Abraham and the Angels by Phillip Ratner
1. The Commandment of Lekh-Lekha
The name of the Parashah that we are dealing with is “Lekh-Lekha” – which the Koren translation renders as “get thee out” and we’ll translate initially as “walk to thyself”. This is the first command that was given to Abraham ( – pronounced in Hebrew “Avraham”) while still called Abram – ( pronounced “Avram” and meaning “High Father”). What does this “walking” – halikhah – mean?
The first time we encounter the word root “HLKh” is in the Parashah of Genesis-Bereshit: “And they heard the voice of the Lord God (YHWH-Elohim) walking in the garden in the breeze of the day” (Gen. 3:8), and the scared Adam, having transgressed, was hiding, instead of joining Him and “walking with God” as would ?anokh-Enoch and No’a?-Noah later do.
“And ?anokh walked with God, and he was not, for God Took him” (Gen. 5:24). Our sages of blessed memory explained that ?anokh’s “walk with God” was so good, that the Master of the Universe took him and appointed him to become an archangel, called Metatron, who is in charge of all the workings of the world. Also in the case of the next righteous person it was written “and No’a? walked with God” (Gen. 6:9). But Abraham was commanded, after he underwent the first five trials, “walk before me, and be perfect” (Gen. 17:1). (All these instances of these righteous acts, translated as “walk”, are rendered in Hebrew not as halakh, but as hithalekh, which is a reflexive form.)
So what is the difference between active and reflexive walking, and what is the difference between walking with God and walking before God? Are these walks different, or could they be complementary?
The Ba’?l Shem Tov thought that “Lekh-Lekha” means, “go into your essence” (which in Hebrew makes perfect sense of these words). Abraham had to find the divinity within him. He had to go towards the quality that is the root of his particular soul – which is the quality (Midah or Sefirah) of ?esed-Mercy, as in the verse (Mikha 7:20) “thou will show Emet-truth to Ya’?qov, ?esed to Abraham”.
Noa?, who “walked with God”, did not perform independent action: he did not argue with his creator before the coming of the flood, and did not try to save the doomed rest of humankind. Abraham, who was required to show independent action, was capable of arguing with his God. For his sake God agreed to save Sodom, if there would be there 50 righteous people, and even only ten. Being so identified with the Sefirah of ?esed, Abraham could have cause God to “change his qualities” (la’?vor ?l Midotav). The walking of Abraham before God is like that of a scout who goes before the main corpus; as in the Song of the Sea, when all Israel sang (Exodus 15:16): “till thy people pass over, O Lord” (?d ya’?vor ?mkha YHWH), which was explained by ?assidic commentators as “till thy people overtake Thee, O Lord” (which can be read from the same Hebrew words) – meaning that the whole people of Israel would overtake God and serve as the avant-garde of the Divine forces in the world.
It is written about Adam “And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden” (Gen. 2:15), in total passivity (the Hebrew word for “put him” is vayeni?ehu, related to menu?ah – rest). Noa?, whose name connotes passivity) was commanded “Come thou.. into the Ark” (Gen. 7:1), which is an accompanied walk, like a mother who teaches her child to walk and calls “Come”. Even the angels of heaven are not commanded to walk. In the vision of the prophet Zekharya (Zechariah) the Lord promises to Yehoshu?, the High Priest, “I will give thee passage (ma’halakhim) among these who stand by” (3:7), meaning the angels, and the Midrash explains that the angels stand fixed in their place and in their spiritual rank, whereas those humans who are righteous are capable of “walking” of moving and advancing in their spiritual rank.
This connects also with Abraham’s being an “?vri” – which means “Hebrew”, but also has to do with “?vor” – to pass, or go beyond. This is the appellation he is referred by the one who escaped from Sodom (Gen. 14:13), and what is apparently meant is about Abraham’s lineage from ?ver. But ?vri is also one who can make a passing and transformation, who can transcend – and even pass over a local law or norm if really necessary and “pass over his own qualities” (la’?vor ?l Midotav), go beyond his genetic programming.
The combination of Lekh-Lekha is very rare in the scriptures. Just once more, on his way to the ?qeda, the offering of Isaac-Yi??ak, would Abraham be commanded “Lekh-lekha l’Ere? haMoriah” – “get thee into the land of Moriya” (Gen. 22:2). This combination would return twice in the Canticles (2:10,13) when the beloved is commanded twice: “Rise up, my love, my fair one, and walk thee” – Lekhi-Lakh. In order to consummate her love, the beloved has to experience going into her own essence, to get lost in byways. It was for a reason that our sages allegorized the love in the Canticles to the love of God to his people.
