פרשת לך לך starts with the words ויאמר ה׳ אל אברם, ה׳ spoke to Avram and he said לך לך מארצך, go out from your land, וממולדתך, from your birthplace, ומבית אביך, from your father's home, אל הארץ אשר אראך, to the land that I will show you. And it continues ואעשך לגוי גדול, and I will make you into a big nation, ואברכך, and I will bless you, ואגדלה שמך, and I will make your name great, והיה ברכה, and you will be a blessing, or you will be a blesser. So the Ramban asks the she'elah, that what is the reason that Hashem told him that leave the land and because of that I promise that I will give you all kinds of good things? This is something that we don't find at all. We do find that Hashem promises to give a person a reward for doing something good, as we find by David and by Shlomo that Hashem promised to reward them for following in his ways. Or like the Torah בכלל says, אם בחקתי תלכו, if you will follow my chukim, then I promise I will give you a reward. אם שמוע תשמע בקול ה׳ אלקיך, if you will listen to the voice of Hashem, I will give you a reward. By Yitzchak it says that he's going to give him a reward בעבור אברהם עבדי, because of my servant Avraham. But in this case we don't find that Hashem should have told him something good and to say if you will follow the good things, then I will give you the reward. Here it just says, leave the land, and because of that, I promise to reward you. What is the meaning of that reward just for leaving the land? And it seems that the Ramban is also asking another question within his words. That usually we find that before the Torah tells us that Hashem spoke to somebody and told him a certain thing, we first have to know what was so special about that person. In this case, the Torah doesn't give any description about Avraham Avinu. The Torah just says that Hashem said to אברהם, לך לך מארצך, and because of that, I will reward you. The Torah should have first said who Avraham Avinu was, that Avraham Avinu followed the ways of Hashem, and therefore Hashem chose Avraham to speak to him. But the Torah doesn't mention it at all. Lichorah, why not?

And the Ramban explains that the reason Hashem told him to leave the people of Ur Kasdim, because they made him a lot of trouble because of his emunah in Hashem, and therefore he ran away from them, going to Eretz Canaan, and he stopped in Haran, so Hashem said to him, you should leave even these people also, and continue your way to Eretz Canaan. And there Hashem said, I will make your name great, and the people will bless in you, etc., etc. Not like you were in Ur Kasdim where they embarrassed you, and they cursed you, and they put you in the bor, and they put you in the כבשן האש, etc. So the reason he wanted him to leave is not as a reward, he wanted him to leave to go away from the place where he had trouble and go further away from that place. And the reason the Torah doesn't go into the details is because the Torah doesn't want to go into the details of the people who worshiped avodah zarah, and to explain all the inyanim that happened between Avraham Avinu and the Kasdim, just like the Torah doesn't go into the details of Dor Enosh, etc., etc., and therefore the Torah doesn't mention it.

But lechora, it's still not completely understood. First of all, when the Ramban says that this was not a reward, this was just telling him, leave the place where you are where you have trouble and continue going to Eretz Canaan, if so, why did he say ואעשך לגוי גדול, which is an expression which seems to be saying a reward? He should have said, leave the place and there you won't have any trouble. From the lashon is mashma that he's telling him לך לך מארצך etc., leave your land, and as a reward, ואעשך לגוי גדול. So the expression is not so understood. But the second thing, and the main thing that's not understood, why takeh doesn't the Torah mention at least in short that Avraham Avinu served Hashem, or that he was a צדיק תמים, before the Torah starts by saying ויאמר ה׳ אל אברם? Just like we find by Noach, that before the Torah tells us that Hashem spoke to Noach in the beginning of Parshas Noach, the pasuk first says in the beginning of the parshah, נח איש צדיק, that Noach was a tzaddik, and therefore we understand why Hashem spoke to Noach. And even before that, in the end of Parshas Bereishis it says, ונח מצא חן בעיני ה׳, that Noach found grace in the eyes of Hashem, so we understand why Hashem spoke to Noach specially. So certainly concerning to Avraham, that we know as the חז״ל tell us that Avraham was a great tzadik and his great avodat Hashem with mesirut nefesh, even before that when he was in Ur Kasdim and in Charan, which bifshitut led to later Hashem telling him לך לך מארצך. And nevertheless we don't find that in Chumash it should be mentioned at all. It doesn't even mention that Avraham was different than the rest of the people of his family. All it says in the end of Parshat Noach is That Avraham was born and he was one of the family members of Terach, and that's all. And then all of a sudden, the Torah starts in Lech Lecha, Hashem spoke to Avraham and He said, \"לך לך מארצך.\" Why didn't the Torah at least mention one word that Avraham was special, Avraham listened to Hashem, and then we will understand why Hashem spoke to Avraham?

