By Raphy Tischler and Phil Engel

I will be starting off this week’s dvar torah with a joke shamelessly stolen from the Internet.

“The Emperor of Japan advertises for a new bodygaurd. Three swordsmen apply and one is Jewish. To test them, the Emperor lets a fly loose in the room and tells the first swordsman to kill it. The swordsman sweeps down his blade and chops the fly in two. The next swordsman is given the same test. He swings his sword twice and manages to cut the fly into quarters before it hits the ground. The Jewish swordsman is then given a fly. He chases it around the room, swings his sword a few times, then sits down with the fly buzzing around his head. "Why have you stopped?" ask the Emperor. "The fly is still alive." "Yes," replies the Jewish swordsman. "But now it's circumcised."

What’s funnier than a fly getting circumcised? How about a 99-year-old man! Well that is exactly what happens in this week's parasha, Lech Lecha. Many crazy things happen in this parsha, just the usual sex, drugs, and rock and roll of the bible…classic. But as alluded to through my not so funny intro, the aspect of Lech Lecha that I will be focusing on is what chabad.org euphemistically translated as “the famous covenant between the parts” (I kid you not, to read this and an entire summary of the parsha click on this bit.ly/1biwidR).

What exactly is this covenant, and why is a practice restricted to infants of any importance to members of a youth movement? Well because the covenant between Abraham and God was a commitment. God committed to giving Abraham a number of things, including descendants and a homeland, if Abraham and his descendants circumcised themselves (…ew).

Currently I am at my kvutsa seminar and I would like to share with you some of a sicha that was had about the concept of commitment. Usually when discussing commitment to the movement images of kennim and tafkidim appear in my mind ie “Can you commit to running the ken?” But a topic that was brought up was the concept of commitment to ideals rather than to activities. Commitment to shivyon erech ha’adam in all aspects of what we do as a movement and as individuals. Running the ken because we are committed to the values of social justice, and jewish peoplehood. I challenge every person that considers themselves a movement member to question how much they as individuals are committed to our movements ideals, and how those commitments to ideals are highlighted within the structures of our lives.

Okay maybe social justice is a little different than a circumcision, but the notion of commitment is present within both the covenant between G-D and Abraham, and our commitment to the equality of human value.