Parshas Lech Lecha 5786
- Torah Tavlin
- 6 days ago
- 2 min read
עד המקום אשר היה שם אהלה בתחלה ... אל מקום המזבח אשר עשה שם בראשנה (יג-ג,ד)
When relating how Avraham Avinu returned from Mitzrayim to his former home in Eretz Yisroel, the posuk emphasizes the fact that he returned to the place - "בתחלה" - where he was “in the beginning.” It then refers to the location of the mizbeach that he had made originally - "בראשונה". Why did it have to add this seemingly redundant word? We know already from the beginning of the parsha that it was where he was originally; why does the posuk have to emphasize that here?
The meforshim explain (see, for example, Chasam Sofer) that the Torah wishes to teach us the lesson that although Avraham Avinu had left Eretz Yisroel to go to Mitzrayim, its polar opposite in terms of the tumah and impurity that saturated the land - “Ervas Ha’aretz” - his exalted level of holiness and avodas Hashem was unaffected, and he returned to his original place the same as he was when he had left it. This explanation runs along the lines of what Rashi writes in the beginning of Parshas Shemos on the posuk "ויוסף היה במצרים" - that although Yosef had been sent down to Mitzrayim against his will and under unfortunate circumstances, he remained the same Yosef that he was when he had lived with his father, Yaakov.
All of us have ups and downs in life. There will always be times when a person is having a “down” day, when nothing seems to go right, and one keeps “messing up”, feeling a lack of accomplishment and self-worth. But the avodah is that despite the setback - you must go back to where you were "בתחלה" - you can and must fight to get back to your original madreigah.
In a famous letter, R’ Yitzchok Hutner zt”l writes that Shlomo HaMelech says in Mishlei (24:16) "שבע יפול צדיק וקם" - that righteous individuals fall seven times, but then they always rise up. Rav Hutner explains that this does not mean simply that a tzaddik will rise despite having fallen down seven times, but rather that through his “falling down” - through his failures, through his struggle with the yetzer hara, he nevertheless grows and becomes great. He quotes a saying as follows: “Lose a battle, but win the war.” As we learn from Avraham Avinu, when one overcomes his fall, he will emerge victorious!