לֶךְ-לְךָ

1. לֶךְ-לְךָ

2. Overview G-d speaks to Abram, commanding him to "Go from your land, from your birthplace and from your father's house, to the land which I will show you." There, G-d says, he will be made into a great nation. Abram and his wife Sarai, accompanied by his nephew Lot, journey to the Land of Canaan, where Abram builds an altar and continues to spread the message of a One G-d. A famine forces Avram to depart for Egypt, where beautiful Sarai is taken to Pharaoh's palace; Abram escapes death because they present themselves as brother and sister. A plague prevents the Egyptian king from touching her and convinces him to return her to Abram and compensate the brother-revealed-as-husband with gold, silver and cattle. Back in the Land of Canaan, Lot separates from Abram and settles in the evil city of Sodom, where he falls captive when the mighty armies of Chedorlaomer and his three allies conquer the five cities of the Sodom Valley. Abram sets out with a small band to rescue his nephew, defeats the four kings, and is blessed by Malki-Zedek the king of Salem (Jerusalem). G-d seals the Covenant Between the Parts with Abram, in which the exile and persecution of the people of Israel is foretold and the Holy Land is bequeathed to them as their eternal heritage Still childless ten years after their arrival in the Land, Sarai tells Abram to marry her maidservant Hagar. Hagar conceives, becomes insolent toward her mistress, and then flees when Sarai treats her harshly; an angel convinces her to return and tells her that her son will father a populous nation. Ishmael is born in Abram's 86th year. Thirteen years later, G-d changes Abram's name to Abraham ("father of multitudes") and Sarai's to Sarah ("princess"), and promises that a son will be born to them; from this child, whom they should call Isaac ("will laugh"), will stem the great nation with which G-d will establish His special bond. Abraham is commanded to circumcise himself and his descendents as a "sign of the covenant between Me and you."

4. Eber and the Hebrews • Eber was a great grandson of Noah's son Shem and the father of Peleg and Joktan. He was an ancestor of Abraham and hence of the Israelites. • Legend says that Eber refused to help with the building of the Tower of Babel, so his language was not confused when it fell. He and his family alone retained the original human language, called Hebrew, named after Eber. • In practice, the name "Eber" is most often associated as the root of the word "Hebrew", but others also associate the name with region beyond or across, opposite side, passage, or relationship with G_d. Wikipedia • Is Abraham the first Hebrew? The Hebrew word for "Hebrew" is eevriyt and comes from the root word which means "to cross over". A Hebrew is "one who has crossed over". The word Eber also comes from the same root word making it possible that Eber was also considered a "Hebrew".The Bible is the story of God and his covenant relationship (Hebraicly understood as crossing over from death to life) with an ancestral line beginning with Adam through his descendants Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Jacob's descendants who became the “Nation of Israel" also known as "the Hebrews". It is possible that a Hebrew was one who had "crossed over" into a covenant relationship with God, which would have begun with Adam. Ancient Hebrew Research Center

5. Abraham and the Chauldians • Abram was born in Kuta, another name for Ur of the Chaldees. “R. Hisda said: The small side of Kutha is Ur of the Chaldees.” Talmud - Mas. Baba Bathra 91a Joel C. Slayton (ABD, "Chesed," 1992) : " CHESED (PERSON) [Heb kesed]. The fourth son of Nahor and Milcah (Gen 22:22). Although it occurs only once in the Bible, this name has been associated with the people known in the Bible as the Chaldeans. The Old Babylonian term kasdu, which became kaldû in Assyrian documents, is the equivalent of this term, which translates chaldion. A connection could be drawn between the clan of Chesed and these Mesopotamian "Chaldeans." Possible Birthplace of Abram Located in Southeast Turkey Katah, Urah, Ur

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7. The Chauldians • Abraham, endowed with great sagacity, with a higher knowledge of God and greater virtues than all the rest, was determined to change the erroneous opinions of men. He was the first who had the courage to proclaim God as the sole Creator of the universe, to whose will all the heavenly bodies are subject, for they by their motions show their dependence on Him. His opposition to astrology provoked the wrath of the Chaldeans. Afterward, when he came to Egypt, he entered into disputes with all the priests and the wise men, and won their admiration and, in many cases, their assent to his higher views. He imparted to them the knowledge of arithmetic and astronomy, which sciences came to Egypt from Chaldea only in the days of Abraham. Josephus ("Ant." i. 7, § 8) • Abraham's revolt from Chaldean astrology is spoken of in Philo ("On Abraham," xvii.), in connection with Gen. xv. 5 (compare Gen. R. xliv.). • The Chauldians are noted for the following: • Science and Math • Mysticism • Spirituality • Astronomy • Astrology • First to discover Copper Smelting, later Bronze and still later Iron Working.

