Rabbi Howard Morrison

I was introduced to the formal study of Chumash (the Five Books of the Torah) in grade 2. Not the narratives of Bereishit and Noach, my class was first introduced to Torah study with Parshat Lech Lecha and the journey of Abram-Abraham. I still remember the large print Hebrew only text which was given to us. At age 7, we were learning to discern the Hebrew text as it was. There was no English and no commentary.

Lech Lecha begins with the journey made by the first patriarch and his family. Abram must leave his native land, his birth place, and his parental home to a new land that God will show him. For Jews, the historical promise made by God to our people about the homeland of Israel originated 4000 years ago with the pact made to Abram. Only Jews are the rightful indigenous people of Israel. It is our language, culture, holy sites, and more which have stood the test of time in Israel even when conquering nations tried to rid our people from its God-given homeland thousands of years ago.

Another kind of Lech Lecha comes to mind this weekend. On November 9-10, we commemorate the 86^th anniversary of Kristallnacht, the night of broken glass, which took place in 1938. Soon enough, many Jewish families and individuals undertook their own journeys. Those who were fortunate to escape Eastern Europe before it was too late ended up in many places around the world, including pre-State Israel, North America, and many other locations.

I marvel at the survivors I have gotten to know in my nearly twenty-five years at Beth Emeth. They came with almost nothing. Many established thriving businesses and raised multi-generational families. Sadly, I have laid to rest many survivors of the Shoah. However, they left this world comforted in that they did not survive in vain. Like Abraham, who became the patriarch for all generations to come, many survivors will be regarded as the patriarchs and matriarchs of the families they nurtured here in Canada.

As we recall the very first journey in Jewish history, we pay tribute this weekend to the memories of six million Jews and remember those who made their Lech Lecha to Jewish communities around the world and who raised Jewish families to ensure our people's continuity.

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Howard Morrison