Finding meaning in ‘Va’yomer Hashem el Avram’

When we examine the first verse of our parasha, “Va’yomer Hashem el Avram (And Hashem said to Avram), ‘Lech lecha (Go forth from your land and from your birthplace and from your father’s house, to the land that I will show),” we most often focus on the phrase lech lecha, the namesake of our Torah portion. In fact, Rashi and the vast majority of meforshim do not comment upon the introductory phrase, “And Hashem said to Avram.”

What is the significance of the expression va’yomer Hashem el Avram?

One of the earliest exegetes to address this question was Rabbeinu Ya’akov ben Asher (Ba’al HaTurim): This verse begins with an amirah, a statement of verbal communication [between Hashem and Avram], utilizing the identical word with which the world was created [va’yomer].

According to the Ba’al HaTurim, kulo lo nivra elah b’zechut Avraham (ll of Creation was formed solely for the yet-to-be realized merit of Avraham,” which is why the Torah deployed the expression, “va’yomer Hashem el Avram,” wherein the first two words are those used to create the Universe.

Closer to our own time, the Rav notes that “Va-yomer [Hashem] means a dialogue, a conversation held face to face. G-d encountered Abraham and addressed Himself to Him.” Based on this mode of thinking, the Rav analyzes the significance of the first verbal interchange between Hashem and Avraham in the following manner:

“Abraham, the knight of faith, according to our tradition, searched and discovered G-d in the star-lit heavens of Mesopotamia. Yet, he felt an intense loneliness and could not find solace in the silent companionship of G-d whose image was reflected in the boundless stretches of the cosmos. Only when he met G-d on earth as Father, Brother and Friend — not only along the uncharted astral routes — did he feel redeemed.”

In this passage from his classic essay, “The Lonely Man of Faith,” the Rav portrays Avraham’s existential loneliness during the period between his discovery of the Almighty and his first encounter with Him. For Avraham, the recognition of Hashem as the one and only Master of the Universe was necessary but insufficient, for while this was knowledge, it was not yet a relationship. Therefore, “only when he met G-d on earth as Father, Brother and Friend … did he feel redeemed.”

In sum, according to the Rav, the real significance of va’yomer Hashem el Avram is to be found in the relationship these words created for evermore.

According to the Rav, Abraham was Hashem’s friend, as we find in the following passage: “G-d addresses Himself to Abraham not in the commanding, authoritative tone of the L-rd but in the comradely, friendly manner of a fellow wanderer. He [G-d] wants a covenant with him. G-d, as it were, is lonesome and He is anxious to find a companion. Fellowship between God and man is the motto of Abraham’s life.” (154-155)

The Rav’s statement that “G-d, as it were, is lonesome and He is anxious to find a companion” is a theological tour de force. It teaches us that as much as we wish to encounter and draw close to Hashem, He, too, longs for the Jewish people’s embrace.

May we ever strive, like Avraham Avinu, to reach out to Hashem in love and devotion, for we, too, need His unceasing presence in our lives. V’chane yihi ratzon.