"Bigdei Kahuna" Parsha page by Rabbi Yehuda Katz

This Torah thought is being dedicated to my beloved father, Nachman Shimon ben Yehuda Meir Hakohan, Z"L.

LECH LECHA

"And G-d said to Avrom, Depart from your land,your birth place, and from your fathers house.........(12:1)

A famous question can be asked on this verse, as follows: The order of the depature is in reverse order, normally a person first departs from his father's house,birth place and then one's land. However, the verse does it just the opposite. Why? I would like to propose an original answer, Bezrat Hashem. This verse is teaching us a tremendous lesson and insight into G-d's boundless kindness. G-d never requests of a person something that is not within that persons immediate reach. When G-d asked Abraham to leave the safety of his environment,this was trully a test in faith. However, G-d made this request in a progressive manner from least differcult to more differcult as evident from the verse. This was done to show Abraham and us how much consideration G-d has for the feelings of a human being. It was done with kindness, not in a harsh manner. A person must develope spiritually and otherwise in a progressive manner step by step, not in quantum leaps. If G-d was kind and understanding to Abraham in this regard, shouldn't we be just as kind to ourselves, children ,or anyone else when dealing with how we progress from level to level spiritually? Little by little a person can grow spiritually, quantum leaps towards levels that we are not ready for will only prove futile. We find this very concept in Sefer Even Shelema, chap.4:10 (Teachings attributed to the Vilna Goan), as follows: "There are times when a person begins to go on the proper path and afterwards abandons this undertaking because its too hard. This person might blame G-d for his failures. However,its really the person's own fault because he desired to jump to the highest level all at once and this is the very cause of his failure." (please refer there for further details) Do not jump to high levels which are beyond your capabilities, but lets progess towards greatness step by step. Perhapes we will find success .Have a good Shabbos.