Lech Lecha
Genesis 12:1-17:27

The latest National Jewish Population Survey has recently been completed, giving us an opportunity to consider God’s promises to Abraham by the light of social science research. It is interesting to find that the anxieties raised by this week’s portion, “Lech Lecha” are mirrored to some degree by the findings in the survey.

So far, statistics about general numbers, income, and fertility have been released. (The more meaty material about current beliefs, practice, affiliations, etc. will be released later, when the United Jewish Communities, sponsors of the study, hold their General Assembly in November.) But numbers, income, and fertility are the substance of this portion, which describes Abraham’s career from the moment God calls upon him to “go forth from your native land” (Genesis 12:1) at age 75, until the announcement of the imminent birth of Isaac, when he is 99. We see his household grow in numbers and income, but the fertility is extremely precarious.

We see Abraham respond to God’s call, get up and go, and bring his household from Haran down to Canaan. Through various adventures and battles, he becomes very wealthy and established, but not fertile. God is impressed with his faith and reaffirms the Covenant with him several times, particularly emphasizing the enormous number of offspring Abraham will generate.

However, he has not even one son. Abraham supposes his heir will be his servant Eliezer. God reassures him, and through Hagar, he finally has a son of his own, Ishmael, and asks that God allow Ishmael to be his heir. But God insists, “Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall name him Isaac.” (Genesis 17:19)

So anxiety about whether there will be a Jewish future, based on very reasonable assessments of fertility factors, has been a part of Jewish life literally from its very start. The main finding of the new population survey is that there are about 300,000 fewer Jews in the United States than there were ten years ago, and that Jewish women, on the average, are having slightly fewer than 2 children, not quite enough to replace their numbers.

No doubt these findings will spawn massive new efforts to promote a variety of ways for Jews to connect more deeply and broadly with their Judaism. The numbers are invaluable for showing us what is needed and where we seem to be going on the whole. But it is important not to let numbers frighten us too much.

Look at Abraham. His whole project, his whole life’s work, his Covenant with God, relied on his having offspring. Finally, finally, he has one son. And then he is asked by God to sacrifice even that very one slender hope of a future. We are meant to connect the sacrifice of Isaac to the beginning of Lech Lecha because of the use of parallel cadence and language. Here we have,

Lech lecha me’artzecha umimolad’tcha, umibet avicha
El ha-aretz asher areka.

Go forth from your land, from your birthplace, and from your father’s house
to the land I will show you. (Genesis 12:1)

And later,

Kach na et bincha, et yachidcha, asher ahavta, et Yitzchak
v’Lech lecha el eretz haMoriah, vha-aluhu shal l’olah
al echad heharim asher omar elecha.

Take your son, your only one, the one you love, Isaac and
Go Forth to the land of Moriah, and there offer him up as a sacrifice
On one of the mountains that I will tell you. (Genesis 22:2)

Abraham’s encounter with God begins in Lech Lecha and culminates at the Binding of Isaac; the moment when he seemed to be asked to relinquish all he had ever hoped for. He chooses to trust God, despite everything. He is the emblem of trust and faith. As soon as he raises his hand to strike, the ram is found to take Isaac’s place. The horn of that ram then becomes the emblem of our renewed faith every year, the instrument that calls us back together over and over, to renew our lives.God says,

'…Look toward the heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them.'

And He added,

'So shall your offspring be.' And because he put his trust in the Lord, He reckoned it to his merit. (Genesis 15:5-6)

It is estimated that in pre-modern times, with no light pollution obscuring the dimmer ones, about 11,000 stars were visible to the naked eye. Even the reduced number of the American Jewish population, 5,200,000 (not including the additional 1,500,000 people that share their households) is close to 500 times the number of stars visible on the clearest, darkest night, and that is only in America.

In Lech Lecha, we are assured not only that we will thrive as a people, but that we will be a blessing in the world. We are asked, not simply to occupy a land and multiply, but to, “Walk in My ways and be blameless (or simple or pure).” (Genesis 17:1) God will take care of the begats. Our job is do trust in God, delve into learning God’s ways, and to be as true to them as possible. That is the point of our existence as a people; not the numbers.

But the numbers are pretty good, too.

Rabbi Alexis Roberts
2002