Overview
of the Weekly Reading, Lech Lecha To be read
on Shabbat Lech Lecha - 13 Mar Cheshvan 5767 /November 4 Torah:Genesis
12:1-17:27; Haftorah: Isaiah 40:27-41:16 (because of 41:2-3,
which alludes to Avraham's miraculous victory over the Four Kings' armies)
Lech Lecha, 3rd out of 12
in Genesis, 3rd overall, 23rd out of 54 in overall length. G-d
tells Avram to leave his land. Avram left with his wife Sarai, and nephew Lot.
When they reached Shechem, G-d told Avram that He would give the Land (of Israel)
to his offspring. Avram built an altar there. Due to famine, they to moved to
Egypt. Avram told Sarai to act as his sister, for she was beautiful, and the Egyptians
might kill her husband to take her to be Pharaoh's wife. Thinking him to be Sarai's
brother, Pharaoh abducted Sarah and was generous to Avram, but was suddenly struck
with a plague. He realized that Sarai was actually Avram's wife, and sent them
away. Avram and Lot went their separate ways, and Avram settled in Chevron. There
was a war, and four kings defeated five other kings. Lot was taken captive but
was rescued by Avram. G-d made a covenant with Avram, giving him the Land (of
Israel). Sarai's servant Hagar, bore Avram a son, Ishmael. G-d changed Avram's
name to Avraham and Sarai's name to Sarah. G-d made a covenant with Avraham, promising
him many descendants. He had a Bris Milah at the age of 99. G-d promised that
Sarah would bear him a son, to be called Yitzchak.
FROM
THE MASTERS OF KABBALA (K:0367/LechLecha)
From the holy
Zohar, teachings of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai
(Z:0367/LechLecha) A
person who does not succeed in one place should pick himself up and go to another
place where he may be successful, just like one waves a glowing log so that it
will burst into flame. For
the full article, click to the "Weekly Holidays" section on our KabbalaOnline
site. * * * * * From
the holy Ari, Rabbi Yitzchak Luria of Safed
(A:0367/LechLecha)
These are the kings [mentioned in this episode
of the parasha], Amrafel and his allies plus the king of Sodom and his allies.
This is why they are divided into two groups: the four kings of Amrafel's alliance
are the dross of the four root-letters of the aforementioned name Havayah, while
the five kings of Sodom, Gomorrah, etc. are the dross of the five letters used
to spell out this name Havayah, i.e. Ban, spelled out with the letter hei. This
is the mystical meaning of the verse, "...four kings against the five". For
the full article, click to the "Weekly Holidays" section on our KabbalaOnline
site. * * * * * From
Rabbi Chaim (ben Moshe) Ibn Atar (S:0367/LechLecha)
G-d may have wanted to explain to Abraham
that if the gift of a son was something intended only for Abraham, it would suffice
to grant his prayer and assist Ishmael to become worthy. However, there was another
person to be considered, his wife Sarah. Inasmuch as Sarah was destined to bear
a son, he, Abraham, had no right to waive the gift of a son by Sarah in order
for Ishmael to grow up worthy of his father.
For
the full article, click to the "Weekly Torah" section on our KabbalaOnline
site.
FROM
THE CHASSIDIC REBBES (V:0367/LechLecha) "When
Abram was ninety-nine years old the L-rd appeared to Abram." (17:1) Our
forefather Abraham fulfilled all of the Torah's laws even before it was given.
Why, then, did he not circumcise himself until he received an explicit command
from G-d? The answer is that before then, circumcision was forbidden, as the Torah
prohibits the shedding of blood. The mitzva of mila overrode this prohibition. (Likutei
Sichot) (from L'Chaim #590)
A
MYSTICAL CHASSIDIC DISCOURSE from
the Chabad Master series, produced by
Rabbi Yosef Marcus for www.ascentofsafed.com
and www.kabbalaonline.org
MOSHIACH
THIS WEEK (M:0367/LechLecha) "That
nation whom they serve will I judge, and afterward they will go out with great
substance." (Gen. 15:14)
Just as those Jews living during the
previous exiles in Egypt and Babylonia who put their faith in the nations and
their kings for their salvation were proven wrong, so too will those who, in our
present exile, think that we must rely on the nations of the world for our continued
existence and redemption. When Mashiach comes and G-d judges all the nations,
the Jews will see that their faith in them was misplaced. At that time we will
also "go out with great substance," the greatest riches of them all
- the ultimate Redemption.
(The Lubavitcher Rebbe)
An
essay from Rabbi Shaul Yosef Leiter, director of Ascent
(for a free weekly email subscription, click
here) (W:0367/LechLecha)
Lech Lecha is the first portion of the
month of Cheshvan, the month following Tishrei and the High Holidays. It teaches
us that arriving "in the Holy Land" is only by leaving our own intellectual
limitations. Not only will G-d reward us by bringing us to our destination, but,
also, "I (G-d) will make your name great". This means that G-d's Name
will be made great and divinity will be revealed in the world, through the ultimate
revelation of Mashiach! After describing the Flood, last week's Torah portion
ends with quite a lengthy discussion of the Tower of Babel - how the people after
the Flood tried to build a city and a tower and how G-d undid their plan.
Especially
since many important commandments are only hinted to in the Torah, why is the
story of the Tower of Babel written in such length and detail? The Lubavitcher
Rebbe answers that when we consider how only a handful of people were saved from
the Flood, we can see that our generation is also based on those that survived
the "flood" of the past century. The Torah is teaching us that after
a tragedy like the "flood", the survivors must avoid acting like the
generation after Noah, thereby preventing the unpleasant consequences that resulted.
Looking more deeply into the actions of the people from Babel, they wanted to
"make a name for themselves" - to not let themselves become dispersed.
Why was this so terrible? When people gather for only one reason - themselves
- without any higher purpose, the problem is not only the simple fault
of selfishness. When selfishness is the basis, the means used to attain that end
are often far from being just and proper. This holds true all the more so when
such intentions follow a catastrophe like the flood, which came as a result of
inappropriate behavior. What is the teaching? Instead of building a city
and tower to protect ourselves, we are being told that we must build cities and
towers of holiness. Our towers must be our synagogues, and our cities must be
places that teach and spread Jewish values. It is into this setting that
we welcome our forefather Abraham. Even before going to Israel, Abraham was a
unique individual, totally in control of himself and spiritually conscious, having
reached the highest level he could on his own. Then came the command of "Lech
lecha" - "go to yourself" - to reach a higher level. But this
could be attained only after circumcision. From this, we can understand how high
a level the covenant of circumcision brought him to. Everything Abraham
accomplished before the circumcision was attained using his own abilities as they
were in relation to the finite world. However, his circumcision brought a completely
new dimension of connecting to G-d. It reached a level of drawing down divine
energy from a plane superceding the created universe. Just as circumcision
removes the foreskin, so too, on a spiritual level circumcision allows a Jew to
remove obstacles in order to experience divinity. When the body becomes the vessel
and interface for spirituality, all the parameters change. This is such a happy
situation that it not only affects the week following the Torah reading, but brings
happiness into the entire year, just as Simchat Torah does. This is the
meaning of the first words of Lech Lecha. In order to reach this very high level
of divine consciousness, the Torah tells us that more than selflessness which
we learn from Noah, it is imperative to realize and then leave our own limitations
which our environment imposes upon us and that blind us to our higher mission.
This only happens with a firm and unbending commitment to Jewish life and values.
Shabbat Shalom, Shaul
P.S. Please also read my weekly
Shabbat Law, below.
(for a free weekly email subscription, click
here) For all our insights for this parsha:from five years ago |