This is the d’var Torah I delivered at Congregation Neveh Shalom on Saturday, October 24, 2026.
Trust is one of those things we rarely notice until it breaks. We trust the GPS to get us there, and the surgeon to know what she’s doing. Sometimes we trust the group chat with information we absolutely should not. But the trust that shapes our lives is quieter. In whom do we confide? To whom do we hand our hopes? Whom do we let in, knowing they could let us down?
This week, in Parshat Lech Lecha, Abram makes the biggest trust decision in Jewish history. God says, “Lech lecha.” Go from your land, your birthplace, your father’s house, to a place I will show you. With no map and no itinerary, Abram goes. Along the way, famine sends him to Egypt, where fear takes over. He asks Sarai to say she is his sister, so that Pharaoh won’t kill him. Later, God promises descendants as numerous as the stars, and Abram asks, “How will I know?”
Here’s what strikes me: the man who trusted God enough to leave everything is the same man who didn’t trust God enough to protect him in Egypt. The Ramban is blunt about it, saying Abram sinned by not trusting that God would save him and Sarai. Yet the Torah also says of Abram, “V’he’emin baShem.” He believed in God, and God counted it as righteousness.”
So, which is it? I think the Torah is telling us that trust is not a personality trait. It’s a choice we make again and again, and we don’t make it perfectly. Notice that when Abram asks “How will I know?” God doesn’t rebuke him. God answers with a covenant. Trust, it turns out, does not mean the absence of questions. Healthy trust has room to ask.
Rashi reads “lech lecha” as “go for yourself,” for your own benefit. Maybe that’s the point. Trusting others, when we do it wisely, is how we become more fully ourselves. And protecting ourselves out of fear, as Abram did in Egypt, often costs us the very relationships we’re trying to guard.
So this week, consider two questions. First, where is fear making my choices for me? And second, who in my life has earned a leap of faith?
Trust the people who have shown up. Ask your questions out loud. Be honest when you’re afraid. And when you do take the leap, know that no one gets it right every time, not even Abraham.
Lech lecha. Take the step and go. And may we find people worthy of walking beside us.
Shabbat shalom.
