“…Our Portion In Your Torah”
A d’rashah for parshat Lech L'cha – B'reishit (Genesis) 15:1-21
By Rabbi Reuel Dillon
From the very beginning Eretz Yisra'el (The land of Yisra'el) has been central to Adonai’s
promises and plan. The concept of salvation in connection with a promised land is first
communicated to Avraham, the father of our faith. In B'reishit (Genesis) 15:18 it states,
“That day HaShem made a covenant with Avram: "I have given this land to your
descendants - from the Vadi of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates River”. And, in
B'reishit (Genesis) 17:7-8 we read, “I will establish my covenant between me and you and
your seed after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God to
you and to your seed after you. I will give to you, and to your seed after you, the land where
you are traveling, all the land of Kana`an, for an everlasting possession. I will be their God.".
One of the aspects and components of Biblical salvation that we often don’t consider is the
covenant inheritance and heritage, which will provide the safety of wide and open spaces
that we can call our own, while living in protection without fear. Without this - salvation is
incomplete. What are these wide and open spaces that are part of the covenant completing
the picture of Biblical salvation? It is what we call in Hebrew; “Eretz Yisra’el”, The Land of
Yisra’el.
This subject of The Land is relevant in both a physical and spiritual sense. As I mentioned,
part of the picture of salvation includes our inheritance, which will provide us a safe place to
dwell. That is why the Torah makes such a big deal about Yisra’el’s land inheritance, as it is
an integral part of our national and even our individual salvation. The return of Yisra’el to
the promised land, and the establishment of Yisra’el as a Nation in her land in 1948 was a
catalyst to their salvation, not only in the physical sense of the land, but also in a spiritual
sense, as Adonai is preparing our people for their spiritual inheritance. It was a sign that
Adonai is working out the salvation of Yisra'el.
Eliad Avruch, a Jewish teacher and a writer for an organization called "Torah Mitzion",
comments on T'hillim (Psalms) 126:1, which says, “A song of ascents - When Hashem
returned the captivity of Tziyon, we were like dreamers.” He states, "What does it mean to
be “like dreamers”? He states, "I heard the following mashal (parable) from Rav Chaim
Druckman shlit”a, Rosh Yeshivat Ohr Etzion:
"A teacher notices that one of his students is sitting and “dreaming”. The student’s eyes
are open; he’s obviously not asleep; but he’s dreaming nevertheless. If asked, he would be
unable to say what the lesson was about. He hadn’t heard a single word while he was
“dreaming”. He was so busy or preoccupied that he had become completely disconnected
from everything around him".
He goes on to state, "We frequently find ourselves in the same situation. After two
thousand years of exile, Am Yisrael has returned to our Land. Sixty-two years ago (writing
in the Jewish year 5770), who would have believed that a thriving and prosperous Jewish
State would arise in the once-desolate and barren Eretz Yisrael? A State which today boasts
over seven million citizens? A State which is renowned for its technological developments
and world-class military? And yet, we often continue to “be like dreamers.” We concentrate
on the difficulties, instead of appreciating the big picture. We don’t acknowledge that these
are momentous times – the period of Atchalta D’Geulah (“the Beginning of the
Redemption”)". (Source: http://www.torahmitzion.org/pub/parsha/5770/IyarBook.pdf)
The capital of Yisra'el is Yerushalayim (Jerusalem), but it also is given another name "Tziyon". The meaning of the name in Hebrew can mean a "parched place", but the root of
Tziyon is "tziyun", which can mean, "a sign post or a way-mark". Waymarking is the posting
of signs – along a route so that travelers can easily follow the route. Within the context of
this teaching, the establishing of "Tziyon" can be understood to be a sign or way-mark that
Adonai's salvation is near to being completed and to show travelers that they are close to
their destination. A literal version of Yo'el (Joel) 2:32 states, "For it shall be, all who shall
call on the name of HaShem shall be saved. For salvation shall be in Mount Tziyon, and in
Yerushalayim (Jerusalem)..."
