Change or Die: The Meaning of Lekh L’khah

In this 14 minute teaching, I use Alan Deutschman's book "Change or Die: The Three Keys to Change at Work and in Life" as the best explanation of the meaning of the famous command to Avrah and Sarai to "Lekh L'kha," to go for your own sake, or, in Deutschman's terms, to spiritually "Change or Die."  The thesis of the sermon is that the totality of Genesis/Bereishit is intended to tell God's story that change cannot be effected by an individual without a community of norms, positivity, and reinforcing habits.  The Garden of Eden, Cain and Abel, Tower of Babel, and the Flood and Noah all teach us the futility that the world can change based on an individual transforming their own society.  Therefore the covenant with Avraham is that he must create a brand new society or tribe within which God's intended changes are possible.  This mirrors the precision with which Deutschman spells out change within our own lives:  what's holding us back from changing, and what might, if we are willing to have the faith to embrace a new community, make possible the leap forward to change.