8. AbrahamFather of Nations Abraham Yitzchak Yishmael Jacob Esau Arabs Bnei Israel Christians

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10. א  וַיֹּאמֶר יְהוָה אֶל-אַבְרָם, לֶךְ-לְךָ מֵאַרְצְךָ וּמִמּוֹלַדְתְּךָ וּמִבֵּית אָבִיךָ, אֶל-הָאָרֶץ, אֲשֶׁר אַרְאֶךָּ. 1 Now the LORD said unto Abram: 'Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto the land that I will show thee. This parshah begins with HaShem's commandment to Avraham: Lech lecha meartzecha, "Go out from your land." HaShem is telling Avraham to leave his father's home in Haran and journey to Eretz Yisrael. But why does HaShem say lech lecha? Why doesn't He just say "lech - Go"? Lech lecha can be translated: "Go to yourself." HaShem is not just instructing Avraham to travel. HaShem is telling him: You are now starting your lifetime journey. You will be passing through many places, traveling on many paths. Remember, wherever you go - go to yourself. What does it mean to go to ourselves? Our real self is our neshamah, which wants to serve HaShem, fulfill His commandments and feel close to Him. So lech lecha means that on all our journeys - wherever we go and whatever we do - we will really be going towards ourselves. We will be coming closer to our neshamah's goal of serving HaShem. Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson

11. לֶךְ-לְךָ • 1. "Get you, out of your country..." (Beresheet 12:1). Rabbi Aba opened the discussion with THIS VERSE AND TO EXPLAIN THE REASON WHY AVRAHAM MERITED THAT THE HOLY ONE, BLESSED BE HE, WOULD SAY THIS TO HIM RATHER THAN TO ANY OTHER PERSON OF HIS TIME. • "Hearken to me, you stout-hearted, that are far from righteousness" (Yeshayah 46:12), • MEANS how hard are the hearts of the wicked, who see the paths and the ways of Torah, yet do not observe them. • THE PATHS ARE THE INTERNAL ASPECTS; THE WAYS ARE THE EXTERNAL ASPECTS. • And the hearts of the wicked are stout, as they do not repent and turn back to their Master. THIS IS THE REASON WHY they are called stouthearted. The verse, "that are far from righteousness," MEANS THAT they keep them selves far from Torah; • THIS IS WHY THEY REMAIN "FAR FROM RIGHTEOUSNESS.“ Zohar Lech Lecha 1

12. לֶךְ-לְךָ • From the time that G-d said to our father Abraham "Go from your land..." and "Abraham went on, journeying southward", began the process of birurim -- of extracting the sparks of holiness that are scattered throughout creation, buried within the material existence.By the decree of Divine providence, a person wanders about in his travels, as the Cause of All Causes brings about the many circumstances and pretexts that bring a person to those places where the sparks that belong to his or her soul await their redemption.(Rabbi Sholom DovBer of Lubavitch)

13. לֶךְ-לְךָ • Our age has sought to devour distance and time, rendering everything in a constant and immediate present. Now this. Now that. Everything today is in the present . For so many of us there is no yesterday or tomorrow. It’s just today! • All of this makes our spiritual development more and more challenging. Spirituality is a path. And like a path you have to walk down it one step at a time. Your fingers cannot do the walking on the spiritual path. You cannot download it from the Internet. • Everything in the physical world is a paradigm, an incarnation, of a higher spiritual idea. Travel is the physical equivalent of the spiritual road. The quest for spirituality demands that we travel, but this journey is not a physical journey. Many make the mistake of thinking that hitchhiking around the world and experiencing different cultures will automatically make them more spiritual. The truth is that wherever you go, there you are. • Spiritual growth requires the soul to journey. Our souls must make the same journey that Avram did. The spiritual road requires us to forsake the comfortable, the familiar ever-repeating landmarks of our personalities, and set out with an open mind and a humble soul. We must divest ourselves of the fawning icons of our own egos which we define and confine us, and journey. • Life's essential journey is that of the soul discovering its true identity. We learn this from the first two words in this week's Torah portion. "Lech lecha." "Go to yourself." Without vowels, these two words are written identically. When G-d took Avraham out of Ur Kasdim and sent him to the Land of Israel, He used those two identical words: "Lech lecha", "Go to yourself." • Avraham experienced ten tests in his spiritual journey. Each was meant to elevate him to his ultimate spiritual potential. When G-d gives us a test, whether it's the death of a loved one or a financial reversal or an illness, it's always to help us grow. By conquering the obstacles in our spiritual path, be it lack of trust in G-d or selfishness or apathy, we grow in stature. We connect with the fundamental purpose of the journey, to journey away from our negative traits and reach and realize our true selves.Rabbi Yaakov Asher Sinclair

