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Do You Have a Calling, or,


How Abraham Left Home and Found Himself Parshat Lech Lecha 5772 By Rabbi Mark Greenspan
Abraham had one. Moses had one. The prophets, Isaiah and Jeremiah, each had one. That is, each of these biblical characters received a personal invitation to serve God. So do rabbis also have a calling? Are we doing the work that we do because we were invited by God to this particular position in life? Why give up all the opportunities for riches and prestige and fame just to serve as the humble rabbi of a congregation? Each year, members of the Oceanside Interfaith Council are invited to speak at our local high school as part of "Human Relations Day." Apparently, someone thought that our teens would be interested in knowing why rabbis, ministers, and priests decided to enter the ministry and serve through their respective houses of worship. I'm not sure that are teenagers are dying to know the answer to this question but, invariably, the question comes up: do we think we were called by God to do the work that we do as members of the clergy? Over the years I've met many ministers and priest who spoke of their ministry as a 'calling.' Very few rabbis speak of their work in this fashion. When I reflect on my own decision to enter the rabbinate I can't help but feel that it was anything but a calling. There were no bright lights, heavenly trumpets, or overwhelming visions. Rather there was a slow, methodical, and plodding evolution which led to my decision to go to rabbinical school. But maybe the calling was there all along and I just didnt see it. Abram's calling comes suddenly and without preparation. Our parshah opens with the words, "Lech lecha - Go forth from youre native land and from your father's house to the land I will show you. I will make you a great nation and bless you" Nothing prepares us, or our forefather, for this invitation. It comes out of the blue, so to speak. For the seventy five years God is completely silent and then without expectation, Abram is told "Leave home. Go to a new place. Everything is about to change!" But really, it doesnt. Abram's life is messy. No sooner does he get to Canaan and there's a famine. He has to deal with hostile neighbors and bickering family members. He doesnt get along with his nephew, Lot, and Abram nearly kills both of his sons. And, of course, there's the whole matter of childlessness. God keeps promising that he will be the father of a great nation and yet Abram and Sarai have trouble having children The Rabbis were troubled by Abram's 'so called' calling. They couldnt imagine that such an invitation could come without preparation, and they couldnt understand how Abram could suddenly begin believing in God. So they told their own stories - to create a background for this event. They claimed that God did not come to Abram. Just the opposite; Abram came to God through contemplation and observation. In one of the many midrashic tales we tell about the early life of our forefather, Abram comes to believe in God by observing the world around him. In the time of Abram, most people worshipped the

forces of nature. Our forefather was no different! One night, fearful of the dark, he looked up at the sky and saw the moon and stars. He thought: "these heavenly bodies light up the darkness of the night so maybe they're God," and he began worshipping them. The next morning, the sun came and chased away the darkness. So Abram worshipped the sun. Suddenly, it became dark and overcast and it began to rain. Abram trembled as he heard thunder and saw lightening, and he thought: "The thunder is more mighty than the sun so I will bow down to it. But the storm passed. Abram began to wonder, "Surely there must be one power responsible for all the wonders," - and so he came to believe in a single power responsible for the creation. What's the point of this story? This story suggests that Abraham did not discover God suddenly but arrived at his faith through thought and contemplation. This Midrash also suggests that God did not find Abram. Rather, Abram found God. The calling came later in life - and it was a product of the choices and beliefs that he held to be sacred. Being called to God's service, then, is not some dramatic or mysterious act. We're called by the decisions we make in life. Or in the words of John Lennon: "Life is what happens while you're busy making other plans." To have a calling then, does not necessarily mean we're summoned by God to a particular task in life. It means that we have make choices which give meaning and purpose to our lives and in some ways make the world a better place. Those choices create our "calling." This, I believe, is the meaning of God's opening words to our forefather in today's Torah portion. God says lech lecha, literally, "Go to yourself." God challenges Abram, "Leave home and go discover who you really are! As long as you stay home you'll never know your full potential or what you are capable of. And you will never figure out the greater purpose of your life. You have come to believe in Me now go find out what you are going to do about it!" Understood in this way, I would suggest that not only do rabbis and ministers have a "calling," but each of us has a calling of one sort or another. It doesnt matter whether we are standing on a pulpit teaching Torah or holding down a --- job in an office. We were called to that position. Each of us has been blessed with gifts and opportunities. We have the potential to do something special - something that no one else can do. And it is up to us to "go forth" and "find ourselves." It doesnt matter what our age happens to be - Each of us is called to "Go forth." There is a story of three men who were chipping stones beside the highway. A passerby asked the first man what he was doing. He answered, "I'm chipping stones!" The second man answered "I'm earning a living." The third man proudly announced: "I'm helping to build a great highway." When we look at our lives - we have a choice. We can see ourselves as merely chipping away at the stones or simply earning a living. Or, we can see ourselves building a great highway. The choice is ours. We can see ourselves just getting by in life or we can define our lives as 'a calling.' No matter who we are, we can see ourselves as doing God's work. And that's true not only in our careers but in retirement. I dont think it's an accident that Abram is seventy-five when he first receives his calling from God. You're never too young or too old to find meaning and purpose in life. At each point in our lives we can discover new opportunities to find dignity and meaning in our daily tasks. There is still work we're called to do. And in each moment we have the potential to make a difference in the world. In the words of Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel: "The old need a vision; not only recreation. They need a dream; not just a memory. It takes three things

to attain a sense of significant being: God, a soul, and a moment. And all three are here. Just to be is a blessing. Just to live is holy." That is what it means to have a calling: to recognize that each moment of life has holy potential. Each moment can make a difference. So was I called to God's service? Understood in this way, most definitely. I believe I was called to do God's work - but so were you! God's calling may come as a still small voice or it may come with drama, unexpectedly. And I may even become aware of my calling after the fact. However we encounter this "calling," I believe that there is something special that each of us was placed in this world to do. So, how about you? What are you doing with your life? Are you chipping away at small stones or are you building a great highway? If you listen carefully, you may hear God's calling! Shabbat Shalom

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