ALIYA - intermediate & advanced There are two consecutive p'sukim in last week's sedra (Lech L'cha) that teach us an important lesson about the whole Torah. B'reishit 16:16 tells us that Avra(ha)m was 86 years old when Hagar gave birth to Yishma'el, for Avram. The next pasuk (17:1) tells us that Avra(ha)m was 99 years old when HaShem next appeared to him. What happened during the 13-year gap between the two p'sukim? Probably, lots of things. But not one thing that G-d wanted to tell us about - probably because there were no lessons for us to learn. The Torah is not a history book. It is not a journal or a diary. It is exactly what G-d "decided" to tell us about. Every episode has a lesson for us - otherwise, it wouldn't be in the Torah. Something of importance to us happened when Avraham was 75 years old. Therefore, the Torah tells us about it. Nothing of importance TO US happened to Avraham when he was 90 years old. So the Torah doesn't tell us anything about that. ALIYA for beginners was the theme of the beginning of Lech L'cha. G-d told Avra(ha)m to go to the land which he will show him, and he did. Took his wife, nephew, and followers and came to the Land of Canaan. Without taking away from the major step Aliya is for those who come, it is being referred to here as the "easy", elementary part of Aliya. When Avraham and Sarah arrived in Eretz Yisrael, they did not have a smooth K'LITA, absorption. And this is so for most of their descendants who choose to follow their lead. Do not look at Aliya and K'lita as separate things. Coming to live in Israel and going back from where one came from - whether it is right away or after an amount of time, is not a definition of Successful Aliya. The harder part of the Aliya process - the intermediate and advanced parts of it - include absorption and what a person does with his life when he lives here. Wouldn't Avraham and Sara have a "heter" to live in Charan (or else- where) in light of their success in being M'KAREV people. In spreading the concepts of belief in one G-d to all people? The simple answer is, not if G-d told them to go to Eretz Yisrael. And not if they will continue their teaching and influencing in their new location. And not if Avraham was commanded a second Lech L'cha to rise to the spiritual heights of belief and commitment to G-d in Eretz Yisrael. As with the fathers, so with their children. The call for Aliya is not just to come here. It is to succeed here; to help improve one's spiritual level and that of one's fellows, AD BIAT HAGOEL. [The Parshat Vayeira Homepage]
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