Parasha Lech-Lecha 5786

Synopsis: Parasha Lech-Lecha (Genesis 12:1–17:27) begins with HaShem’s call to Avram to leave the home of his father and journey to a land God will show him, promising to make him a great nation. Abram obeys, traveling to Canaan with Sarai and Lot. Famine drives them to Egypt, where Abram presents Sarai as his sister to protect his own hide. After returning to Canaan, conflict arises between Abram’s and Lot’s herdsmen, leading Lot to settle near Sodom. God renews His promise to Abram, assuring him of countless descendants. Abram rescues Lot after a regional war and is blessed by Mal’khi-Tzedek, the king of Salem. God establishes a covenant with Abram, foretelling the enslavement and eventual redemption of his descendants. Sarai’s maidservant Hagar bears Ishmael, and God later commands circumcision as the sign of the covenant, renaming Abram as Abraham and Sarai as Sarah, promising that she will bear a son.

Principle: A core part of G-d’s blessing on Abram’s descendants is that through them His redemption will reach the world.

(Repeat)

Parasha Lech-Lecha 5786

Genesis 12:1–9 TLV

1 Then Adonai said to Abram, “Get going out from your land, and from your relatives, and from your father’s house, to the land that I will show you. 2 My heart’s desire is to make you into a great nation, to bless you, to make your name great so that you may be a blessing. 3 My desire is to bless those who bless you, but whoever curses you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth will be blessed. 4 So Abram went, just as Adonai had spoken to him. Also Lot went with him. (Now Abram was 75 years old when he departed from Haran.) 5 Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his nephew, and all their possessions that they had acquired, and the people that they acquired in Haran, and they left to go to the land of Canaan, and they entered the land of Canaan. 6 Abram passed through the land as far as the place of Shechem, as far as Moreh’s big tree. (The Canaanites were in the land then.) 7 Then Adonai appeared to Abram, and said, “I will give this land to your seed.” So there he built an altar to Adonai, who had appeared to him. 8 From there he moved to the mountain to the east of Beth-El and erected his tent (with Beth-El to the west and Ai to the east). There he built an altar to Adonai and called on the Name of Adonai. 9 So Abram kept on journeying southward.

Ramban (Nachmanides) – Frames this test of Avram to leave his family and follow G-d’s direction as the beginning of the divine plan to make Abram a model for the nations. His obedience demonstrates the prototype of covenantal partnership: divine command, human response, and resulting blessing.

Genesis Rabbah 39:11–12 – “All the families of the earth shall be blessed through you” means every nation finds its hope and moral correction through Abram’s descendants. The midrash compares him to a priest who intercedes for others — Israel’s future role is to draw the nations toward righteousness.

Midrash Tanchuma (Lech Lecha 3) – Compares Abram to a flask of perfume; as long as it’s sealed, no one smells it. Once opened—once he leaves—its fragrance fills the world. Abram’s departure releases divine blessing to all humanity.

Parasha Lech-Lecha 5786

This promise that through Abraham all the nations would be blessed is repeated again in the story of the Akeidah:

Genesis 22:15–18 TLV

15 The angel of Adonai called to Abraham a second time from heaven 16 and said, “By myself I swear—it is a declaration of Adonai—because you have done this thing, and you did not withhold your son, your only son, 17 I will richly bless you and bountifully multiply your seed like the stars of heaven, and like the sand that is on the seashore, and your seed will possess the gate of his enemies. 18 In your seed all the nations of the earth will be blessed—because you obeyed My voice.”

Parasha Lech-Lecha 5786

Principle: A core part of G-d’s blessing on Abram’s descendants is that through them His redemption will reach the world.

Parasha Lech-Lecha 5786

Isaiah 42, 49, and 60 proclaim that Israel will be a light to the nations, with an emphasis on this light being the Mashiach who is the very blessing the nations would receive through Abram and his descendants.

Isaiah 49:1–7 TLV

1 Listen, to Me, islands! Pay attention, peoples far away. Adonai called Me from the womb, from My mother’s belly He named Me. 2 He made My mouth like a sharp sword. in the shadow of His hand He hid Me. He made Me a polished arrow, He has hidden Me in His quiver. 3 He said to Me, “You are My servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified.” 4 But I said, “I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for nothing and futility. Yet surely the justice due to me is with Adonai, and my reward with my God.” 5 So now says Adonai, who formed Me from the womb to be His servant, to bring Jacob back to Him, to gather Israel back to Him. For I am honored in the eyes of Adonai and My God has become my strength. 6 So He says, “It is too trifling a thing that You should be My servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and restore the preserved ones of Israel. So I will give You as a light for the nations, that You should be My salvation to the end of the earth.” 7 Thus says Adonai, the Redeemer of Israel, their Holy One, to the One despised, to the One the nation abhors, to a servant of rulers: “Kings will see and arise, princes will also bow down, because of Adonai who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel who has chosen You.”

Parasha Lech-Lecha 5786

Principle: A core part of G-d’s blessing on Abram’s descendants is that through them His redemption will reach the world.

Parasha Lech-Lecha 5786

John 4:19–26 TLV

19 “Sir,” the woman tells Him, “I see that You are a prophet! 20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you all say that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.” 21 Yeshua tells her, “Woman, believe Me, an hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 But an hour is coming—it is here now—when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people as His worshipers. 24 God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” 25 The woman tells Him, “I know that Messiah is coming (He who is called the Anointed One.) When He comes, He will explain everything to us.” 26 Yeshua tells her, “I—the One speaking to you—I am.”

Parasha Lech-Lecha 5786

(Call the Worship Team back up)

Galatians 3:6–14 TLV

6 Just as Abraham “believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” 7 know then that those who have faith are children of Abraham. 8 The Scriptures, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, proclaimed the Good News to Abraham in advance, saying, “All the nations shall be blessed through you.” 9 So then, the faithful are blessed along with Abraham, the faithful one. 10 For all who rely on the deeds of Torah are under a curse—for the Scriptures say, “Cursed is everyone who does not keep doing everything written in the scroll of the Torah.” 11 It is clear that no one is set right before God by Torah, for “the righteous shall live by emunah.” 12 However, Torah is not based on trust and faithfulness; on the contrary, “the one who does these things shall live by them.” 13 Messiah liberated us from Torah’s curse, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”)— 14 in order that through Messiah Yeshua the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so we might receive the promise of the Ruach through trusting faith.

Parasha Lech-Lecha 5786

Principle: A core part of G-d’s blessing on Abram’s descendants is that through them His redemption will reach the world.

Parasha Lech-Lecha 5786