Man is Meant to Struggle

Parshat לך לך tells of Avraham Avinu making the long journey from אור כשדים to the land of כנען.

We were told at the end of last week’s Parsha, that Abraham’s father, תרח, died in חרן. He apparently was aware that there was something special about כנען but did not have the spiritual strength to make the entire journey. He let his dream of Aliya die, and opted for the comforts of חרן, rather than deal with the difficulties of כנען.

Avraham, on the other hand, never let go of his convictions. Hashem never told him specially where he was to go. His instructions were to go to the land that he would be shown. And he was told to leave his land, his birthplace, and his father’s house, so as to give greater reward for his faith.

This is similar to the instructions regarding the עקידה. “Take your son, your only son, that you loved, Yitzchak.” He was to be given a reward for each aspect of his act of faith.

The lesson from all of this is that we are asked to make difficult decisions as part of our commitment to Judaism. We must also be reminded the teaching from Pirkei Avot, לפום צערא אגרא, according to the pain is the reward. We also say from the Book of Job, אדם לעמל יולד, that man was made to struggle.

We must recognize this point and embrace it. The greater the commitment, the greater the ultimate reward. This is learned from אברהם אבינו.