Lech Lecha (3a): The Journey is the Destination

ויעבר אברם בארץ עד מקום שכם

And Avraham passed through the land until  Shchem.

R' Chaim Tzchernovitzer in his Be'er Mayim Chayim asks, would it not be more simple to write that Avraham went to Shchem or that he arrived there? Passing through does not imply going towards a destination as much as it implies a sense of roaming.

The answer, says the Rebbe, is that Hashem sought for Avraham to give himself over to the process, not the final reslult. Let's explain.

Under most circumstances, traveling is seen as a means not an ends. You are going to get somewhere. However at the outset Avraham was told that he was going to the אל הארץ אשר אראך, the land that I will show you. The only thing Avraham knew about the destination was hat it will be shown to him. The travels were an ends not a means. They were intended to be a display of Emunah. "I am going where Hashem tells me."  In a sense, no matter where he was that place was the destination because the goal of listening to Hashem was being fulfilled there as well.

The sign leading to and the Kever
of R' Chaim of Tzchernovitz,
author of Be'er Mayim Chaim,
Siduro Shel Shabbos, both of wich
can be found in every Chassidishe
Shtibel

Avraham did not know where the finish line was and that was irrelevant to him. He was intentionally transient because he felt both at home and on the way no matter what stage of the journey he was on. The goal was not to reach a place but rather to be fully present in the journey itself.

This is why the Passuk explains that he wandered to Shchem. Because Avraham did not know to where he was going he did not abandon his sense of simply passing through until he was told explicitly to stop.

This is a practical life-lesson. Hashem begs of us not to be so rigid with our life plans. He sends signs along the road, hoping that we will get the message. Obviously that message is different for every individual, but the goal is the same. Hashem wants our only GPS to be for us to constantly ask ourseves, "Is this Ratzon Hashem?" Every person has the potential to connect to this level of Divine Inspiration With this guiding light leadning the way we are never self-centeredly cemented into a life plan. We become more flexible and open to receiving a higher plan.