A gitten erev Shabbos! This week’s parsha is Parshas Lech-Lecha. The literal meaning of the first two words of the parsha are “Go to you.” In reference to Avrohom Ovinu this refers to his having to leave his land and his father’s house in order to serve Hashem. As the Torah is eternal and meant to teach us various lessons until Hashem decides to end granting His enlivening influence to this world, we can see that what someone who is beginning to grow in spirituality must seek an escape from what they’re used to: from the way their parents taught them, away from the mental attitudes of their peers, and from the general distractions of physical life. This is not to encourage people to experiment with non-Torah forms of spirituality, rather to seek some form of isolation from the influences of their family and peers so as to engage in spiritual contemplations to reach their inner core, where the “Small still voice” of Hashem speaking through our neshomos can be heard.
The doors to avodas Hashem are never closed. It says in Maseches Geirim that this is the reason why Hashem waited to give the mitzva of bris milah to Avrohom Ovinu until he was 99 is in order for us to know that the doors are never closed to geirim, and they can always enter Klal Yisroel. This we can say is relevant even to born Jews. Hashem always wants people to enter avodas Hashem, so the gates are never closed to one who wants to engage deeper in His service. This refers to those who are already holding in learning and davening, we can always improve in various ways of serving Hashem, such as doing more gemilus chasodim (acts of kindness), giving tzedakah, and kosher forms of meditation.
Hashem should bentsh us all with simcha in His avodah, that we should merit to find our pure spiritual core, and that all geirim that are meant to be m’gayer should be converted in order that we can merit to see the face of Moshiach swiftly in our days!
Yismach Lev 