Parshat Lekh L’kha

This week’s parashah, Lekh L’kha, begins with God’s call to Avram (who will soon be renamed Avraham) to leave his home so that he and his descendants can become a blessing. “Lekh l’kha” means “Get going!” But God does not tell Avram where he is to go. In fact, throughout the story of Avram’s life-journey, it is never clear exactly what his final destination is.

Perhaps the Torah’s point is that the journey itself is the blessing. Life is about openness, learning and growth. To answer God’s call, to make our lives a blessing, is to keep moving. To get stuck, to stop growing, is to lose touch with the divine spark within us.

At times when life seems to close us in, Shabbat can help. The paradox of Shabbat is that, by pausing once a week, we get ourselves un-stuck. By taking time to stop, we keep ourselves moving. May this Shabbat, and every Shabbat, challenge us, like Avram, to make our lives a blessing.

• The New Shul’s Shabbat services are on Friday evenings from 6 to 7 pm, and on Saturday mornings from 9 am to 12 noon. This Shabbat morning, November 12, we will celebrate the bar mitzvah of Elijah Don. The kiddush-lunch is sponsored by Rachael and David Don.
• Childcare is available from 10 am to noon on Shabbat mornings. Our learning service for grades 2 to 4 is from 11 to 11:40 am..
• On Shabbat morning and afternon, November 19, our visiting teacher will be Rabbi David Jaffe.