Rabbi Daniel Siegel

Looking for a Jewish role model in an age without heroes

In a recent article, the title of which appears above, the editor of a widely-read Jewish newspaper laments the absence, in our time, of heroes.

He asks, “Who are today’s Jewish role models, and if no one comes to mind, what does that say about the Jews?”

This week’s parashah suggests that his lament is itself lamentable.

The title of our parashah, lekh lekha, is an emphatic command: “Go, set out on your journey”.

Because the word lekha would otherwise be superfluous (serving only as a poetic flourish), the Hasidic tradition renders the phrase lekh lekha as “Go to Yourself”. Make your journey not exclusively an external movement from place to place, but one of internal personal transformation.

Considering the issue of heroes in our time, perhaps we can understand lekh lekha as also meaning Go, for it is upon you to be the changemaker, to be the hero. In the very next verse, God commands Avram, “Be a blessing”. Don’t seek the hero from without, be the hero that emerges into our world, from within.

Not long ago, a senior rabbi of the largest synagogue on New York City’s Upper West Side, wrote a book entitled “There is no Messiah – And You’re It”. If we wait for heroes to enter our world then the lament is for us, for the lack that lies within us rather than elsewhere.

At Emanuel, we teach our students to be a dugma ishit – to personally serve as an example.

Being an exemplar is not serving as a hero for another but modelling that we all need to be on a heroic journey. We all need to heed the call lekh lekha. We all need to be heroes.