Questions tagged [parashat-lech-lecha]
The weekly Torah portion of Lech Lecha (Genesis 12:1-17:27)
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Why did Avraham take gifts from Pharaoh, but not the King of Sodom?
In Bereshit 12:11-16, we see that Avraham was willing to receive gifts from Pharoah:
11 And it came to pass, when he was come near to enter into Egypt, that he said unto Sarai his wife: 'Behold now, ...
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Are Muslims also promised the Land of Israel?
God promised Avraham that his descendants would be given the Land of Israel (Genesis 15:18-21). Since Ishmael is one of Avraham's descendants, and if Ishmael is the ancestor of Muslisms, do Muslims ...
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Why did Hashem not tell Avraham to have a Bris earlier?
Avraham Avinu was told to have a Bris at 99 years of age. Why didn't Hashem have him do a Bris earlier?
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Were Avraham's tactics in rescuing Lot typical of the time?
Parshat Lech L'cha describes how Lot was captured in the battle of four kings against five kings. When Avraham heard, he mounted a night-time attack to rescue him.
This got me wondering: was a ...
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Why are there so few Jews if God promised Abraham his children would number like the stars?
God promises Abraham a number of times that he would father a great nation whose numbers would be like the stars in the sky or the sand on the beach.
However today there are less than 14 million Jews,...
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What is the difference between curses that would require changing lashon?
In parshat Lech Lecha, (Bereishit 12:3) Hashem promises Avram that וַאֲבָרְכָה, מְבָרְכֶיךָ, וּמְקַלֶּלְךָ, אָאֹר, And I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse.
Why ...
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How are we to understand Malchi-Tzedek, non-Jewish priest of God?
Malchi-Tzedek is a gentile priest who worships God. I initially read this as just saying God is not exclusive (it says somewhere in Nevi'im that God also has covenants with other peoples), but today ...
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Why is Sarah rebuked for laughing whereas Avraham is not?
In parshat Lech Lecha Avraham laughs when he hears that he'll have a son. God even tells Avraham to call his son Yitzchak which means "he will laugh" straight after that. In parshat Vayera however, ...
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Why are the Kenites translated as Shalmites?
In the verse where Hashem promises to give Avraham's descendants the land of the 10 Canaanite nations, one is listed as the Kenites (Genesis 15:19):
אֶת־הַקֵּינִי֙ וְאֶת־הַקְּנִזִּ֔י וְאֵ֖ת ...
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Why doesn't the king of Belah get a name?
Bereishis 14:2 names the 5 kings who were on Team B in the war between the 4 kings and the 5 kings. Regarding 4 of the 5 kings on Team B, we are told their name and their domain. But by the king of ...
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Did Yitzchak have free will?
G-d promises that his covenant to Avraham will be fulfilled through Yitzchak.
Now we know of course that Yitzchak, like Avraham before him and Yaakov after him, was totally righteous (albeit not ...
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Sarah's treatment of Hagar and Ishmael
How could Sarah's treatment of Hagar and Ishmael be considered righteous? I intend this as a sincere and serious question. While Hagar was pregnant, Sarah "prevent[ed] her intercourse with Abraham, ...
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How did Pharaoh know that Sarai was Avram's wife?
When Avimelech took Sarah, Hashem came to him in a dream and told him to return Avraham's wife (Bereishis 20:3). When Pharaoh took her, no such event is recorded in the Torah. Pharaoh's household ...
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Abrahamic covenant and Brit Milah - how is the covenant passed down?
Why is it so that if a Jew has a male child with a non-Jewish woman the child is not circumcised, even though, like Ishmail, the child is under Abrahamic (but not Mosaic) covenant, since the father is ...
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If the Canaanites occupied the land in Moses’ day, why would Moses write that they were in the land then?
What does the Torah imply when it notes 'the Cannannites were then in the land' (Gen. 12:6)? It seems to suggest they were in the land then (when the tale took place) but not now (when the book was ...
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Is Sarah old and withered, or young and attractive when Abimelech captures her?
We see in the Torah:
Can a child be born to a man a hundred years old, or can Sarah bear a
child at ninety? (Gen. 17:17)
Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in years; Sarah had stopped
having ...
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What is the iniquity of the Emorites?
Rashi on Bereshis 48:22 explains מִיַּד הָאֱמֹרִי as follows
מיד עשו שעשה מעשה אמורי
The pasuk earlier in Bereshis (15:16) implies that the Emorites were sinners
כִּי לֹא שָׁלֵם עֲוֹן הָאֱמֹרִי ...
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Blatant foreshadowing in the Torah
Genesis 13:10 has the following verse:
וַיִּשָּׂא־ל֣וֹט אֶת־עֵינָ֗יו וַיַּרְא֙ אֶת־כָּל־כִּכַּ֣ר הַיַּרְדֵּ֔ן כִּ֥י כֻלָּ֖הּ מַשְׁקֶ֑ה לִפְנֵ֣י ׀ שַׁחֵ֣ת יְהוָ֗ה אֶת־סְדֹם֙ וְאֶת־עֲמֹרָ֔ה כְּגַן־...
