It has been passed down in our tradition that Abraham was given ten tests (Pirkei Avot 5.3). The first one (according to Maimonides), was the test of leaving everything behind and following the command of God: “Go out (lech lecha) of your land and the place of your birth and from your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you and make great your name, and you shall be a blessing” (Genesis 12:1-2).
The last test of Abraham was the command to take his son Isaac and sacrifice him. This command also contains the words lech lecha, “go out” as it says “and go out (lech lecha) to the land of Moriah and bring him up as an offering on one of the mountains that I will show you” (Genesis 22:2).
When examining the words lech lecha, we see that not only does it mean “go out,” but in its literal translation it reads “go to yourself.” In the first direct communication between God and Abraham, he is told that leaving one’s land and fathers house, symbolizing the breaking out of set patterns and overcoming physical and spiritual limitations, is more than a physical changing of place, but a qualitative inner journey and struggle. The essential idea of the ten tests is not just to prove Abraham's belief in God, but it was also God’s way of deepening Abraham’s self knowledge and faith.
According to the expression “the actions of the fathers are a sign to the children,” it is obvious that the nature of God testing Abraham applies to each one of us as we journey through life (Sotah 34a). Whether in a conscious, subconscious, or super-conscious way, each thought and action of the Patriarchs and Matriarchs were paving the way for each Jew in every generation. Only in this way can we even begin to understand all the “stories” in the Torah.
Rashi explains that when God told Abraham to go to “the land which I will show you,” He told him that it would be “for you pleasure and your good. There I will make you into a great nation; for here you do not merit to have children, and more than this I will show your nature to the world.” Until then, the central dilemma in the life of Abraham and Sarah was their inability to have children, though on a spiritual level it is taught that their intimate marital unions were creating the souls of all the future converts. Nevertheless, in this world, according to the laws of nature, they were not destined to have children. This was the greatest of their inner struggles.
The bringing of children into the world is symbolic of bringing one’s deepest, latent potential into concrete reality; the fullest manifestation of lech lecha - “going to yourself.” This can be illustrated best in the connection between the numerical value of lech lecha which is 100, and the fact that Abraham was 100 years old when Isaac was born. Abraham and Sarah’s constant struggle and desire to fulfill the word of God, along with their inner search for faith and knowledge, allowed them with God’s grace to go above the laws of nature in order to actualize the fruits of their spiritual and physical labors. The ability to reach the deepest inner place of revelation is one of the secrets of the land of Israel and it is only in the Holy Land that God could bring to fruition his plan for Abraham and the Jewish People.
2
A “rope of three strands cannot quickly be broken” (Ecclesiastes 4:12). This statement refers specifically to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. When Abraham was taking Isaac to be sacrificed it is written: “On the third day; and Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar” (Genesis 22:4). It is related in the Zohar (Parshat Vayeira 495) that the “third day” refers to Jacob, the third of the Patriarchs, and “from afar” hints to an unclear state of prophecy. Abraham was seeing that in the future Jacob would also come to this very place. This vision of Abraham further strengthened the paradox the last test presented to him. The command to sacrifice Isaac contradicted his belief in God’s promise to make a great nation from his inheritance which was Isaac. This state of paradox could only be overcome by an ultimate leap of faith.
According to tradition, Rebecca was born at the very moment of the binding of Isaac. From the union of Isaac and Rebecca would come Jacob, who would guarantee the three stranded rope of Israel could never be broken. Just as Abraham’s first test lead ultimately to the merit of bringing Isaac into the world, the last test provided the merit to give birth to Jacob, thus ensuring the continuation of the people of Israel forever.
3
In Kabbalah, the numerical value of words have great meaning. The fact that Abraham gave birth at the age of 100, signifies the fulfillment in the physical and spiritual worlds of the command of lech lecha, also numerically 100. In Kabbalah, the squaring of a number represents its completed state. Therefore, one could relate the successful completion of the ten tests to the equation: ten squared equals 100.
The number 100 appears again in a significant event in the life of Isaac, after the death of Abraham. “And Isaac sowed in that land and he found in that year a hundred fold, and God blessed him” (Genesis 26:12). After this blessing, Isaac began to re-dig all the wells that Abraham had dug, which the Philistines had stopped up. After many attempts and incidences he finally succeeded in revealing the wells again. This action of revealing the living waters hidden in the earth is an outward mirror image of his attempt to carry on the tradition and inner spiritual search begun by Abraham, summed up in the idea of lech lecha - “go to yourself.”
4
Through reflecting on the very first words spoken by God directly to Abraham, we can see the basis of the relationship between God and the Jewish people. God promised Abraham that by going to the land of Israel he will become a great nation, his name will become great, and he will be a blessing. Rashi, as mentioned above comments: “for your pleasure and your good and to reveal your nature in the world.” We can see from this that God’s interest in giving the land of Israel as an inheritance to the Jewish people, is in order that the nation can develop and grow and reach its highest potential.
From everything we know of Abraham, it is obvious that his one constant and passionate desire was to make the knowledge of One God known in the world, to make God’s name great, and to reveal His nature in the world. This symbiotic relationship, is based on a true love, wherein each partner wants above all else the best for their loved one.
This idea is expressed beautifully by the Rebbe of Radomsk in his explanation of why we call the holiday of redemption Pesach, whereas the Torah refers to it as Chag HaMatzot, the “Holiday of Matzot.” God wanted to give us honor by naming the holiday after our great faith in leaving Egypt and following Him into the wilderness with just the barest of necessities, namely matzot, unleavened bread. On the other hand, we wished to honor God by naming the holiday Pesach, after God’s “passing over” our houses on the night the first born were slain (Ohel Shlomo; Introduction pg 10).
5
It is clear that the concept of lech lecha was not a one time calling to Abraham alone, but a constant challenge and demand of each one of us; to find God in the inner most recess of our soul and simultaneously serve Him in the day to day world, through the study of Torah, fulfilling the mitzvot, and doing deeds of kindness. The inner search gives us strength to manifest our ultimate potential in the reality of the world, and the practical fulfillment of Torah and mitzvot enhances this inner revelation.
