Parshas Lech Lecha! In this week’s parsha we read of Avram Avinu. Avram and Sarah were childless and were unable to bear children. The parsha relates how Avram asks Hashem who will carry on his name and will he ever have his own child? Hashem promised Avram Avinu that he would have a son. Additionally, Hashem took Avram Avinu outside, as it says in the pasuk, “Vayotzei oso hachutza,” and Hashem told him, “habet nu hashamayma u’sphor hakochavim im tuchal lispor oisam – look up to the heavens and count the stars, if you can count them.” Hashem then said, “ko yi’yeh zaracha – so too will be your children.” Hashem’s message to Avram was that the same way it is impossible to count the stars on a starry night, so too it will be impossible to count the multitude of children he will eventually have.
The Bobover Rebbe, Rav Shlomo Halberstam, asks an obvious question: why did Avram question Hashem about having children? Avram was the greatest believer in Hashem, and Hashem had promised him when he left Charan that he would have children – so why question Him? Additionally, why did Hashem show him the stars in the sky? What message did Hashem want Avram to learn by comparing his children to stars?
The Rebbe answers that of course Avram believed in Hashem’s promise and knew that he would have children. Yet Avram was concerned, as he saw future generations and he didn’t recognize many of his children. He saw many of his offspring in later generations who are scattered throughout galus and just don’t seem to have the Yiddishe tzura – some dress differently, some speak unbecoming of a ben melech, and some are unfortunately totally unrecognizable. Therefore Avram asks Hashem, hein li lo nasata zera – You haven’t given me children. I fully believe I will have children, but they don’t seem to be my children. They don’t look or behave the way I expected them to behave.
Hashem answered Avram by taking him outside. Go outside Avram, out of the Bais Medrash, out of your comfort zone, for you have children there too. All of Bnei Yisroel, regardless of how they behave, are your children. More so, it is specifically these children that are compared to stars. Stars are unique, for they are present all the time yet they only shine brightly at night. In the darkness of the night is when their power emerges and they illuminate the world. These are your children, Avram – always present with a heilige neshama, regardless of the situation or outer appearance. They are always your balibte kinder, Bnei Avram.