The explanation to this is: the beginning of Am Yisrael, as we know, is from Avraham Avinu. He was the first Jew, as is known, as the pasuk says in Yechezkel, קפיטל ל״ג, פסוק כ״ד, \"אחד היה אברהם.\" And Avraham himself, when did he become different and special, is when he left ארצך, מולדתך ומבית אביך, which is the beginning of this week's parshah. So it comes out that Avraham's connection to Am Yisrael, being the beginning of Am Yisrael, starts with the beginning of this parshah. And that is the reason the Torah starts with these words, as we will explain, to show us what is the specialty of Avraham, which really means what is the specialty of a Yid. Being that Avraham was the first Yid, the beginning of Am Bnei Yisrael, so the Torah wants to tell us with which inyan is Am Bnei Yisrael unique. And this the Torah does by starting off with the words \"ויאמר השם אל אברם.\" Even though years before, הכיר אברהם את בוראו, אברהם אבינו recognized Hashem even before, and he became close to Hashem, and even then he spread to the whole world that there is one God, as the Rambam specifies in הלכות עבודה זרה, פרק א׳, הלכה ג׳, and he even went on mesirut nefesh till they threw him into the כבשן האש, as the Rambam says there and explained in the midrashim, etc. Nevertheless, the Torah doesn't mention it, because by not mentioning it, the Torah stresses here what is the true mahut, the true meaning of Avraham, which really is the true mahut of every single Yid.

By other nations, their closeness to Hashem is connected to the level of their knowledge and recognition of Hashem, the Creator of the world. And by them understanding Hashem, and doing what He tells them to do, they get close to Hashem. By Am Yisrael, their main connection to Hashem, and their metziut as Yidden, is not in what they do, which means not based on the recognition that they have in Hashem, or what they do in order to connect themselves to Hashem, but the opposite: it starts off with Hashem choosing them and bringing them closer to Him. As the Chazal say, the lashon in the Haggadah shel Pesach, \"ועכשיו קרבנו המקום לעבודתו.\" Hashem made us close to serve Him. So it didn't start from the people down here, but Hashem was the one that picked us up and made us close to Him. Or as the Rambam writes the lashon in הלכות חמץ ומצה, פרק ז׳, הלכה ד׳, \"קרבנו המקום לו,\" Hashem made us close to Him, \"והבדילנו מן האומות,\" and He separated us from the nations, \"וקרבנו ליחודו,\" and He made us close to His unity. So it comes out that it's not because of what the person does, but it is because of Hashem. It comes from the Borei, it comes from the Creator Himself. So according to that, if the uniqueness of the Bnei Yisrael, which means of every single Yid, starting with Avraham Avinu, is not based on the level of the person's connection to Hashem, but it comes from Hashem Himself, so then this connection is completely different than any other connection that exists between anything else and Hashem. All other creatures, including human beings, they are creatures, they are nivraim, and they remain nivraim. The only thing is, they get close to Hashem as much as a nivra, as a creature is able to, which is very limited, because how close can a creature get to Hashem? After all, Hashem is unlimited, and a creature is limited, so as much as a limited creature is able to reach Hashem, that's as far as it goes. In addition to that, each person's connection to Hashem would be different. If a person connects himself more, then he is closer to Hashem; a person who connects himself less, he is further away from Hashem. But the Yidden, being that their connection to Hashem doesn't come as a result of them, but that comes as a result of Hashem bringing them close to Him, since Hashem is unlimited, so the connection is also unlimited. And it makes no difference on what level the person is, because since it comes from Hashem, not from the person, as far as Hashem is concerned, the limit of the person doesn't count, and therefore, the connection is an unlimited connection by every single person. And this is what we mean when we say that every single Yid has a neshama, which is a חלק אלוקה ממעל ממש, a part of Hashem, because The Yid, his connection to Hashem doesn't come from himself, but it comes from Hashem. Hashem put that connection into the Yid, and therefore, this connection, which is the neshama, is a chelek of Hashem because it comes from Hashem, who is unlimited, and it doesn't come from the human being.