Thus the command “Lekh-Lekha” that was given to Abraham and his progeny is a unique command, which allows them to introduce new leadership styles to the world. The “Messiah Complex” that (us) Jews are so involved with – the individual urge to do something to redeem the whole world[1] – is an authentic derivative from our being “The Children of Abraham”. (Whereas the Eastern religions are religions of sitting down, contemplation and passivity, the religions of the Children of Abraham are intended to push on, to strive towards the redemption of humankind. In the command of Lekh-Lekha is therefore enfolded the formation of the three religious-spiritual movements, which drive – halekh – and guide humankind till this day.)
It is even possible to explain the walking of Abraham in front of the Lord in a more extreme way – that the divinity that is represented by the Name of YHWH (or the human conception of and communication with) is in a process of development, and it progresses to the extent that her adherents, namely The Children of Abraham, are walking before her.[2] Such progress raises questions of piloting to which we shall return in the discussion of Ya’?qov/Israel.
As noted, the name “Abram” signifies a five-dimensional space. The essence of the Journeys of Abraham is the striving to locate himself – hineni, Here I Am – at the place of the Holy Shrine (Heikhal haQodesh) mentioned in Sefer Ye?irah: “Ten Sefirot Blimah, their measure without end – profundity of beginning and profundity of ending, profundity of good and profundity of evil, profundity of height and profundity of depth, profundity of East and profundity of West, profundity of North and profundity of South, and one master trusted king God rules them all from His Holy Shrine to infinity”, just as in three-dimensions “six extremities Up and Down, East West North and South and the Holy Shrine orientated at the centre and carries them all, blessed be the glory of the Lord from His Place”.
This becomes a series of journeys in the world, in Time (“Shanah-Year in the language of Sefer Ye?irah) and in the Soul dimensions in order to find the optimal point for receiving divine inspiration for all humankind so that “in thee shall all the families of the (living) earth be blessed” (12:3).
In the sequel we shall follow the journeys of Abram-Abraham in space and time and examine how his soul developed within the context of a classical 12-stage initiation journey.
2. Abram the Hebrew (?vri) – the man of Vision
The scriptures give a reason for the selection of Noa? – who was “a just man and perfect in his generations” – but do not bring any reason to the election of Abraham. Indeed the Midrashim, which must have felt this lack, brought various reasons through tales of Abraham’s merits at his childhood – but brought no reason that is derived from what the scriptures told about the beginning of Abram-Abraham.
But it seems that we can find a clue to the election of “Abram” (pronounced Avram) from the Gematria value of his own name. In appendix ‘B’ we shall bring a wealth of insights deriving from the names of Abraham. Here let us bring but one insight – the value of the name Abram is 243. Note that 243 is fifth power of the number three – 243 = 3x3x3x3x3. As we saw in the introduction and the first chapter and its appendix, in addition to the three dimensions of physical space there are dimensions of time and of soul. Raisin in a power is used in the scriptures as we now regard adding in dimensions. Let us examine the position and moves of Abram in relation to Time, which is “the Fourth Dimension” (as we learn from Einstein).
As we claimed above, Noa? was passive, a man who gets pushed by the pressure of events and whose only goal is survival. Abram, in comparison, is overlooking the course of time and seeking a purpose beyond time – that is, his consciousness reaches above time, in a dimension that allows a simultaneous cognition of what “was-is-will be” (Hayah Howeh w‘Yihiyeh – a configuration of three times the letters of YHWH). Abram exhibited potential five-dimensional perception and therefore was elected as the pioneer of the meta-historical enterprise of humankind.
