8 Jan 2025
Lech Lecha
Parsha Lech Lecha is the third weekly Torah portion, found in the Book of Bereshit or Bereshis (Genesis 12:1–17:27). It marks the beginning of the journey of Avraham (then called Avram) and the establishment of God's covenant with him.
Here is a summary of the main events in Parsha Lech Lecha:
God’s Command to Abram: God instructs Avram to leave his homeland, his family, and his father's house to go to a land that He will show him. God promises to make Avram into a great nation, bless him, and make his name great, so that he will be a blessing to others.
Avram’s Journey: Avram, accompanied by his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, and their possessions, departs from Ur of the Chaldeans and heads towards Canaan. Along the way, they stop in various places, including Shechem and Bethel. Avram builds altars to God at each location.
Famine in Canaan: When a famine strikes Canaan, Avram and Sarai go down to Egypt for food. Fearing for his life because of Sarai’s beauty, Avram asks her to say she is his sister. Pharaoh takes Sarai into his palace, but God afflicts Pharaoh and his household with plagues. When Pharaoh learns the truth, he releases Sarai and sends Avram away.
Conflict Between Avram and Lot: After returning to Canaan, Avram and Lot’s herdsmen quarrel over grazing land because their flocks and herds have become too large. Avram proposes that they separate to avoid conflict. Lot chooses the fertile plains of Jordan and settles near the city of Sodom, while Avram remains in the land of Canaan.
God’s Promise to Avram: God reassures Avram, telling him that his descendants will inherit all the land he can see, from the river of Egypt to the Euphrates. He promises that Avram’s descendants will be as numerous as the dust of the earth.
Avram Rescues Lot: After Lot is taken captive during a regional conflict between kings, Avram gathers a group of trained men and defeats the invaders, rescuing Lot and his possessions. Upon returning, Avram meets Melchizedek, the king of Salem, who blesses him, and Avram gives him a tenth of the spoils.
God’s Covenant with Avram: God appears to Avram in a vision and promises that his descendants will inherit the land. Avram questions how this will happen since he has no children. God tells him that his heir will be his own son, and He establishes a covenant, symbolized by the ritual of animal sacrifices, during which God foretells that Abram's descendants will be enslaved in a foreign land but will eventually return to the promised land.
Sarai and Hagar: Sarai, unable to have children, offers her Egyptian maidservant, Hagar, to Avram to bear a child. Hagar becomes pregnant, and Sarai becomes jealous, leading to tension between them. Hagar flees, but an angel of God appears to her and tells her to return and submit to Sarai. The angel also promises that her son, Ishmael, will become the father of a great nation.
Avram’s Name Changed to Avraham: God appears to Avram again, changes his name to Avraham (meaning "father of many nations"), and tells him that he will be the father of many nations. He also changes Sarai’s name to Sarah and promises that she will bear a son, Itzchak (Isaac,) through whom the covenant will be established. Abraham is instructed to circumcise himself and all the male members of his household as a sign of the covenant.
The parsha ends with the establishment of the covenant of circumcision and God's promise that Abraham’s descendants will be His chosen people.
Rav Yehuda Cahan taught this lesson in November 2023, following the tragic events that began on Simchas Torah in Eretz Yisroel, also known as October 7th. Therefore, the beginning of this recorded lesson starts with his response to the beginning of the war in the Land of Israel.
