Friday Voices: Parashat Lech L'cha

This week’s parashah, Lech L’cha, begins with God’s famous call to Abraham, “Go forth from your native land and from your father’s house to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, I will make your name great, and you shall be a blessing.” While few of us have taken physical journeys quite like Abraham’s, most of us have taken other kinds of journeys. When I think of this passage, I think of my journey to adopt my daughter from China. Not only the physical trip comes to mind, but also the entire process of applying for the adoption. I made a leap of faith that I would be a good mother and that the adoption would be good for her and for me. When I boarded the airplane with baby supplies knowing I would return with an actual child, I worried about how it would turn out. I knew that I was on a path to a new future for both of us and it was a good thing, but I couldn’t completely remove the doubts from my mind. Now, more than ten years later, I know that I made the right decision. My life is forever changed for the better. I could not be happier that I made that journey to a place I did not know. The call to sisterhood leadership can also be a leap of faith. We know that we love sisterhood and want to serve our congregations and our sisterhoods. We know that we want to keep Judaism alive and well for ourselves and future generations. Yet, each of us may worry: ‘Am I up to this job? Is it the right thing to do for me, for my family, for my sisterhood?’ Like parenthood, until we are actually doing it, we can’t really understand all that is entailed in the job. We may have a glimpse of the joys and frustrations of the role we will play, but we can never be fully prepared. But, when we make that leap of faith, we end up changing our lives and the lives of those around us. One of the helpful things in becoming a parent and in becoming a sisterhood leader is that we do not have to figure everything out on our own. There are innumerable parenting books and experts that we can turn to for advice. In sisterhood, we can turn to past presidents of our congregations’ sisterhoods, we can turn to the leadership of our districts, and new and rising leaders can attend the Fried Leadership Conference. This year, that conference will be held in Cincinnati from January 25-27, and is the kick-off for the celebration of WRJ’s 100^th birthday. God told Abraham that God would make Abraham’s name great and make a great nation from Abraham. When we do our jobs well, be they as parents or as sisterhood leaders, we are strengthening the future. In doing so, we are in a way making our names great by passing on a wondrous legacy to those who follow us. As we light our Shabbat candles this Friday night, let them brighten our way and help us to take those leaps of faith that will change our lives.