years of Torah, and 2,000 years of Mashiach. The beginning of the 2,000 years of Torah starts in this week’s parashah, when Avraham is 52 years old. Why does this period begin with Avraham and not with the giving of the Torah at Har Sinai?

The answer, while simple, is profoundly deep. Without Avraham Avinu, re…