Go Forth: A Call Beyond the Familiar
Parshat Lech Lecha (Genesis 12:1-17:27)
Have you ever reached a point where the familiar no longer fit—when staying put felt safe, but something inside urged you to begin again? Moments like these raise unsettling questions: What must I leave behind, and who might I become if I step into the unknown?
“The LORD said to Abram, ‘Go forth from your land, your birthplace, and your father’s house, to the land that I will show you.’” (Genesis 12:1)
On the surface, lech lecha means “go forth.” But Chassidic masters taught that it also means “go to yourself.” The Baal Shem Tov explained that these words echo in every soul: leave behind the layers shaped by habit, fear, or environment, and move toward the essence of who you truly are. The Alter Rebbe, in Tanya, described this essence as the nekudah pnimis—literally, the “innermost point” of the soul. It is the core of who we are, untouched by habit, fear, or circumstance, and it is what shines through when we strip away the layers that conceal it.
Notice that G-d does not reveal the destination: “to the land that I will show you.” Growth cannot be mapped in advance. Chassidic thought teaches that this concealment is itself part of the journey. The very obstacles—the uncertainty, the struggle, the discomfort—are what create the conditions for growth. Just as a seed must break apart in darkness before it can take root, so too our challenges become the ground where transformation begins.
A parable tells of a gardener pressing a seed into the soil. To a watching child, it seemed the seed had been buried and lost. But the gardener explained: “The seed must split apart. Its hard shell must decay. Only then can roots reach down and a stem push upward to the light.” What seemed like destruction was the beginning of new life. Our struggles work the same way: when parts of us break open, when the familiar dissolves, space is made for growth that could not happen otherwise.
We know this is true in our own lives. The times we feel most disoriented—after loss, after change, after failure—are often the moments when we discover strength we didn’t know we had. Struggle is not the end; it is the soil from which transformation grows. Abraham’s greatness was not that he had certainty, but that he stepped forward anyway, turning surrender into possibility.
Lech lecha still calls. Like the seed splitting underground, each of us is asked to break open what holds us back—trusting that from the very place of struggle, new life will push through toward the light.
Wishing you a good week, and Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Yonatan Hambourger