This week’s parasha begins with God saying to Abraham: Lech lecha, Go to the land that I show you. But, the Biblical construction “lech lecha” which literally means “go for you” is interpreted by Rashi as signifying: “go for your benefit and for your good”. If you look at the story of Abraham’s travels, you realize that he was already heading with his family towards Canaan. But they stopped in Haran. Terach, Abraham’s father died there and God told Abraham: “continue with the journey- it will be for your benefit”. And Abraham went. And it was for his- and our-benefit.

I love to travel and I’ll refer to those travels I have taken and new ones to come on this blog. What I love most about traveling is the unexpected moment, the surprising experience, the unique individual I meet along the way.

I’ve been in all 50 states (if you count airports which I do as long as I’m off the plane and in the terminal) and while I won’t say I had such an experience in each state- getting out of the car and standing on the shoulder of the highway just over the Alabama border from Mississippi just before turning around and heading back was not a very memorable moment- in most of them, there was a moment that was unforgettable.

I reached my 50th state, North Dakota, the summer before last. I only spent 2 minutes there but the journey to get there was unforgettable. Our family was traveling in South Dakota and I convinced Avi to wake up at 4 a.m. and drive an hour and a half with me to the North Dakota border. He agreed and we drove in the pre-dawn darkness with the outline of hills in the background, with the noises of strange animals in the distance and with  one or two lonely gas stations as the only signs of civilization. We got to the border. I got out and walked across, said the shehecheeyanu and got back in the car to drive back to the rest of the family.

It wasn’t much. But, it was an unforgettable moment- and what was best was sharing that time with Avi, telling stories, laughing, reminiscing about the many road trips we had taken in his first 17 years.

Every time I read lech lecha, I think about the journeys I’ve taken. The long ones and the short ones and all of them, especially the ones I’ve been able to share have been litovati- for my benefit and for my good.

Shabbat Shalom.

I promised myself that once the holidays were over, say around the beginning of November, I would start a blog. Of course, that was three or four years ago but now I’m ready to jump into the 21st century and try my hand at “blogging”. Actually, I’m a bit wary of this means of communication because I tend to write very carefully, agonizing, sometimes much too long, over a word or a phrase. There’s little time for that in blogging it seems. The job is to get the word out as quickly as possible and assume that speed and frequency of posting will make up for any poorly chosen words or thoughts that were put into cyberspace too quickly. I’ll take the risk though and see if over time I can develop the correct writing style and produce words of interest.

What do I intend to write about? I assume that most of my postings will center around my thoughts as a Rabbi, spiritual thoughts analysis of texts, comments on world events etc. But, that will only be part of it. I hope to be able to use this blog to highlight other interests of mine: travel, sports, tv (mostly the old shows that I grew up with), trivia of all sorts and, while I will use discretion, my family.

And, that is where I’ll begin. Today, November 1, is a special day in our family. We are celebrating the third birthday of our best friend, Sami. Sami is the third in the line of Dobrusin dogs and she is one of a kind. She is a mix of German Shepherd, Beagle, Corgi and God only knows what else. Sami is a “rescue dog” in the truest sense of the word. We don’t know her past. We only know that she is very oddly proportioned, with strong legs that look too bulky for her body, a tongue that is about 5 inches too long, very flexible hips that allow her to slide off a bed at seemingly impossible angles, no tolerance for other dogs she meets on the street (we’re working on it) and most importantly, she is 40 pounds of pure love. No matter who you are, she will hug you and kiss you- whether you want it or not. After our dear Benny died last year, we thought we wouldn’t get another dog- the kids are older, we don’t want to be tied down etc. etc. But, when Sami came into our home for a visit, courtesy of Waggin’ Tales Rescue in Northville, Michigan, there was no turning back. She walked into the house, jumped onto the chair, looked out the window and said: “I’m home”. How could we argue?

So, thank you Sami for all you’ve brought to us. And, Happy Birthday. I’m glad to start this blog with good wishes to you and look forward to moving on to bigger and some would say more important things. But, for this moment and for many more, it doesn’t get much more important than the love shown by a loyal friend.