14. Rashi 1) Abraham hid underground for 13 years from King Nimrod, who wanted to kill him. 2) Nimrod flung Abraham into a burning furnace. 3) Abraham was commanded to leave his family and homeland. 4) Almost as soon as he arrived in Canaan, he was forced to leave to escape a famine. 5) Sarah was kidnapped by Pharaoh's officials 6) The kings captured Lot, and Abraham was forced to go to war to rescue him. 7) God told Abraham that his offspring would suffer under 4 monarchies. 8) At an advanced age, he was commanded to circumcise himself and his son. 9) He was commanded to drive away Ishmael and Hagar. 10) He was commanded to sacrifice Isaac. Rambam 1) Abraham's exile from his family and homeland. 2) The hunger in Canaan after God had assured him that he would become a great nation there. 3) The corruption in Egypt that resulted in the abduction of Sarah. 4) The war with the 4 kings. 5) The marriage to Hagar after having despaired that Sarah would ever give birth. 6) The commandment of circumcision. 7) Abimelech's abduction of Sarah. 8) Driving away Hagar after she had given birth. 9) The very distasteful command to drive away Ishmael. 10) The binding of Isaac on the altar. The Trials

15. The Trials • Throughout Jewish literature, the Sages make frequent reference to the ten trials of Abraham. Through them Abraham was accorded special status as servant of G-d and progenitor of the Jewish People. • There is a fascinating unifying thread running through many of the tests of Abraham. To some degree, each time the issue wasn't just the physical inconvenience -- traveling to Egypt, purchasing a burial plot, etc. It was the sense that it ran contrary to everything G-d had promised Abraham -- and everything Abraham might well have expected for being G-d's trusted servant. Abraham and Sarah dedicated their lives and very beings to the teaching of Gd's reality to mankind. G-d in turn promised them success, recognition, children, and the Land of Israel. Yet none of these blessings were realized until years later, if at all in their lifetimes. • It's quite natural for someone to feel that if he or she is serving G-d properly, the *least* G-d could do is respond with health, success and honor. And Abraham and Sarah were as justified as anyone in this regard. Yet their lives were far from serene -- often on account of their beliefs: Nimrod's attempt at Abraham's life, Sarah's abductions, Abraham and Sarah's years of childlessness. The L-rd *is* a G-d of reward and punishment, isn't He? That's certainly what Abraham and Sarah had been teaching the rest of the world! So why had they not received their own due? • Yet such complaints were never heard from Abraham's lips -- nor even expressed in his heart. If G-d's will were that Abraham and Sarah serve Him through suffering and exile -- or that they return the one son G-d had blessed them with -- they would do so without any sense of hurt or betrayal. G-d's will was their will. None other existed. Their devotion to G-d was complete. They were in it for G-d, with no thought of their own personal goals or agendas. • Thus, in passing G-d's trials, Abraham demonstrated that he was not serving G-d with even the slightest consideration of personal gain -- nor even because teaching the world about G-d was what he *liked* doing. Had that been the case, he was certainly prepared to sacrifice it all along with the sacrifice of his son. The binding of Isaac -- the most difficult and final test of Abraham -- would have ruined Abraham's life -- not only through the loss of his beloved son but in that it would have flown in the face of everything he and Sarah had spent their lives preaching. After devoting his life teaching of a just and moral G-d - - rather than -- as much of the world then believed -- an angry god who must be appeased with human sacrifice -- how could he ever continue his works after apparently lapsing and offering a human himself? But Abraham was willing to give up everything -- his sacred life's works along with the entire unborn Jewish People -- for the simple yet profound reason that it was G-d's will. Rabbi Dovid Rosenfeld

16. ב  וְאֶעֶשְׂךָ, לְגוֹי גָּדוֹל, וַאֲבָרֶכְךָ, וַאֲגַדְּלָה שְׁמֶךָ; וֶהְיֵה, בְּרָכָה. "I will make you into a big nation: I will bless you, and make you famous and youwill be a blessing." (12:2) In Pirkei Avot (1:2) we learn that the world stands on three pillars: 1) The study of Torah, 2) avodah - the service of G-d, and 3) gemilat chassadim - acts of kindness, tzedakah. The patriarchs each epitomize one of these pillars. Avraham = chessed (21:33), Yitzchak = avodah (24:63), Yaakov = Torah (25:27). According to Rashi, the pasuk is projecting the history of Klal Yisrael. There will be a time when the major relationship between the Jews and Hashem will be through the study of Torah (Elokei Yaakov). Other times it will be through tefillah - prayer (Elokei Yitzchak), and there will be a period when it will be through chessed - tzedakah (Elokei Avraham). However, the "concluding phase" of galut and the coming of Mashiach will not be dependent on all three pillars, but in zechut of tzedakah alone, which is personified by Avraham. Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson)

