Posted on October 31, 2025 by Rabbi Noah Diamondstein
Dear Temple Beth-El,
A word on our parashah in just a moment, but first an important reminder: We are offering Healing Services on Shabbat each month of the year that contains five Fridays, of which October is one. Tonight’s Shabbat service will not include a sermon, but instead will include an extended moment for healing. If you are in need of healing of body, mind, or spirit, I hope you will join us to be surrounded by loving community.
Having just finished my final “Meet and Greet,” I want to thank our community for letting me get to know so many of you in these first few months. There are many more still to meet, and I can’t wait. If you haven’t met me yet, I hope you’ll come to a service or program soon so we can meet! As these meet and greets have helped me break down our congregation into individual faces and names, I have a word for us on individuality this Shabbat.
Our parashah this Shabbat is Lech Lecha, in which Abram (soon to be Abraham) is told by God to go to the land that God will show him. The command to go, however, is Hebraically odd. The Hebrew “Lech lecha” is a strange formulation. ‘Lech’ is the imperative, or command, form of the verb “to go,” and thus already implicitly includes the subject “You,” the same way commands do in English. The following word, ‘lecha’ is where things get strange – ‘lecha’ means ‘to you.’ So, directly translated, the opening phrase is something like: “Go to you,” or “Go to yourself.” This strange formulation has given rise to many beautiful midrashic interpretations, two of which from Chassidic wisdom I would highlight for us here.
We learn that “Go to yourself” means to pursue one’s essential character. “No Jew is required to do more than what they are capable of, but they are required to accomplish that of which they are capable. As R. Zusha taught, ‘When I come to the Heavens for my judgement, they will not ask me why I wasn’t like Moses, for I am not Moses. Rather they will ask me why I wasn’t like Zusha.” The Ba’al Shem Tov teaches similarly to R. Zusha, commenting on God’s promise to make Abram a great nation: “Why does one not simply say “the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob,” rather than the way the prayer actually is: “The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob”? The reason that we mention the words “the God of” in regard to each one of the forefathers separately is because each of them came to an awareness of God through his own efforts. Each had his own special way to serve God.”
We all approach Torah differently, and our community contains a vast multitude of perspectives. Each one of us has the zechut, the merit, to engage with our tradition and bring their opinions to bear. Each one of us has a path in life to walk that is different from our neighbor, and each one of us has different struggles and successes, triumphs and trials. On a day where many children will dress up in costume like someone else, the tradition’s message is simple: Be yourself, for no one else can!
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Noah Diamondstein
