Week IV: Call

Rabbi Mahler writes:

We’re now up to Chapter 4 of God’s To Do List: “Call.” “Call” coincides perfectly with the Torah portion for November 7 and 8, Lech Lecha. Lech Lecha begins with God’s call to Abram to leave his native land and go to the land that God will show him. God does not identify the destination to Abram. All that God says, in effect, is “Get up and go,” Lech Lecha. That was enough for Abram to get up and go. Oh and by the way, Abram is seventy five years old when he gets the call from God. We might expect Abram at that age to inquire about the destination God has in mind. Boca Raton? Scottsdale?

We know what Abram didn’t know. Canaan was the destination. Canaan was the Wild West of Abram’s day. By contrast, Abram’s native Haran was the heartland of civilization in the ancient Near East. The contrast underscores that the journey was far more spiritual than geographic or economic. Spiritual journeys are the only kind that God ever has in mind.

Ron Wolfson reminds us that God calls to us today, as surely as God called to Abram in Lech Lecha. These spiritual journeys may take us no farther than to the sick bed of a friend or to the dining room on Friday night to celebrate Shabbat. Sometimes spiritual journeys take us no farther than the depths of our heart to offer love and kindness when only love and kindness are needed. But sometimes God calls us to undertake a spiritual journey where the destination is imprecise, distant and perhaps even difficult. Abram then becomes our perfect role model. He did not hesitate to get up and go, simply because it was God who called to him.
God calls to us. God calls to us in the words of the Torah and the Prophets. God calls to us through the wisdom of the ancient sages of the Talmud. God calls to us in the many needs of our world today. May we always answer God’s call.

Some favorites from God’s To Do List….

38. Study how biblical figures answer God’s call.
39. Listen for God’s call.
You’ll know it when you hear it.
40. Respond to God’s call. Remember, you
are on a mission from God to do God’s work on earth.