The Hebrew word “Yeshu’ah”, from which the name of our Rabbi and Messiah is derived,
in general means, “salvation”. It refers to something that has been saved and is the passive
form of the root “yashah”, which means; “to be open, wide, free, or to be safe”. Thus, part
of the picture of salvation, that is, being free and walking at liberty in wide-open spaces,
includes the promise of Eretz Yisra’el (The Land Of Yisra'el). In the weekday Amidah
prayer (the central prayer of Judaism) according to the Orthodox Ashkenazi tradition, at the
very conclusion of the prayer the last petition is that Adonai would grant us our portion as
found in His Torah. We read about that portion in parshat Lech L'cha. When translating
the T'fillat Hatalmidim (The Disciples Prayer) from the Greek back into its original Hebrew
thought, the Salkinson-Ginsburg Hebrew New Testament and Delitzsch Hebrew New
Testament translation render Mattityahu (Matthew) 6:11 as, “give to us today the bread of
our portion”. While it could simply be in reference to our daily food, could it also be that in
this prayer Yeshua teaches us to pray that Adonai would give us our portion as found in His
Torah. And, where does Adonai give us bread from? Adonai provides bread for His people
from The Land. The ancient Hebrew blessing and prayer offered up to Adonai was "Baruch
attah Adonai, Eloheinu Melech Haolam, Hamotzi lechem min ha'aretz", translated to mean,
"Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the Universe, whom brings forth the bread from
the Earth". "Ha'Aretz", can also be translated as "The Land".
Adonai’s covenant as found in His Torah describes the portion, the salvation, and the grace
given to the righteous. T'hillim (Psalms) 119:41-45 teaches us, “May your grace come to me,
HaShem, your salvation, as you promised; then I will have an answer for those who taunt
me; for I trust in your word. Don't take away completely my power to speak the truth; for I
put my hope in your rulings; and I will keep your Torah always, forever and ever. I will go
wherever I like (I will walk at liberty), for I have sought your precepts.”. The promise of the
land and wide-open spaces, which gives us the ability to go wherever we like, is the physical
representation of the spiritual truth of salvation.
It is one of the reasons why The Land is so important and special for the Nation and
commonwealth of Yisra’el. It is also why as believers we should have a great affinity, that is,
a supernatural attraction to the Land of Yisra’el. This is also one of the primary reasons why
HaSatan, The Enemy of our souls wants to drive Yisra’el into the sea and to make her land
promises void and cause her not to take hold of all her inheritance. For HaSatan, it is a
matter of thwarting the salvation of Adonai. And, for Adonai, it is a matter of His
faithfulness and fulfilling His promises of salvation.
Later in B’midbar (Numbers) 34:1-12 Adonai gives us further details about the true borders
of Yisra’el as He says, "HaShem told Moshe to give this order to the people of Yisra'el:
"When you enter the land of Kena'an, it will become your land to pass on as an inheritance,
the land of Kena'an as defined by these borders. Your southern portion will extend from the
Tzin Desert close to the border of Edom. The eastern terminus of your southern border is
at the end of the Dead Sea. From there your border turns, goes south of the 'Akrabbim
Ascent and passes on to Tzin. From there it goes south of Kadesh-Barnea, on to HatzarAdar, and on to 'Atzmon. Then the border turns and goes from 'Atzmon to the Vadi of
Egypt and along it to the Sea. "Your western border will be the Great Sea. "Your northern
border will be as follows: from the Great Sea mark a line to Mount Hor, and from Mount
Hor mark a line to the entrance of Hamat. The border goes out to Tz'dad. Then the border
goes to Zifron and finally to Hatzar-'Einan; this is your northern border. "For the eastern
border mark your line from Hatzar-'Enan to Sh'fam. Then the border goes down from
Sh'fam to Rivlah, on the east side of 'Ayin, then down until it hits the slope east of Lake
Kinneret. From there it goes down the Yarden River till it flows into the Dead Sea. These
will be the borders of your land.".
Do you see how important this promise to our people is?? Currently the nation and people
of Yisra’el have not taken all of the Promised Land and thus have not truly taken hold of the
portion described in Adonai’s Torah. The following map shows all the land that Adonai
gave to Yisra’el. As seen in this map the current occupied land of Yisra’el (circled in yellow)
is just a small sliver of what has been given to them. The area outlined in red shows the land
given to the people of Yisra’el as described in the Torah. This shows us that the
commonwealth of Yisra’el will drastically expand in the future. There is still an outstanding
mitzvah that our people Yisra’el need to act upon…that is - take possession of the land
promised to us. All our people need to do is act in faith and Adonai will go before us and
fight our enemies. And, one day soon it will finally come to pass. I wonder how many of us
will be fighting with our people Yisra’el on that day.
