וְאֶֽעֶשְׂךָ֙ לְג֣וֹי גָּד֔וֹל וַאֲבָ֣רֶכְךָ֔ וַאֲגַדְּלָ֖ה שְׁמֶ֑ךָ וֶהְיֵ֖ה בְּרָכָֽה׃
I will make of you a great nation!
And I will bless you and make your name great.
And you shall be a blessing!
Genesis 12:2
This week’s Torah portion, Lech L’cha, includes God’s promise to Abraham—that he will not only receive blessings but that he will be a blessing. A few years ago, while studying at the Institute of Jewish Spirituality—whose director, Rabbi Josh Feigelson, will be our visiting scholar this weekend—I encountered a text about this blessing that continues to inspire me.
The text is by Rabbi Moshe Teitelbaum (1759–1841), known as the Yismach Moshe, who lived in Sátoraljaújhely, a small town in Hungary. Coincidentally, my beloved cousin, Menashe Davidovits (z”l), whom I have often mentioned at the Temple, grew up in that same village.
Rabbi Teitelbaum teaches about the middah (value) known as Histapkut (equanimity). Equanimity is the evenness of emotions or temperament, and our tradition teaches that Histapkut can be achieved by cultivating a sense of satisfaction with what we already have. Instead of dwelling on what we lack, we can focus on the many aspects of our lives that, by all measures, should be “enough”. A few good friends who will be there for you through thick and thin? Dayenu—it’s enough. A roof over your head and food in the refrigerator? Dayenu—it’s enough. A community that provides a spiritual home for you and your descendants, generation after generation? Dayenu—it’s more than enough! If we’re honest about what we truly need—and for that matter, what we deserve—the list of “enough” is substantial for most of us. Histapkut helps us keep things in perspective.
So here’s the connection to Lech L’cha: Our tradition teaches that our ancestors, Abraham and Sarah, were blessed with material wealth and, later in life, with the child they had longed for. But what enabled them to be blessings to others was their sense of Histapkut. They were satisfied with their lot in life and their equanimity allowed them to be generous, to share what they had with others. In this way, Rabbi Teitelbaum teaches, blessings flowed from Abraham and Sarah into the world.
Instead of defaulting to focusing on our desires or what we lack, let us take this moment to reflect upon how much we have, on the many positives in our lives and in our world. This reflection should inspire us to do more for others so that blessings will flow from us as well. If each of us—every citizen of our nation, every person on this planet—could embrace this practice, imagine how much more loving, compassionate, generous, and beautiful our world could become.
— Rabbi Yoshi