Travel On...

Parashat Lech L'cha
Genesis 12:1-17:27 

SUMMARY

Last week's Torah portion, Noah, introduced Terach, the father of Abram, Abram, and his brothers, Nahor, and Haran. Terach and his family, including Abram's wife Sarai (whom we are told is barren) and Haran's son Lot, leave their home in Ur of the Chaldeans for the land of Canaan. However, they never complete the journey, settling in a place called Haran instead. 

 

As this week's parasha begins, God says to Abram: "Lech lecha" meaning "Go forth" from your home and father's house "to a land that I will show you (Genesis 12:1)." God promises to bless Abram and make of him a great nation. So Abram sets out with Sarai, Lot, their material possessions, and "the souls that they had acquired in Haran (Genesis 12:5)." When they arrive in Canaan, God again appears to Abram to tell him that God will assign this land (Canaan) to Abram's descendants. 

 

Abram first settles in Shechem, but then moves southward. A severe famine induces him to go to Egypt. Worried that the Egyptians will kill him and take his beautiful wife, Sarai, Abram instructs her to say she is his sister. The ploy apparently works, with Sarai being taken into Pharaoh's palace for the pleasure of the Pharaoh, and Abram acquiring many animals and slaves. God, however, afflicts the palace with a plague and Pharaoh discovers the lie and sends Abram and Sarai away. 

 

Returning to the land of Canaan, conflict between Abram's and Lot's herdsmen develop, and Abram suggests that they go their separate ways. Lot chose to settle in the well-watered plain of the Jordan, near the city of Sodom, while Abram remained in Canaan. Again God appears to Abram, telling him to look in all directions at the land God will give to his descendants. 

 

As the portion continues, an intertribal war breaks out during which Lot and his family are taken captive. When Abram learns of this, he gathers soldiers, pursues the captors, and frees Lot and his family. 

Once again, God appears to Abram, promising him a great reward. Abram asks God how this can be, since he is going to die childless. But God promises him that his offspring will be as numerous as the stars of heaven. God directs Abram to offer sacrifices, which Abram does. 

 

Sarai gives Abram her handmaid Hagar to bear a child. But when Hagar becomes pregnant, tensions develops between the two women. When Sarai complains to Abram, he tells her to do what she wants to do. She treats Hagar harshly, and Hagar runs away. An angel of God appears to her and tells her to return, promising her a son, Ishmael. 

 

God again appears to Abram -- now 99 years of age -- repeating promises of the covenant. God changes his name to Abraham, which the Torah ascribes with the meaning "the father of a multitude of nations. God also changes Sarai's name to Sarah. God introduces a sign of the covenant: every male shall be circumcised at eight days old. God also promises that Abraham and Sarah will bear a son, Isaac, who will carry on the covenant. As the portion ends, Abraham, Ishmael, and all the males in Abraham's household are circumcised.

Table talk

1. In what ways do you think it is important to break with the past, and in what ways must we maintain ties?
2. The last two words of verse 2 can be translated as it (your name) shall be a blessing, or as you shall be a blessing. What is the difference? Think of one of your ancestors. How was he or she a blessing to you? How has his or her name been a blessing to you?
3. Abram might have found it difficult to leave family and friends behind, as Ramban suggests, but he packed up and settled in Canaan. When is the draw of a new place strong enough to outweigh ties to a place you’ve lived? Would you ever consider moving to Israel, as Abram did? 
4. Why do you think God insisted that Abram leave his homeland, and his family and travel to a new land? What are some of the qualities that Abram had that enabled him to make his journey? In what ways do you think this journey was both physical and spiritual? 
5. Imagine how hard it was for Abram to obey God and leave everything behind and go to a new place! What kind of person do you think Abram was? Make a list of all the words that you can think of that describe someone like Abram. How many of those words describe you?  
6. Many of our grandparents or great grandparents had to leave the place of their birth and travel a great distance in order to start a new life in America. Do some research into your family history and find out why your ancestors left their homeland.
7. Think of something new that you would like to introduce to your family's Shabbat observance. This might be something as simple as singing Shabbat songs after dinner or it could be a decision not to do any work or shopping on Shabbat. What can you learn from this week's Torah portion that might help you start on this new journey? 

