SHABBAT SHALOM (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Lech-Lecha Abraham took his wife Sarai and his brother's son Lot, and all the wealth that they had amassed, and the persons that they had acquired; and they set out for the land of Canaan. (Breishit, 12:5)   And his brother's son Lot, because he followed Abraham and went with him. They had amassed – he and Lot together amassed money and other possessions. And the persons that they had acquired in Haran, the servants and maids that they acquired in...

Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Lech-Lecha And he took him outside and he said, "look up to the heavens and count the stars, If you can count them." and he said, "so shall be your seed." (Bereishit 15:5) And He took him outside – The prophecy to observe the stars came to him in his tent in a prophetic vision, and so (Ezekiel 8:3) "And brought me in visions of God to Yerushalayim". Earlier He told him "as the dust of the...

Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Lech-Lecha And noah, a man of the soil, Began and planted a vineyard. And he drank of the wine and became drunk, And exposed himself within his tent. (Bereshit 9:20)   "And Noah, a man of the soil, began…" – He became hollow and profaned himself ; why did he "plant a vineyard – he should have planted something of positive use, not a single shoot and not...

Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Lech-Lecha Rise, walk in the land, to its length and to its breadth,  for I will give it to you. (Bereishit 13:17)   Now it was about that time that Judah went down… (Bereishit 38:1) This is the meaning of what is written: A dispossessor will I bring to you who dwell in Mareshah (Micah 1:15). The Holy One said to Israel: I concluded with Abraham your father and told him, Rise, walk in the...

Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Lech-Lecha And the Lord said to Abram, "Go forth from your land and from your birthplace and from your father's house, to the land that I will show you. (Bereishit 12:1)   Go forth – lekh lekha – for your own good and benefit I will aggrandize your name there. This requires study: even if his name would not be aggrandized and – God forbid – all the evils befall him there, in...

Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Lech-Lecha AND ABRAM SAID TO LOT, "PLEASE LET THERE BE NO QUARREL BETWEEN ME AND BETWEEN YOU AND BETWEEN MY HERDSMEN AND BETWEEN YOUR HERDSMEN, FOR WE ARE KINSMEN. IS NOT ALL THE LAND BEFORE YOU? PLEASE PART FROM ME; IF LEFT, I WILL GO RIGHT, AND IF RIGHT, I WILL GO LEFT." (Bereishit 13:8-9)     if left, I will go right Wherever you dwell, I will not distance myself...

Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Lech-Lecha THEN THE LORD APPEARED TO ABRAM AND SAID: I WILL GIVE THIS LAND TO YOUR OFFSPRING AND THERE HE BUILT AN ALTAR TO THE LORD WHO APPEARED TO HIM. (Bereishit 12:7)   I will give this land to your offspring: The promise, the Timing of its Fulfillment, and its Stipulations. And said: I will give to your offspring – Even though I took you out of the land of your birth to...

Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Lech-Lecha RISE, WALK THROUGH THE LAND, THROUGH ITS LENGTH AND ITS BREADTH FOR I WILL GIVE IT TO YOU. (Bereishit 13:17)   We learned: R. Elazer said in the name of R. Yosi: Once I entered Alexandria, Egypt. There I found an old man, who said to me: "Come and I will show you what my fathers did to your fathers; they drowned some of them in the sea; some they slew by the sword;...

Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Lech-Lecha SARAI, ABRAM' WIFE, HAD BORNE HIM NO CHILDREN. SHE HAD AN EGYPTIAN FEMALE SLAVE WHOSE NAME WAS HAGAR. AND SARAI SAID TO ABRAM, "LOOK, THE LORD HAS KEPT ME FROM BEARING. CONSORT WITH MY MAID; PERHAPS I SHALL BE BUILT UP THROUGH HER." AND ABRAM HEEDED SARAI'S REQUEST. (Bereishit 16:1-2)   Perhaps I shall be built up through her – Thanks to the merit I gain for inviting a rival into my...

Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Lech-Lecha AS FOR ISHMAEL, I HAVE HEEDED YOU. I HEREBY BLESS HIM. I WILL MAKE HIM FERTILE AND EXCEEDINGLY NUMEROUS. HE SHALL B THE FATHER OF TWELVE CHIEFTAINS, AND I WILL MAKE OF HIM A GREAT NATION.  (Bereishit 17:20)     Promises Fulfilled by a Certain Time, and Promises which are Dependent upon Fulfillment of the Covenant We see that the fulfillment of this promise to them was delayed for 2,333 years (according to the...