Live with Passion - Parshat  Lech Lecha 

In choosing someone to follow the path you have forged for yourself, you might look for someone who will continue doing exactly the same. One might assume that the best, most competent person to continue will be the one who will be so good at copying what you do, it would be hard to discern from the original.

Yet we find in this week's parsha, Parshat Lech Lecha, that Avram1 is frustrated that he has no true follower to take over. He has no children, he says, and he has his servant, Eliezer.2 This is said in such a way that it seems clear that Avram has no sense of fulfillment if his servant will inherit him and his role. Did Avram find fault in his servant? After all, we see that he trusted him enough to find a suitable spouse for Isaac. The great Chassidic sage, Rabbi Klonimus Kalman Epstein explains that Avram did in fact trust his servant. But he also knew that his loyal servant served through copying him, performing actions by rote and teaching others to do the same. He was raising a generation of people who were observing by rote and not experiencing the passion of a mitzvah. Such a man, though loyal to a 't', could not be the one to continue Avram's tradition. He needed someone who would 'live' the tradition and further develop it. He needed an Isaac.

It is not enough to go through the rituals. One must feel the tradition, experience it, live it, and be passionate about it.

Would you want to get married just because everyone is doing it? Would you not want to feel the love, excitement and wonder connected with finding a true mate? On a totally different plane, would you follow a sports team and not get excited with each home run, touchdown or dunk? Why, then, would you live your traditions without passion? Be passionate about life, about all aspects of your life (okay, maybe some household chores present us with a real challenge here) and live your life to the fullest.

This theme comes up often in Bereishit (ie. Abraham running to the angels, Jacob rolling the stone off the well by himself) and may be highlighted again. They lived their lives with passion - passion for their service of God, for the welfare of their family and neighbors, and for their own mission in life.

When we work towards our life's goal because it is ­our goal, when we aim for success because we want to succeed, when we follow our calling because we are invested in doing the right thing, then our heart races with excitement as we proceed. We look to thrive and to do that with passion.4

Let us enjoy the ride.

Let us live with passion!

 

  1. Though our forefather's name was later changed to Avraham, at this point in the story he is still called Avram.
  2. Bereishit 15:2-3
  3. op cit.
  4. Viktor Frankl challenges us, likewise, to take bold attitudes in choosing the course of our lives. Passion, though, is not something you decide to have. Rather when you are doing something meaningful the passion ensues. And, therefore, feeling passion is also a sign that you are engaged in meaningful activity

 

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