The Torah uses the words Lech Lecha only twice, and both times they define Abraham’s life: leave where you are, and go where you are called.
From Russia to Morocco
In 1952, Rabbi Nissan Pinson received a letter from the Rebbe instructing him to travel to Morocco.
He was a new immigrant from Russia. He had barely managed to escape after World War II, leaving the Soviet Union illegally and with great danger. His father had been murdered after being imprisoned by the Communist regime in a labor camp in Siberia.
Nissan arrived in Paris with nothing and began rebuilding his life from scratch. There he met a young woman with a very similar background. Her father, too, had been murdered by the Communists. They married and started a family. A baby was born, and they were waiting to receive visas to enter the United States, where they hoped to begin a new life.
In those dark years, America represented a ray of light. It was a democratic country, a place where a Jew could live openly and without fear. The center of the Chabad movement was also taking shape there.
And then He was asked to go to Casablanca, Morocco. Not for a visit or a short stay, but for life.
At the time, more than one hundred thousand Jews lived in Morocco, and there was a serious shortage of Jewish education. In the 1950s, Morocco was still under French influence, and France was working to spread French culture among the Moroccan population.
The Rebbe wanted to establish a proper Jewish school system there, in order to save the Jewish youth from assimilation and from losing their Jewish identity. So he turned to the Pinsons and asked them to serve as his emissaries there.
It is important to remember what this meant. This was a young couple who spoke only Yiddish and Russian—and the Rebbe was sending them to a community that spoke Arabic and Hebrew.
The language gap also reflected a cultural gap. The traditions, customs, and halachic practices of Sephardic and Middle Eastern Jews were, in many ways, very different from those of Ashkenazic Jews.
But the Pinsons did not wait for a moment, and they accepted the mission. Nissan traveled to Morocco, arranged everything needed for the move, and then brought his wife and their son. Together, they joined the Chabad emissary who was already working there, and they helped build educational institutions for thousands of Jewish children.
Not long ago, I heard an important rabbi in Israel, himself of Moroccan background, say that many of the great rabbis in Israel received their education through Chabad.
Continuing to Tunisia
In 1960, the Rebbe instructed Rabbi Nissan Pinson to move to Tunisia.
The Rebbe often quoted the Mishnah in Pirkei Avos, which says, “The reward of a mitzvah is a mitzvah” (Avos 4:2). In simple terms, the reward for doing one mitzvah is that G-d gives a person the opportunity to do another mitzvah.
That is what happened with Rabbi Pinson.
The Rebbe wrote to him that since he was pleased with his work in Morocco, and since the institutions there were already established, he was asking him to move to Tunisia and develop a similar project there.
Tunisia had gained independence in 1956, replacing French rule. Many of the wealthier Jews had left the country, and the Jewish community that remained was poorer and could not afford proper Jewish education. In addition, the country had become less safe for Jews because of the Arab hostility surrounding the creation of the State of Israel.
The Rebbe saw a community that desperately needed help.
Rabbi Pinson packed his belongings, took his wife and children — by then they had four children — and drove from Casablanca, through Algeria, all the way to Tunisia. There, he established a boys’ school, a girls’ high school, a seminary, and more.
In 1967, the Six-Day War broke out, and the security situation became much more dangerous. Jews were afraid to go out into the streets, and Rabbi Pinson asked the Rebbe what he should do. Should he leave the country because of the danger? The Rebbe answered him: “Now they need you even more.”
In 1971, Rabbi Pinson had a dream about a rabbi with a beard who was murdered. In the morning, he fasted because of the dream. That same day, Rabbi Matzliach Mazuz was murdered by a Muslim assassin (as told by his son, Rabbi Meir Mazuz). Once again, Rabbi Pinson turned to the Rebbe and asked whether he should leave. Once again, the Rebbe told him to continue.
Two years later, the Yom Kippur War broke out, and the government closed all the synagogues out of fear of riots. Again, the Rebbe told Rabbi Pinson: “Now they need you more than ever.”
In 1982, after the Lebanon War, the PLO, led by Yasser Arafat, was expelled from Lebanon and settled in Tunisia. The Rebbe instructed Rabbi Pinson not to leave. He also told him to encourage other Jews to remain there as well.
In the 1990s, Rabbi Pinson wrote to the Rebbe that only about one thousand Jews were left in Tunisia, and perhaps the time had come to leave. The Rebbe told him: “When the last Jew leaves.” Rabbi Nissan Pinson remained in Tunisia until his final day. In 2008, he passed away at the age of 89.
Go Where You Are Needed
Today we read the Torah portion about the Akeidah, the binding of Isaac.
The Torah says: “After these events, G-d tested Abraham… He said, ‘Please take your son, your only son, the one you love — Isaac — and go to the land of Moriah’” (Genesis 22:2).
There are two familiar Hebrew words in that verse: Lech Lecha — “go for yourself.”
Those same words were said to Abraham once before. In fact, an entire Torah portion is called Lech Lecha. The very first time G-d revealed Himself to Abraham, He said: “G-d said to Abram: Lech Lecha — go from your land, from your birthplace, and from your father’s house” (Genesis 12:1).
These are the only two times the words Lech Lecha appear in Tanach.
The first time, G-d told Abraham where to leave from: “from your land, from your birthplace, and from your father’s house.” But G-d did not tell him exactly where he was going. He only said, “to the land that I will show you.” In today’s reading, near the end of Abraham’s spiritual journey, as he faces his tenth and final test, G-d tells him where to go: “Go to the land of Moriah.”
The first time, Abraham was seventy-five years old. The last time G-d spoke to him, he was 137. In between were sixty-three years, filled with the ten tests that Abraham went through.
But the common thread is clear: the first time G-d spoke to Abraham, He said, Lech Lecha. And the last time, He again used those same words: Lech Lecha. If we wanted to summarize the life of Abraham, it would be those two words: Lech Lecha. As the Sefer Yetzirah says, “The end is connected with the beginning, and the beginning with the end” (Sefer Yetzirah 1:7).
That is Abraham’s life story. He left his place and went to the place where he was needed.
We all know the famous Midrash about Ur Kasdim, where Abraham was thrown into a fiery furnace and was miraculously saved. But that story is not written clearly in the Torah itself.
Why not?
The Rebbe explains that the test of Ur Kasdim, being thrown into a furnace of fire, is not something that belongs to every person. But Lech Lecha — leaving your comfort zone and going where G-d needs you — that is something every person can relate to. That is part of the spiritual work of every Jew (Likkutei Sichos, vol. 1, p. 15).
The call of Lech Lecha was not said only to Rabbi Pinson.
It is a call that G-d gives every Jew on Rosh Hashanah, and really every day: Lech Lecha. Leave your comfort. Leave the place where you were born, the habits you are used to, the life that feels familiar. Go to the place where you can make a difference.
Each of us has to ask ourselves: How do I fulfill this calling?
Where am I needed most?
Every one of us has influence over someone — an adult, a child, a friend, a neighbor, someone we can help, encourage, and move forward in life.
My friends, it does not matter so much where you go. It does not matter whether your mission is as challenging as Tunisia, or whether it is just across the street.
The main thing is that you go. That you move forward. That you place yourself where you are needed for another Jew. Lech Lecha.
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