At any rate, the area outlined in red to is a
necessary picture for complete Biblical
salvation to become a reality for our people.
The Avrahamic covenant has NOT been
fulfilled. But, at the second coming of Yeshua
our Messiah he will truly complete the
salvation that He started. He will have the
pleasure of fulfilling all of Adonai’s covenants
at that time. He will provide his people just
what his name means. With his second
coming he will provide his people a place that
is “open, wide, free, and safe”.
He will do this for not only the native born Yisraelite or Jew, but he will also do it for all
those who later become part of the commonwealth of Yisra’el. Ephesians 2:11-12 states,
“Therefore, remember your former state: you Gentiles by birth - called the Uncircumcised
by those who, merely because of an operation on their flesh, are called the Circumcised - at
that time had no Messiah. You were estranged from the national life of Yisra'el. You were
foreigners to the covenants embodying God's promise. You were in this world without hope
and without God.”. Ephesians 2:19 goes unto say, “So then, you are no longer foreigners
and strangers. On the contrary, you are fellow-citizens with God's people and members of
God's family.”. These promises of The Land are not just something that the Jewish people
in the land of Yisra’el should be concerned about, for it should concern all of God’s people,
all those, both Jew and those of Gentile origin who have put their trust in Yeshua The
Messiah. If the land of Yisra’el is being attacked, it is our land that is being attacked. We
truly need to see it that way and react accordingly.
If you are of Gentile origins, and are a sojourner amongst Yisra'el, and have taken hold of
the God of Yisra’el, His Messiah, and the covenants as described in Ephesians chapter 2…it
is your land and your portion too! We should all feel a strong connection to Eretz Yisra’el.
We should want to visit the land, go out of our way to be in it, be amongst our people there,
and worship our God there. If need be, we should be willing to die there. We should do
whatever we can to support our people Yisra’el being in the land. For it is not their struggle,
it is our struggle. The struggle will finally be settled after Messiah has come and has fulfilled
the covenant of Avraham, and thus will cause our people Yisra’el to be granted their portion
given to them in the Torah.
We see this future fulfillment spoken of in Yechezk’el (Ezekiel) 47:13-23 where it says,
"Adonai HaShem says this: 'These are the borders of the land you are to distribute for
inheritance by the twelve tribes of Yisra'el, with Yosef receiving two portions. For
inheritance you will each have equal shares. I swore to your ancestors that I would give them
this land, and now it falls to you to inherit it. "'The borders of the land will be as follows: on
the north, from the Great Sea through Hetlon to the entrance of Tz'dad, Hamat, Berotah,
Sibrayim (which is between the border of Dammesek and the border of Hamat), HatzerHatikhon (which is toward the border of Havran). The border from the sea will be Hatzar'Einon (at the border of Dammesek); while on the north, northward, is the border of Hamat.
This is the north side. "'On the east side, measure between Havran and Dammesek, Gil'ad
and the land of Yisra'el by the Yarden, from the border to the eastern sea. This is the east
side. "'On the side of the Negev toward the south it will be from Tamar as far as the waters
of M'rivot-Kadesh, then to the Vadi [of Egypt] and on to the Great Sea. This is the south
side toward the Negev. "'The west side will be the Great Sea, as far as across from the
entrance to Hamat. This is the west side. "'This is the territory you are to divide among the
tribes of Yisra'el. You are to divide it by lot as an inheritance both to you and to the
foreigners living among you who give birth to children living among you; for you they are to
be no different from the native-born among the people of Yisra’el - they are to have an
inheritance with you among the tribes of Yisra'el. You are to give the foreigner an
inheritance in the territory of the tribe with whom he is living,' says Adonai HaShem.”.
Baruch HaShem! This is wonderful. When the Apostolic scriptures uses the expression of
Jew and Gentile being one new man, and that there is no distinction in Yeshua the
Messiah…it speaks of the unity and the equal heritage that all of Adonai’s people will inherit
together as one. Therefore, the issue of Eretz Yisra’el (The Land of Yisra’el) is important
for both native-born Jews who are believers in Messiah and also for all those whom have
later joined the commonwealth of Yisra’el. Speaking to Avraham, Adonai says that the
promise of the land is “to your seed after you”. Galatians 3:26-29 tells us, “For in union
with the Messiah, you are all children of God through this trusting faithfulness; because as
many of you as were immersed into the Messiah have clothed yourselves with the Messiah,
in whom there is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor freeman, neither male nor
female; for in union with the Messiah Yeshua, you are all one. Also, if you belong to the
Messiah, you are seed of Avraham and heirs according to the promise.”.