And this is actually also the difference between the mitzvot that the Yidden have to keep, and the שבע מצות בני נח, the seven mitzvot that the goyim, the other human beings of the world are obligated to keep. The purpose of their mitzvot is mainly for ישוב העולם, for the inhabitants of the world, for the civilization of the world, as it says in the pasuk in ישעיה, קפיטל מ\"ה, פסוק י\"ח. Which means that there is a world, and Hashem wants this world to be civilized, therefore, He gave the mitzvot that will make the world civilized. So the mitzvot are a result of the world, that in order for the world to reach its sheleimut, its completion, and its closeness to Hashem as much as the world is able to reach, for that they have the mitzvot. So the mitzvot, even though they were given by Hashem, but they were given by Him as a result of the world, so the world should be able to attach itself to Hashem. The mitzvot that were given to the Bnei Yisrael, not only are they more, that the goyim only have seven and we have 613, but this is a different category of mitzvot altogether, it's a different quality of mitzvot. These were mitzvot given by Hashem not because the world needs these mitzvot. These are the mitzvot that Hashem needs. For whatever reason Hashem has, He wants these mitzvot to be done. So this comes, as we would call it, milmaalah lematah, from above to below, and Hashem gave us these mitzvot. So when we do these mitzvot, it's not only that the nivra comes to his sheleimut, the creature, the limited creature becomes complete as much as a nivra, a creature can become, but this is a connection that we have to Hashem, who is unlimited, and this is an unlimited connection. And that's why the word mitzvah also has a meaning צוותא וחיבור, which means connection, because when we do a mitzvah, we connect ourselves with Hashem the way Hashem makes the connection, not the way the connection comes from us.

And in order to stress this point, the Torah specially did not start off by saying that Avraham Avinu served Hashem, Avraham Avinu was a great tzaddik, etc., and then the pasuk would say ויאמר השם אל אברם לך לך, that Hashem spoke to Avraham, etc. Then it would be saying that what is the reason that Hashem spoke to Avraham, which really is not only Avraham, but this would mean that what is the connection between every Yid to Hashem? The fact that Avraham was an oved Hashem, he did what he was supposed to, and that is why Hashem spoke to him, which would mean that the connection a Yid has to Hashem is a result of the avodah, of the work of the Yid. That's why the Torah does not mention anything about the avodah of Avraham. The Torah starts off by saying ויאמר השם אל אברם, השם spoke to Avraham, which means the first connection that we have between Avraham and Hashem is because Hashem spoke to him. It doesn't mean that Avraham did not serve Hashem before, but this is not the kind of connection that a Yid has. This is true, Avraham served Hashem before, and he connected himself to Hashem, but if that would be the only reason why Hashem spoke to him, so the connection between Hashem and him, which is expressed in Hashem speaking to him, would be limited to as much as he served Hashem, which, after all, was only the serving Hashem of a nivra, of a creature who is limited. Therefore, the Torah specially does not mention that, and starts off by saying ויאמר השם אל אברם, השם spoke to Avraham, to teach us that the first connection, which means the main connection, is because Hashem connected Himself to Avraham. And therefore, the connection between Avraham and Hashem is an unlimited connection, a connection which comes from above rather than from below. And since Avraham was the first Jew, therefore, every Jew, we understand, has the same connection to Hashem. The connection of a Yid to Hashem is not based on what he does, it's based on Hashem. Then Hashem said: I give you mitzvot, and I give you the Torah, and I want you to learn Torah and do mitzvot, because that will add to the connection that I am connecting you. But it starts off with the essential connection that comes from Hashem, who is unlimited.