Through his knowledge of haShem (YHWH) also the name of Abram eventually changes to “Abraham” and he becomes a prophet, as was expressly told to Abimelekh (pronounced Avimelekh) the king of Grar, “restore the man’s wife, for he is a prophet” (20:7). Contemporary Jewish thinkers have understood this quality well. Thus Rabbi Joseph Soloveichik claimed that the covenant with the Patriarchs introduced a new concept (or we may say, dimension) to human history. To quote: “While universal (non-Jewish) history is governed by causality, by what preceded, covenantal (Jewish) history is shaped by destiny, by a goal set in the future”, even far-away future. (See a short article by Rabbi Soloveichik in appendix ‘3-A’). Likewise chief Rabbi of the UK, Rabbi Jonathan Sachs, upon his assuming this position, came to remind the principle not to focus only on (Jewish) survival but to relate to the Vision.[3]
As we shall see in their detailed accounts, all the journeys of Abram were future-oriented and prophetic, marking the course of future events of his grandson and of all Israel, whereas Abraham’s vision on the journey in the Land of Moriah was of Jerusalem over one – or even four – thousand years into the future.
3. Parashat Lekh-Lekha in the framework of Biblical History
We have noted at the outset that the stories of Genesis have generally a three-fold structure, both in the overall wide framework, and in the details (a fractal structure). We have also noted that the history of “This World” (?lam haZeh) is made of six thousand years, in parallel with the six Days of Genesis that make a trinity, “two thousand years chaos (Tohu), two thousand years Torah and two thousand years Days of the Messiah”. Or in a different manner, from three levels of cognition, which are the Worlds of “Beri’ah”, “Ye?irah” and “?ssiyah” (which we may characterize as 5D, 4D and 3D spaces respectively).
In the Parashah of Lekh-lekha begins a new stage in the history of humankind, but it too is integrated with the structure of the stages that preceded it: the ten generations from Adam and his grandson Enosh until Noah, is the thousand-year era that corresponds with “The First Day”. The ten generations from Noah, his son Shem and grandson ?ver – the progenitor of the ?vrim-Hebrews – are the thousand-year era that corresponds with the Second Day. Together, these are the two thousand years that are called “the Era of Chaos”. In the first “Day”/millennium “the earth was without form and void, and darkness was on the face of the deep”, without place to land and set roots. The second “Day”/millennium is the time of division between “the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament” (Gen. 1:7). This era was started with the flood, in which the waters from above and from below the firmament returned to unite – “on that same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken open, and the windows of heaven were opened” (Gen. 7:11). And thereafter the division was re-established and a covenant was made with Noah: “And I will establish my covenant with you; neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of the flood, neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth” (Gen. 9:11).
The third “Day”/millennium that opens with Abraham, is the era of the Torah – literally “Guidance”. There is, of course, a difference between the third millennium/”Day” of “the primordial Torah” which was not yet written upon tablets and scrolls, but transmitted as Living Torah, and the Torah of the fourth millennium/Day. Actually, Abraham was not a “Jew” (since, strictly speaking, Judah – from which the word Jew derives) was his grand-grandson) and did not know the commandments of Moses and Sinai.[4]
(In an aside, we may recall that the fourth millennium/Day was the period of the Kingdom and of the two temples, a period in which the written Torah was becoming disseminated among the people of Israel (who were getting limited during that period to the framework of “The Jewish People”). In the fifth millennium/Day (from the period of the Mishnah till the commentaries of RaShY to the Torah and the Talmud) the Oral Torah became written and fixed. In the sixth millennium/Day, there were formed (or at least published) also the teachings of the Qabbalah and ?assidut.)
The stories of the three patriarchs are also written in a three-fold pattern: That of Abraham as corresponding with ?lam haBri’ah, of Yi??aq-Isaac as corresponding to ?lam haYe?irah, and that of Ya’?qov-Jacob to ?lam ha’?ssiyah (see table below). These levels are also in correspondence with the three parts of the ?elem – the Divine Image – in which Adam was formed: Neshamah, Ru’a? and Nefesh (NaRaN).
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Bri’ah (Neshamah) |
Yetsirah (Ru’a?) |
?ssiyah (Nefesh) |
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1st Millennium/Day (Sefirat ?esed) |
1st Genesis Story Six Days of Genesis |
2nd Genesis Story The Garden of Eden and its Exile |
3rd Genesis Story The Generations of Enosh. |
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2nd Millennium/Day (Sefirat Gevurah) |
Noah and the Flood till covenant of world renovation |
The Tower of Babel and the Division |
The generations from Shem and ?ver to Abraham |
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3rd Millennium/Day (Sefirat Tif’eret) |
Abraham-Avraham Lekh-Lekha |
Isaac-Yi??ak The ?qedah |
Jacob-Ya’?qov and the 12 Tribes |
