Journey inward to the hidden inner self

לך לך מארצך כו' אשר אראך.

"Go for yourself from your land... to the place that I will show you" (Bereishis 12:1).

The Sefas Emes opens with Hashem's command to Avraham to leave his homeland for an unrevealed destination.

ובמד' שמעי בת כו' ושכחי עמך.

And in the Midrash: "Listen, O daughter... and forget your people" (Tehillim 45:11).

The Midrash connects "Lech lecha" to the pasuk urging one to forget one's familiar origins in order to draw close to Hashem.

פי' מו"ז ז"ל שהפסוק מלמד לנו שצריכין מקודם להיות סור מרע ולשכוח הטבע אז זוכין לראות האמת כו'.

My grandfather, of blessed memory, explained that the pasuk teaches us that one must first "turn away from evil" and forget [his] nature; then he merits to see the truth.

The Chiddushei HaRim taught that one must first clear away the bad and detach from ingrained habit; only then can a person perceive the truth.

וזהו עצמו פי' לך לך שהאדם יש בו יצירה פנימיות שערי בינה בלב אבל מתלבש בצורה חצוניות וכמו שהי' במצרים שהוציאנו ה' משערי טומאה והכנסנו לחמשים שערי בינה.

And this itself is the meaning of "Lech lecha": a person has an inner formation — the gates of binah (understanding) in the heart — but it is clothed in an outer form; just as it was in Mitzrayim, that Hashem took us out from the gates of impurity and brought us into the fifty gates of binah.

"Lech lecha" (go to yourself) means journeying inward: every person has a hidden inner core — the "gates of understanding" — concealed beneath an external shell, just as Bnei Yisrael were lifted from the gates of tumah to the fifty gates of binah at the Exodus.

כן הוא בפרט גם כן וזה לך לך לצאת מלבוש הגשמי להתדבק בצורה הפנימיות.

So too it is for the individual, and this is "Lech lecha" — to go out of the physical garment in order to cleave to the inner form.

What happened nationally happens within each individual: "Lech lecha" calls each person to shed the outer material covering and bond with his inner essence.

ואיתא לך לך בגי' מאה ובזוה"ק מפתחא דמאה ברכאן.

And it is brought that "Lech lecha" has the numerical value of one hundred, and in the holy Zohar it is the key of the hundred blessings.

The gematria of "Lech lecha" is 100, linking it to the daily obligation of one hundred berachos, which the Zohar calls a "key."

נראה דהמשך מאה ברכות הוא ג"כ בסיוע הב' בחי' סור מרע ועשה טוב חמשים ברכות בכח סור מרע וחמשים בכח עשה טוב כמו התורה שנחלקת לרמ"ח מ"ע ושס"ה מל"ת ועל כל התרי"ג מאיר אור התורה כן הברכה על שניהם וכמו בשבת קודש זכור ושמור כאחד וכן שם שבת השבתה ושביתה כמ"ש ויכל וישבות ועל שניהם ויברך את יום השביעי:

It appears that the drawing-down of the hundred blessings is also through the support of the two aspects, "turn from evil and do good" — fifty blessings by the power of "turn from evil" and fifty by the power of "do good." Just as the Torah is divided into 248 positive commandments and 365 prohibitions, and over all 613 the light of the Torah shines, so the blessing rests upon both. And just as on the holy Shabbos "Remember" and "Guard" are as one, so too the word "Shabbos" [contains] "ceasing" (hashbasah) and "resting" (shevisah), as it says, "He completed and He rested" (Bereishis 2:2) — and over both, "He blessed the seventh day."

The hundred berachos draw from two channels — fifty from "turning from evil" (restraint) and fifty from "doing good" (action) — paralleling the Torah's prohibitions and positive mitzvos, and Shabbos's twin aspects of Zachor/Shamor and ceasing/resting. The blessing rests upon both the negative and positive dimensions together, just as Hashem blessed the seventh day after both completing and resting.

Summary: "Lech lecha" is a journey inward — leaving the outer physical "garment" to cleave to one's inner essence, the hidden "gates of understanding" within the heart, just as Bnei Yisrael were raised from impurity to the fifty gates of binah. This is accomplished through the twin avodah of "turn from evil" and "do good," which together draw down the hundred blessings (the gematria of "Lech lecha") — paralleling the Torah's prohibitions and positive mitzvos and Shabbos's united aspects of Zachor and Shamor, with Hashem's blessing resting upon both as one.