And the truth is, this is also expressed in the commandment that Hashem gave him, what Hashem said to him. He said to him: לך לך מארצך וממולדתך ומבית אביך. What does that mean? לך לך מארצך means leave your aretz, your land. Leave your birthplace and leave your father's home. And it says in sefarim that the word ארץ has a connection to the word ratzon, as we find concerning Eretz Yisrael, it says למה נקרא שמה ארץ, why is it called ארץ, שרצתה לעשות רצון קונה, that it ran, or another pshat, it wanted to do the will of its Master. So the word aretz has a connection to ratzon. So what Hashem said to אברהם, לך לך מארצך, go away from your own will, ממולדתך, from your birthplace, meaning from those habits which are born in you, ומבית אביך, from your father's home, things that you have on your own, which were put into you because the way you were raised, etc., go away and go אל הארץ אשר אראך, to the land I will show you. And the words ארץ אשר אראך also means, from the word ratzon, to the ratzon that I will show you. What Hashem was saying to Avraham is, go away from your own being, get out, undress yourself of your own ratzon, of your own will, of your own habits, of the way you were raised, and connect yourself אל הארץ אשר אראך, to the ratzon, to the will that I will show you. Which means Hashem was telling him that even though your connection till now to Me was based on your will, you wanted to be close to Me, you wanted to do what I want, your middot were very good towards Me, but nevertheless, that connection is a result of what you're doing, which is limited. Go away from that, and your connection now will be אל הארץ, to the ratzon, to the will אשר אראך, that I will show you, which means it comes from Me. Hashem was telling him, according to this peshat, that what's happening now is a complete new level of connection between him and Hashem, not as a result of his will or of his avodah, but it comes because Hashem did it, milmaalah lematah, from above to below, which is an unlimited connection, much deeper and different, in a different category altogether from the connection that he had till then, even though till then he served Hashem with mesirut nefesh.

And now we see how this also answers the second kashya of the Ramban, that how is it that just for leaving the land Hashem promised him such a great reward? But the truth is, this is not just leaving the land. This is the whole attitude towards his connection to Hashem. Hashem was telling him that now I am talking to you, I am connecting Myself to you, so now your connection to Me is beyond any limits. And that's what I want you to do. I want you to feel that, and I want you to serve Me in such a way, beyond your own will, beyond your own middot and your own habits, etc., etc. Now, for that, obviously, he deserves a very, very great reward. And that's why Hashem promised him for that, ואעשך לגוי גדול, I will make you into a big nation, I will make your name big, and I will give you blessings, etc., etc. And since we know that מעשה אבות סימן לבנים, that whatever happened to the avot is a siman for the children, not only a siman, but this is a lesson to the children, to Klal Yisrael throughout all generations, this is what we are supposed to learn from this parshah, that a yid has to remember his connection to Hashem is not a result of his avodah, but it comes because Hashem wants him to be close to Him. And the more we do what Hashem wants, the closer we are to Him, and the more we reveal this unlimited essential connection that we have to Hashem. And this is what a Yid is supposed to have in mind when he does a mitzvah: that by doing this, he is strengthening not the connection that comes as a result of his avodah, but strengthening the connection which is unlimited, that comes as a result of Hashem making him close to Hashem. For the past tw.