Monday, June 29, 2020

In Genesis 12:1, the voice at the core of reality, said, "Lech lecha / Lechi lach, Get thee out. Leave the place where you are comfortable." LIfe is always posing difficult, uncomfortable questions. We sometimes seek the appearance of comfort by avoiding the questions. At other times or with other questions, we summon our courage to face the uncomfortable.

But, we're human. None of us can be uncomfortable always and forever. We need a rest. We need to reach a place of comfort. But then, the voice again says to us, "Lech lecha / Lechi lach. It's time to leave."

How do we leave? Rabbi Marcia Prager teaches that when the people were trapped between the waters and Pharaoh's approaching army, the sea did not open all at once; it opened one step at a time. And that is how we leave, one step at a time.

We are all on a journey. Each of us is what we individually and collectively were, are, and will be. Each of us is the image of the voice that called from the burning bush, "Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh." I am and we are what I am and we are becoming. We were conceived at the bush; as the waters of the sea break before us, with each step we are born anew. As Bob Dylan said, one "not busy being born is busy dying."

Lech lecha. Lechi lach. Choose life.