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Why not do as Avraham and Sara did w.r.t. conversion
Rashi to B'reshis 12:5 quotes Rav Huna: "... whom they brought [to Judaism]. Avraham was converting the men and Sara the women...".
My understanding is that nowadays female prospective converts study ...
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Why does the Torah mention that Lot went with Avram twice?
Why does the Torah in Parshas Lech Lecha feel the need to say "vayeilech ito Lot", and Lot went with him (Avram)? The very next passuk tells us how Avram took Sarai his wife, Lot his nephew,...
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Why identified by the name Og?
Although the Midrash Bereshis Rabbah (42:8) records the story behind the origin of Og's name:
וַיָּבֹא הַפָּלִיט (בראשית יד, יג), רֵישׁ לָקִישׁ בְּשֵׁם בַּר
קַפָּרָא הוּא עוֹג הוּא פָּלִיט, ...
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Why translate a vav, "but"?
I know that this is quibbling over a translation, but I don't have access to the translators themselves, so I'm wonering if anyone knows of a justification.
In Bereishit 14:18, the text reads
...
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How to define the Malach YHVH
The Malach YHVH is mentioned many times, but what is or who is this being exactly? How should one define: Malach YHVH?
It's the Malach YHVH that is talking to Hagar, but after the whole event she ...
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Neither from a thread to a shoe strap [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Why did Avraham take gifts from Pharaoh, but not the King of Sodom?
After Avram saved Lot and the people of Sodom from the 4 kings, the king of Sodom offered him the ...
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How can you see words?
Has anyone else noticed the seeming incongruity in Lekh Lekha, Gen 15:1...that Avram is "seeing" the words? The verse states:
אַחַר הַדְּבָרִים הָאֵלֶּה, הָיָה דְבַר-יְהוָה אֶל-אַבְרָם, בַּמַּחֲזֶה,...
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Abraham's converts.....to what?
Assuming the view that Avraham was not a Jew (see here and here1), "ha-nefesh asher asu beCharan" (Gen. 12:5) that Rashi explains were converts, what did they convert to?
To give credit where credit ...
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Why did Avraham wait to have a bris?
Chazal tells us (Midrash Rabbah Bereishis 64:4 and 95:3; Yoma 28b, based on. Gen. 26:5; Kiddushin 82a) that the Patriarchs observed the mitzvahs before they were given. But Avraham did not circumcize ...
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Rashi's explanation of why we are told that Avram was 86 at the birth of Yishma'el
Bereishit 16:16:
וְאַבְרָ֕ם בֶּן־שְׁמֹנִ֥ים שָׁנָ֖ה וְשֵׁ֣שׁ שָׁנִ֑ים בְּלֶֽדֶת־הָגָ֥ר אֶת־יִשְׁמָעֵ֖אל לְאַבְרָֽם׃
Avram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Yishma'el to Avram.
...
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Why did Yitzchok use the same subterfuge for his wife that had not worked for Avraham?
When I read the Parashas Toldos, I was surprised to see that when Yitzchok went to the land of Avimeleh, he said that Rivka was his sister to protect his life in Bereshis, 26, 7.
It is obvious that ...
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Why is Sarah faulting Avraham for impregnating Hagar?
Breishit 16:5:
וַתֹּאמֶר שָׂרַי אֶל־אַבְרָם: חֲמָסִי עָלֶיךָ, אָנֹכִי נָתַתִּי שִׁפְחָתִי בְּחֵיקֶךָ וַתֵּרֶא כִּי הָרָתָה וָאֵקַל בְּעֵינֶיהָ. יִשְׁפֹּט ה' בֵּינִי וּבֵינֶיךָ׃
And Sarai said to ...
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Why is there a change in the compass directions between Abraham and Jacob?
When G-d blesses Abraham, he says in Breishit (Gen.) 13:14
וַיהוָה אָמַר אֶל-אַבְרָם, אַחֲרֵי הִפָּרֶד-לוֹט מֵעִמּוֹ, שָׂא נָא
עֵינֶיךָ וּרְאֵה, מִן-הַמָּקוֹם אֲשֶׁר-אַתָּה שָׁם--צָפֹנָה
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Who is "הנגד" that the Ramban is referring to?
The Ramban in Sefer Bereishis, Perek 17, Passuk 1, ד״ה א-ל שקי quotes Rebbi Avraham (the Ibn Ezra) who says something in the name of ״הנגד״ .
The words of the Ramban are: ״ורבי אברהם יפרשו בשם הנגד ...
