In our Torah reading for this week (i.e., parashat Lekh Lekha) Abram is called ha-ivri (הָעִבְרִי) – “the Hebrew,” a term that means “one who has crossed over” (עָבַר) from another place (Gen. 14:3). Rashi identifies this “other place” as Ur of the Chaldees (אוּר כַּשְׂדִים), located east of the Euphrates River, though the midrash (Genesis Rabbah) symbolically identifies it as the realm of idolatry: “The whole world stood on one side, but Abram crossed over to the other.” Abram separated himself from a world steeped in idolatry and polytheism by worshiping the One LORD God who is the sole Creator of all things…. Understood in this way, being “Hebrew” means being regarded as an “other,” a “stranger,” or an “outsider” to idolatrous world culture. Similarly, all those who “cross over” from the realm of death to life because of Yeshua our Savior are rightly called “Hebrews” (John 5:24).
To Abram came to divine invitation: “Lekh-Lekha, go forth … I will show you” (Gen. 12:1). It was only after Abram made the long journey to the unknown land of Canaan that God appeared to him to him by the Oaks of Mamre saying, “To your offspring I will give this land” (Gen. 18:1). Abram did not believe the promise because he saw God; he was only able to see God after he had walked in faith. First Abram heard the message, and later – after he acted on his faith – was he enabled to see more. This is the deeper meaning of being “Hebrew,” one who crosses over from the realm of the dead to the realm of the Living God…
Therefore we note that hearing (shema) is more important than simply seeing… When we hear the truth and accept it into our understanding, it informs our perceptions, not the other way around. Truth is something revealed to the heart first, and only later to the senses.
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