Lead Tidbit
And we are Jews
"Oh, I know what the Lead Tidbit is going to be about this week!" Heard that or words to that effect from several people. What else would they expect of Torah Tidbits, but another pep talk on Aliya and Living in Eretz Yisrael. I checked back over the last few years of Lech L'chas and most did, indeed, have that message. Last year's did not and I was tempted to not go with the expected again. But...

When G-d gave the Torah to the Jewish People - via the hands of Moshe Rabeinu and the whole Chain of Tradition, He was telling us: This Book and its explanations, clarifications, and details, which I have also transmitted to you through the Chain of Tradition, contains what I want you to do, and what I want you not to do. It contains what kind of individuals I want you to become and what kind of nation I want you to be. And it contains what I want you to KNOW.

Notwithstanding Rabbi Yitzchak's other reason, as quoted in the first Rashi of the Torah, G-d started the Torah with B'reishit because He wanted us to KNOW that He created the world and everything in it. And His desire (so to speak) for us to know that can be seen as an implied Divine command to believe in Creation. (Oversimplified, but this is a Torah Tidbit, not a book or even a full essay.)

And the same would/should go for everything the Torah says. We're not discussing here the idea of literal vs. figurative or allegorical understanding, just the idea that belief in the truth of the Torah is axiomatic. Which brings us to the Lech L'cha message:

The Torah tells us that G-d sent Avraham and Sarah to Eretz Yisrael. The Torah tells us that G-d promised Eretz Yisrael to Avraham and his descendants. The Torah tells us that G-d promised Avraham that his descendants will become a great nation. The Torah tells us these things because G-d wants us to know them, to believe them, and to do them, to live them.

G-d wants the Jewish people to keep mitzvot, to be good people, and He wants it to happen in Eretz Yisrael.