Torah Ohr · Sefer Bereishis · Shabbos October 24
פרשת לך לך
Parshas Lech Lecha
6 maamarim of the Alter Rebbe on the parsha, in the Hebrew of the Kehot edition, with every marei makom opened right where it appears. Each small section with a faithful English translation and a short explanation.
Your progress in Parshas Lech Lecha
The maamarim 6
- (ענין לך לך וילך למסעיו ממטה למעלה מלמעלה… The subject of “Go forth”: “And he went on his journeys,” from below upward and from above downward Avram, av ram, is the hidden intellect beyond all thought, and his mission is to descend step by step until G‑d's hidden wisdom and delight are revealed even in physical deeds. That descent is really an ascent: whatever reaches lowest is rooted in what is highest, in Keser, above wisdom itself.
- . פי׳ מגן אברהם. דהנה נודע שאברהם הוא… “I am a shield to you”: the meaning of “Shield of Avraham” Avraham's kindness is boundless, and boundless kindness would give endless life even to evil; the “shield” G‑d places over Avraham's kindness measures it, so that the world receives kindness for its good while evil receives only what it needs and can finally be removed.
- ולא יקרא עוד שמך אברם והיה שמך אברהם… Your name shall no longer be called Avram G‑d left creation unfinished so that man would perfect it: the screens that hide G‑dliness make a world possible, and through circumcision, and through weekday labor done in holiness, what was hidden is revealed and the mundane is raised up into Shabbos.
- והבדילה הפרוכת לכם “And the curtain shall separate for you” The partition between the worlds, the Chashmal, is rooted higher than what it conceals, like a parable that only a great mind can make; its concealment is what makes creation “something from nothing” possible. The screen of kelipas nogah beneath it is the “foreskin” that man removes, through the refinement of the weekdays and through circumcision, so that G‑d is revealed below as above.
- שרי אשתך לא תקרא שמה שרי כי שרה שמה וגו׳ Sarai your wife: you shall not call her name Sarai How a new existence comes into being depends on the level: above, at the level of the higher Chochmah (Abraham), birth comes through contraction, the yud; below, at the level of the lower Chochmah (Sarah), it comes through expansion, the hei. That is why Sarah could bear Isaac only once her yud became a hei.
- בעצם היום הזה נימול אברהם וגו׳ On that very day Avraham was circumcised There are two circumcisions of the heart: one we do ourselves through teshuvah and the Torah, and a greater one that G‑d performs from above, drawn from the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy, beyond reason and beyond the Torah itself. Avraham kept the whole Torah on his own but waited for circumcision because he sought the higher circumcision that only G‑d can give.
Learn it in seven days Sunday to Shabbos
The Rebbe asked that all the maamarim of the week’s parsha be learned in that week, spread over its seven days. Here is the parsha in seven portions of about equal length.