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Shifting subjects and objects in Gen 12:15
There are three statements in Genesis 12:15:
וַיִּרְאוּ אֹתָהּ שָׂרֵי פַרְעֹה וַיְהַלְלוּ אֹתָהּ אֶל פַּרְעֹה וַתֻּקַּח הָאִשָּׁה בֵּית פַּרְעֹה
And Pharaoh's princes saw her, and they praised her to ...
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According to Rashi, how old was Avraham at B'rit Bein HaB'tarim?
Rashi to Shemot 12:40 says that B'rit Bein HaB'tarim took place thirty years before the birth of Yitzchak (when Avraham was one hundred years old), meaning that Avraham was seventy years old at the ...
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Where was Malkitzedek of Jerusalem at the time of the Akedah?
ארץ המוריה: יְרוּשָׁלַיִם (Rashi Genesis.22.2)
"And King Melchizedek of Salem brought out bread and wine...", Targum "וּמַלְכִּי צֶדֶק מַלְכָּא דִירוּשְׁלֶם" Genesis.14.18
If ...
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Was Hagar Abraham's second wife or his pilegesh?
In Genesis 16:3 it is written:
"So Sarai, Abraham's wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her handmaid, at the end of ten years of Abraham's dwelling in the land of Canaan, and she gave her to Abraham her ...
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Ishmael & Great Nation Status
So God tells Abraham that he will make Ishmael into a great nation.
Some nations, like China, are great without God having made a bilbical promise to anyone. When Abraham was promised that Ishmael ...
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Why is the information that Malchi-Tzedek was a priest not written earlier in the posuk?
In parshas Lech Lecha, after Avraham had successfully conquered the four kings and rescued his nephew Lot, it says (Bereishis 14,18):
וּמַלְכִּי-צֶדֶק מֶלֶךְ שָׁלֵם, הוֹצִיא לֶחֶם וָיָיִן; וְהוּא ...
user4523
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Pharaoh should have asked for his presents back when he found out that Soroi was Abram's wife?
Pharaoh took Soroi and benefited Abram for her sake 12 (16).
He did this on the understanding that Soroi was Abram's sister. He asked 12 (18)
“Why did you not tell me that she was your wife?”
...
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Age of Avram (Avraham) when he left for Kena'an out of the Ur Kasdim?
Nechemyah 9:7-8 teaches that it was HaShem who brought (or called?) Avram forth out of the Ur Kasdim.
Bereshit 11:31 teaches that Terach took his whole household in which included Avram and they went ...
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How long was the period of Oppression
How can Genesis 15:13 says that the Israelites were enslaved for 400 years?
Genesis 41:46 states that Joseph was 30 when he came to power: “Joseph was thirty years old when he entered the service of ...
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'עם' & 'את' based words in the story of Lot and Avram
I don't know the exact sources but I remembered some commentaries from the Malbim and Vilna Gaon which point out a difference between 'את'-based words and 'עם'-based words (both translated to mean '...
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How can Ramban give this reason?
The Gemara in Nedarim 32a gives 3 reasons for why the Jews were put into slavery in Egypt because of Abraham (one is because he made his students fight in the war against the kings, the other is that ...
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What happened with G-d's promise?
In Bereshit 15:18 G-d makes a covenant with Abraham in which He says that He has given certain land to Abraham's descendants.
בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא כָּרַת יְהֹוָה אֶת אַבְרָם בְּרִית לֵאמֹר לְזַרְעֲךָ ...
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What made Malkitzedek a Cohen more than Abraham?
IIRC, before Mt. Sinai, priestly rights were given to the firstborns.
For those who say, Malkitzedek was Shem Ben Noah, he wasn't Noah's firstborn.
I don't know if Abraham was a firstborn, but, unlike ...
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How come the Torah doesn't recount how Avraham and Sarah met?
We know how Yitzchak met Rivka, and how Yaakov met Rachel & Leah- but why doesn't the Torah tell us how Avraham and Sarah met?
If you want to say that it's because they weren't Jewish at the time ...
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Why are the Kadmonites singled out?
With my limited understanding of dikduk I don't know what the significance of the ־ symbol is. Maybe it indicates that two word should be read together? I know grammatically it turns an אֵ֖ת to an ...
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How to understand Gen. 12:5–6 with Rashi
B'reshis 12:5:
…וַיֵּצְאוּ לָלֶכֶת אַרְצָה כְּנַעַן / …and they left to go to the land of Canaan
וַיָּבֹאוּ אַרְצָה כְּנָעַן. / and they went in[1] to the land ...
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Who performed the bris of Abraham?
It is clear that Abraham understood the Torah, and that he waited to enact his bris until commanded, but who performed it? Did he do it himself, or was someone else instructed to do it, to serve in ...
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Where was Berit Ben Habetarim done?
I've always imagined that Berit Ben Habetarim was done in Eretz Yisrael, but someone recently told me it happened in Haran.
Anybody have any sources for either?
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