Navigating with Noah

Parashat Noach
Genesis 6:9-11:32

Throughout the first stories of the Torah, people begin to learn about the responsibilities and boundaries of their relationship with God. In last week's parsha, Parshat B'reishit, we see Adam and Eve punished for disobeying God's rules and learn the lessons involving familial responsibilities taken from the experiences of Cain and Abel. 

In this week's parsha, Parshat Noach, we skip forward ten generations. The world has gotten so bad that God decides to start anew. Luckily, there was a man named Noah, a tzaddik, someone whom the Torah calls "righteous," which apparently goes a long way in a world filled with murder, meanness, and people generally not treating each other appropriately. It was such a good thing that God tasks Noah with building an ark and saving his family and a whole bunch of animals - seven pairs of "clean" (kosher) animals and one pair of "unclean" animals (B'reishit 7:2). Once the flood waters recede, it is up to Noah's family and passengers to repopulate the world.

Unfortunately, while Noah's righteousness saved his family from the devastation of the great flood, it did not seem to pass through the subsequent generations. By the time we get to the story of Babel, located towards the end of Parshat Noach, humans have grown proud and try to build a tower that will reach the sky. God disapproves, the tower comes crashing down, and humans are left with a number of different languages, unable to communicate effectively.

Some questions to ponder (perhaps at your Shabbat dinner table):

• How does the Torah describe Noah? What types of character traits do you think Noah had? How was he different from the other people around him?

• In several of the stories in the first part of B'reishit, people are punished for trying to be like God - give some examples of how it can be good to try to be like God. What are some things God can do that you are unable to do?

• How many of each animal does God instruct Noah to bring on the ark? Why are there different numbers? Are there animals you think should have been left off? Why?

• Noah's family was stuck on the ark together for a very long time - how do you think they felt at the end of their boat ride? Has your family ever taken a long trip together? What was that experience like?

• The last story in this parsha has a lot to say about communication - what are some ways your family can communicate better?

Just for fun, here is a quick animated look at Parshat Noach, courtesy of BimBam.

Wishing you and your family a Shabbat Shalom.

It's the Beginning, All Over Again!

Parashat Bereishit
Genesis 1:1-6:8

One of the most beautiful things about Torah is that every year, we get to rediscover each story, lesson, and law. After Simchat Torah, once we have gone through the arduous task of rolling and rolling the scrolls and parchment from the end of D'varim all the way back to the beginning of Bereishit, we start anew. After all of the experiences of the year that has ended, we begin to read the parashot, the weekly Torah portions, with eyes that have changed just a bit since the year before.

This Shabbat we start again with Parshat Bereishit, the first parsha in the first book of Torah. Like many of the parashot in the first two books of Torah, Bereishit contains a number of pretty seminal Biblical stories. We have the story of Creation, human beings are created and given the task of protecting the Garden of Eden, the expulsion from the Garden of Eden, the story of Cain and Abel (are we our siblings' keepers?), and the birth of Adam & Eve's third son, Seth. Torah lists the ten generations between Adam and Noah, and the parasha concludes with God's sorrow over human wickedness.

Some discussion questions:

• Each time God creates something, Torah says that it was "good" - what do you think this means?
• Why do you think God names things? What is the importance of a name?
• In Jewish tradition, Shabbat and holidays begin at sundown - what clue in these first verses explains why this is?
• What does it mean to be your "brother's keeper"? What are your responsibilities to other people in your family?

Check out this quick cartoon of Parashat Bereishit:

I will leave you this week with something a little fun - Torah in Haiku. This comes from The Torah in Haiku and was written by Ed Nickow of Temple Chai in Long Grove, IL.

Cain's question to G-d:
"Am I my brother's keeper?"
The right answer? "Yes"