Light from the Future: Parshas Lech Lecha

1. Lech Lecha – A Light to the Nations Sensitivity to others is a virtue. Judaism, while directed to the Jewish people, also requires of us to be a light to the nations. LECHA LECHA
2. Lech Lecha – A Pure Mitzvah Doing good, for any reason, is preferable to inaction. We, nevertheless, must strive for perfection. The goal must be to serve G-d with purity of…
3. Lech Lecha – Abraham My Lover Contrary to the identification of Abraham with love; he also possessed other traits when necessary. We cannot be monolithic beings. Mono-dimensional…
4. Lech Lecha – Abraham’s First Test Dying for a noble cause is not the highest form of sacrifice. Living with and for a higher purpose is the most noble sacrifice. LECHA LECHA
5. Lech Lecha – Driving Two Ways on a One Way Street Life seems to be taking us in so many, and often opposite directions. This can lead to confusion and despair. In truth, all directions that we travel…
6. Lech Lecha – Generation Gap Going against the grain and breaking out of one’s own cocoon is what made Abraham worthy of being the first Jew. LECHA LECHA
7. Lech Lecha – Go for Yourself There are two brands of reward. The first is given s motivation. The second is a consequence of one’s actions. Reward demonstrates that good,…
8. Lech Lecha – Holy Shoe Laces Shoes are a protection from the earth. Shoelaces keep our shoes on. Some places are so corrupt that even the shoelaces are tainted and afford no…
9. Lech Lecha – How to Be W.e.a.l.t.h.y and Happy Wealth, like poverty, is neither a virtue nor a vice. Although, like poverty, it can be either. Wealth can make a person happy only if its possessor…
10. Lech Lecha – Lech Lecha and Bar/bas Mitzvah The underlying joy of a Bar or Bas Mitzvah is he or she has graduated from volunteering Judaism to accepting full responsibility. There is a world of…
11. Lech Lecha – Let Your Guard Down Entering into a space means more than a casual connection to it. When a child enters into the covenant it is life’s most powerful interaction with…
12. Lech Lecha – Looking for the Light in the Darkness Life can be an adventure with its many twists and turns. The sense of excitement is magnified when one realizes that the detours are part of a Master…
13. Lech Lecha – Pharoah Yes, Sodom No!? How do we know what is important? Frequently, it is measured by the degree of internal opposition we have to it. The more pressure we have to do…
14. Lech Lecha – Star and Dust There are people of great achievement who are likened to the stars. And there are lowly people likened to the dust of the earth. Both are flawed. The…
15. Lech Lecha – Staying in One Place Our lives require building solid foundations and then building magnificent structures on them. When we focus on the construction of the foundation,…
16. Lech Lecha – The First Jew Abraham = Self-Transcendence Jew must live a transcendent life in an ordinary and often corrupt world. LECHA LECHA
17. Lech Lecha – The Inexorable Journey One of the tragedies of life is giving up on our life’s goals. Sometimes we give up right before realizing these goals. Abraham taught us to…
18. Lech Lecha – The Last Laugh and the Laugh That Lasts The Messianic Age is an age of joy. Joy is serious business; it does not happen when we are passive. We must proactively engage in joy now as a way of…
19. Lech Lecha – The Separation of Good and Evil “There is no evil without a little good in it.” This is true only until the Final Redemption, when evil will be totally separated from good, and…
20. Lech Lecha – Two Levels of Change The most dramatic changes in our lives are the evolutionary, not the revolutionary changes. Revolutionary changes can be unsettling. The evolutionary…

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