The Blogs: Lech Lecha: Transcending Time and Space

Avram and Sarai, the two greatest pioneers the world has ever seen. They figured out how to transcend the world of time and space and get to the other side. The world of time is one where we are sucked into the immediate, while when exiting the physical plane we enter the realm of the distant. We always talk about the future as “Le’atid Lavo,” and in order to live in a futuristic mindset we are required to live with faith. We have to believe that the promise of the future will come to pass in order to be content in the current moment; otherwise we’ll be stressed about the future and the ‘now’ will be one big nervous jumble of feelings, where we are lost without direction.

Knowing the future and believing in a future are two different things. We cannot know or predict it since all variables have yet to combine. We may try to put together a puzzle of all the variables before our own eyes, but what about the tree that will fall in China that will alter the shipping dates for a certain container that is needed for XYZ… etc. We only know what we know and can try to form certain outcomes, but in reality, there are so many more things we cannot predict, which will most likely alter our part in our plans, if not completely. But believing in a future doesn’t require much planning and sourcing; all it takes is for this moment to be lived according to that same belief. Meaning, if one truly believes that they will be rich in 10 years from now, why then would they live poorly until that day? All they need to do is live with complete faith that that day will come, and until that day will live in the buildup to that great moment, just like a bride preparing for her long-awaited wedding day.

Avram prays to Hashem (Gen 15:2), “What will you give me, while ‘I’ go empty [without children]?” Hashem takes Avram “out” as the Pasuk states, Gen. 15:5-6: “And He took him out and said, peer at the sky and count the stars, if you can count them; and He said to him, so will be your children. And he believed in Hashem, and He valued this [belief] as ‘righteousness.’” Rashi, in one of his explanations, explains that Avram wasn’t just taken out of his tent; he was actually taken beyond the stars and he peered at the sky from above. This is literally the meaning of being out of this physical reality of time and space, so it is very fitting why the following Pasuk describes Avram’s belief in Hashem.

The future of Avram is what we know as our present moment, as well as the future of us. Our entire existence, and so too the existence of the world as a whole, is all to the credit of Avram’s faith. The value of impulse control and delayed gratification is one of living with a future mindset rather than the immediate. We learn to forego instant pleasures and allow the reward of something healthier to sprout in the future. Much like a kid who learns to stay away from candy to save room for a healthy dinner, and the young man who keeps his eyes pure for the sake of a healthy relationship with those who are truly important to his life and legacy. So too is it with the rest of the world: we must quiet down our egoistic nature of needing more land and spoils to claim victory by allowing ourselves to achieve true peace by giving life to what is true and pure.

Avram understood that this is the way to life as he trekked across this uncharted territory beyond time and space. He stuck to his belief for his entire life and proved that there is something more than just earthly pleasures and possessions. And so did Sarai. Having a child was the most important thing she had on her mind. Building a future was one of great importance, because the promise of the future can and will only come to fruition if there is someone there to receive it. It doesn’t matter if she would be there physically to accept said promised reward, since the only thing to do in the physical plane is to live with faithfulness in a mindset that is beyond time and space. She had to do her part in the physical time she had on earth to make sure that the belief she held so dearly would come to fruition.

She dreamed of raising a child and teaching him the ropes of belief—training him from birth to be removed from earthly, immediate needs by keeping him shielded from doubt and strong enough to fight them should they arise. She had a vision for the future and did what had to be done in order to achieve it. Genesis 16:2: “And Sarai said to Avram, Hashem has held me back from giving birth; come please to my maiden for I may build (my womb) from her,” and Avram listened to the ‘voice’ of Sarai. Rashi explains, “This teaches us that one who has no children isn’t ‘built’—instead is destroyed.” “To her voice, meaning, to the Ruach Hakodesh in her voice.” It was clear to Sarai that there is no purpose in building if there is no proper person to continue building upon what has already been built. So she searched for merits and even went against what in physicality is considered the norms, and allowed her husband to be shared.

As Hagar (the maiden) became pregnant, she lost all respect for Sarai. She said (Gen 16:4, Rashi), “This Sarai isn’t on the inside what she is on the outside. It cannot be that she is so righteous, since she has been waiting for a child for so many years, but I was impregnated at the first try.” Gen 16:5: “And Sarai said to Avram, you robbed me…!” Rashi explains, “For when you prayed for a son, you only prayed for yourself, and you should’ve davened for both of us, and I would’ve been remembered along with you.”

Sarai searched for merits to grant her the son that will bring her dreams to fruition, the one that will bring about the future she so eagerly awaited. And after hearing Hagar’s claim that she wasn’t righteous, she blamed Avram for not praying for her. She realized that Hashem accepted Avram’s prayer and when he believed in the promise of the future Hashem considered that a ‘righteousness.’ Through the words of Hagar she understood that true righteousness comes from prayer, and that the duty of the human on earth is to pray in the present in order to build the future.

There is a fine line of surrender that we must adapt to in our life. There is the Hishtadlut one must invest in, and there is the prayer aspect. At times we may not realize the consequences of our Hishtadlut, and may come to a point of regret. But it wasn’t so with Sarai; she never expressed regret over her actions—she actually understood that this is meant to be. She realized that in her request to Avram to marry Hagar she prophesied with her voice. The voice, even when we think that it speaks mere simple words, is a tool of projection. Sarai knew that the future will be bright and that great things are going to happen when time comes to an end (which is where she and Avram would hang out all the time), but the variables were unknown.

She teaches us that in addition to living with complete faith we must use our voices and prayers, for they are the drivers to the future we are soon to receive. We may not know what will happen, but with prayer nothing will stop us from getting there.

Shabbat Shalom

David Lemmer

LemmerHypnotherapy.com