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 worship a god that is static, fixed in place  – in other words, an idol.

Shabbat teaches us a paradoxical lesson. It is by pausing that we get ourselves un-stuck. It is by taking time to stop that we keep ourselves moving forward. May this Shabbat, and every Shabbat, challenge us, like Avram, to make our lives a blessing.