G-D SAID TO AVRAM, GO YOURSELF FROM YOUR LAND, BIRTHPLACE AND FATHER'S HOUSE TO A LAND I WILL SHOW YOU. I WILL MAKE YOU A GREAT NATION, BLESS YOU, MAGNIFY YOUR NAME, AND YOU WILL BE A BLESSING...
AVRAM WENT AS G-D SPOKE TO HIM (Bereshis 12: 1-2,4).
Avraham passed ten tests in his lifetime (Pirke Avos 5:4). According to commentaries leaving home was one of the tests. How can this be a test when G-d is promising children, wealth and fame?
The text says Avram went "as G-d told him." His motivation was to establish a nation devoted to G-d. The blessings G-d promised were means to this end (Or Hachaim).
I WILL BLESS THOSE WHO BLESS YOU, AND THOSE WHO CURSE YOU I WILL CURSE (12:3)
THOSE WHO curse (Hebrew root K-L-L) YOU
I WILL curse (Hebrew root A-R-R)
Why are two completely different words for "cursed" used in these two phrases?
K-L-L refers to material reduction whereas A-R-R refers to the devitalization of the inner life. The Jewish nation cannot be devitalized by the nations. Their inner vitality is based on their connection to G-d. But those nations that physically deprive the Jewish nation end up devitalized (Rav SR Hirsch).
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