Lech Lecha: The Three Things That Hold Us Back

What are some of the things that hold us back in life?

In this week's Torah portion, Lech Lecha, Hashem gives Avraham a command:

״לֶךְ לְךָ מֵאַרְצְךָ וּמִמּוֹלַדְתְּךָ וּמִבֵּית אָבִיךָ אֶל הָאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר אַרְאֶךָּ״ “Go for yourself from your land, from your birthplace, and from your father's house, to the land that I will show you.”
Bereishis 12:1

There are three things that shape a person's character and behavior.

The first is your natural tendencies. Every person is born with certain characteristics that help develop their personality.

The second is your surroundings. We are influenced by the way the people around us conduct themselves. We learn from them automatically, and that shapes the way we act.

The third is your parents. You don't choose your parents. You're born into a home, and you naturally absorb many ideas and values from the way you were raised.

Now, all of these can be very good. You could be born with good natural tendencies, have wonderful surroundings, and have great parents. Nevertheless, a person isn't asked to be natural. A person is asked to truly fulfill their potential. You have to be supernatural, and to be supernatural, you have to transcend all of these natural influences.

So on a deeper level, the verse is speaking to each of us:

Leave your land: leave your nature. You can't just be who you were born. You have to work on yourself.
Leave your birthplace: break free of your surroundings. Don't be defined by the people around you.
Leave your father's house: go beyond what you were taught. We are only taught so much. We have to do better and keep learning on our own, even beyond what our parents taught us.

And the destination? The land that I will show you. In Hebrew, the word for land, eretz, is related to the word ratzon, desire. The journey leads to Hashem's desire.

The main driving force in our lives should be to discover what Hashem wants from us, and to strive to fulfill it. Not to let our natural tendencies hold us back, but to do better than them. That is true service of Hashem.

Recorded as a voice note for Parshas Lech Lecha, 2026.