17. The Covenant ב  וְאֶתְּנָה בְרִיתִי, בֵּינִי וּבֵינֶךָ; וְאַרְבֶּה אוֹתְךָ, בִּמְאֹד מְאֹד • 2 And I will make My covenant between Me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly.' • 3 And Abram fell on his face; and God talked with him, saying: • 4 'As for Me, behold, My covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be the father of a multitude of nations. • 5 Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for the father of a multitude of nations have I made thee. • 6 And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee. • 7 And I will establish My covenant between Me and thee and thy seed after thee throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee and to thy seed after thee. • 8 And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land of thy sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.' • 9 And God said unto Abraham: 'And as for thee, thou shalt keep My covenant, thou, and thy seed after thee throughout their generations. • 10 This is My covenant, which ye shall keep, between Me and you and thy seed after thee: every male among you shall be circumcised • 11 And ye shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of a covenant betwixt Me and you. Beresheet 17

18. בְּרֵאשִׁית, בָּרָא אֱלֹהִים, אֵת הַשָּׁמַיִם, וְאֵת הָאָרֶץ Journeys 1 • In the beginning God Created the spiritual world and the material world. • The Zohar teaches that each of us was created by a Supernal Spark engraved with the name of HaShem which was inserted into our Souls at the moment of conception. This is the tether that binds us to HaShem. Not in a tether to the material world but to HaShem in the Spiritual World. • Torah teaches that we are here to live, learn, work, do correction and do Chesed for the sake of HaShem. • To do so requires that we all take a journey from the Material World to the Spiritual.

19. Journeys 2 • Abram journey to Canaan was not only to inherit land but was really for Abram to come closer to HaShem. He does this with ten trials each one more difficult. Each trial requires that he start at the bottom to reach the top of those levels so that he could progress to the next level. This journey is an Educational and Spiritual process to unite Abram to the Creator. • Isaac’s journey is to his near death but in passing his test Isaac is elevated to the level of a Holy Korbin. • Jacob flees from Esau and is forced to work in indentured servitude for Laban. He does so and becomes the father of Bnei Israel. • Joseph the spark of hope in the eye of Jacob is sold into slavery by his brothers to become the Visor to the Pharaoh. • Moses born a Hebrew is raised in Pharaoh's home to be forced to flee Mitzraim where he is elevated to the level of being the greatest of all our Prophets. • Our ancestors were enslaved in Mitzraim and journeyed to Sinai where there are elevated to the Nation of HaShem’s Priests.

20. Journeys 3 • HaShem keeps his Covenant but we the Jewish People fail and are brought low in the eyes of HaShem. • Our Holy Temple built by Solomon is destroyed and our People are enslaved in Babylon. When we are at our lowest HaShem remembers His Covenant and we are restored to Our Land. We are permitted to rebuild our Temple. This Temple is a shadow of the first. • Five Hundred Years pass and a new Emperor enters the stage. Herod rebuilds our Temple to a new material glory but pure simple hatred destroys our Temple. • Our People are once again enslaved, killed and tortured. Our Land is destroyed and a Pagan Temple is built where the Temple once stood. We are dispersed throughout the world. Even our City of Jerusalem is renamed Ari Capitolina. Jews are forbidden to enter the City. • Our enslavement is not for 70 years but until 1948 and continues to some degree today. • Our Jewish People are murdered and chassed out of every country culminating in the Shoah. • HaShem remembers his Covenant and miraculously just three years after six million Jews perish we are brought back home in Our Land with a new Country we call Israel. • Today we the Jewish People have once again largely forgotten HaShem. We have once again broken our word. Yet HaShem is still there watching and waiting patiently for us.

21. Journeys 4 • The Torah is not just the blueprint to creation it is also the road map to our Spiritual journey to come closer to the Creator. • Our Prophets tell us that in the future a great war will occur in which most of our material world will be destroyed. • HaShem will keep His word and in spite of all odds, will send our Messiah who will save the Jewish People and once and for all times, bring Peace to Our People, so that we may at last serve Him. “May it be Your Will, HaShem, that the Holy Temple be rebuilt speedily in our days and grant us our share in Your Torah….” Shabbat Shalom