When it came to Yeshua’s doctrine on salvation - having a covenanted place to dwell is an
important aspect. In Yochanan (John) 14:1-3 our Master taught us, "Don't let yourselves be
disturbed. Trust in God and trust in me. In my Father's house are many places to live. If
there weren't, I would have told you; because I am going there to prepare a place for you.
Since I am going and preparing a place for you, I will return to take you with me; so that
where I am, you may be also.”. Yeshua’s point is that part of our portion and salvation
includes a place for us to dwell. And, he doesn’t just speak of some heavenly house in the
clouds. Yeshua further speaks to this reality in Mattityahu (Mathew) 5:5 where he teaches
us, “How blessed are the meek! for they will inherit the Land!”. Also, in Mattityahu
(Mathew) 25:31-34 we read, "When the Son of Man comes in his glory, accompanied by all
the angels, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be assembled before him,
and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates sheep from goats. The
`sheep' he will place at his right hand and the `goats' at his left. "Then the King will say to
those on his right, `Come, you whom my Father has blessed, take your inheritance, the
Kingdom prepared for you from the founding of the world.”.
At Yeshua’s return he will vanquish our enemies and we will rule and reign with him as
Kings and Priests in wide, open, and safe places. All of us, being the seed of Avraham, will
inherit the Kingdom land along with our King Yeshua. Acts 20:32 states, "And now I
entrust you to the care of the Lord and to the message of his love and kindness, for it can
build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who have been set apart for God”.
In Ephesians 1:16-18 the Emissary Sha’ul (Paul) says, “I have not stopped giving thanks for
you. In my prayers I keep asking the God of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah, the glorious
Father, to give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you will have full knowledge of
him. I pray that he will give light to the eyes of your hearts, so that you will understand the
hope to which he has called you, what rich glories there are in the inheritance he has
promised his people”. In Colossians 1:11-12 he says, “We pray that you will be continually
strengthened with all the power that comes from his glorious might; so that you will be able
to persevere and be patient in any situation, joyfully giving thanks to the Father for having
made you fit to share in the inheritance of his people in the light.”. And, in Colossians 3:2324 he teaches us, “Whatever work you do, put yourself into it, as those who are serving not
merely other people, but the Lord. Remember that as your reward, you will receive the
inheritance from the Lord. You are slaving for the Lord, for the Messiah.”.
As we learn during the Pesach seder, the four cups of the covenant employed throughout
the seder picture the model of salvation and show us the steps leading to Biblical salvation.
We read about these steps in Sh'mot (Exodus) 6:5-8 where it states, “Moreover I have heard
the groaning of the children of Yisra'el, whom the Mitzrim keep in bondage, and I have
remembered my covenant. Therefore tell the children of Yisra'el, 'I am HaShem, and (1) I
will bring you out from under the burdens of the Mitzrim, and (2) I will rid you out of their
bondage, and (3) I will redeem you with an outstretched arm, and with great judgments: and
(4) I will take you to me for a people, and I will be to you a God; and you shall know that I
am HaShem your God, who brings you out from under the burdens of the Mitzrim. (5) I
will bring you into the land which I swore to give to Avraham, to Yitzchak, and to Ya`akov;
and I will give it to you for a heritage: I am HaShem.'".
In the four traditional cups modeling Adonai’s salvation we seem to miss one important
step, that is, the inheritance of the land. It is the final description of Adonai's salvation.
Maybe we should use five cups during the seder to truly demonstrate a complete model of
salvation. Perhaps when the promise of the land is completely fulfilled a fifth cup will be
added in the future Kingdom at our seder tables, as we recall our great salvation. Although,
maybe we haven’t missed expressing this fifth step after all. For there is an expression at the
end of the seder that articulates the expectation that all Yisra’el will be fully restored to her
land, thus completing our salvation. What is that expression? At the very end of the Pesach
seder we all proclaim in Hebrew, "L'shanah haba'ah b'Yerushalayim!", which in English
means, “Next year in Jerusalem!”.
Amein! May it come to pass speedily in our days.
Shabbat shalom!
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