Lesson 1. Baruch ata Adonai, Eloheinu melech haolam, asher kid'shanu bemitzvotav vetzivanu la'asok b'divrei torah.

Transcription

1 Machon Micah Gate of Torah: Lech L cha (Gen. 12:1-17:27) October 22-28, Cheshvan, 5778 Say the prayer for the study of Torah: Lesson 1 Baruch ata Adonai, Eloheinu melech haolam, asher kid'shanu bemitzvotav vetzivanu la'asok b'divrei torah. We praise You, Eternal God, Sovereign of the universe, who calls us to holiness through mitzvot, commanding us to engage in the study of Torah. Synopsis God tells Abrams to leave his native land and go to a land which God will show him. God promises Abram that a special land will be set aside for him and his descendants, and that Abrams will be the father of a great nation. Abram and his family, which includes his wife Sarai and his nephew Lot, travel from Haran to Canaan. On his journeys in the land, Abram sets up an alter to God in Alon Moreh between Bethel and Ai. A famine in Canaan forces Abram to seek food in Egypt. Upon entering Egypt, Abram declares that Sarai is his sister, not his wife; she is then taken into Pharaoh s palace. Abram realizes good fortune from this deception, but God afflicts Pharaoh with plagues. Pharaoh realizes that Sarai is really Abram s wife. Pharaoh sends Abram, his wife, and their possessions out of Egypt. Abram and his nephew Lot graze their flocks together, but the land will not support them both. Lot chooses to live on the Plain of Jordan, while Abram remains in Canaan. During an intertribal war, Lot is carried away as a hostage. Abram and his men pursue the captors and free Lot, his possessions, and the rest of the prisoners. God appears to Abram and again promises him progeny and land. This covenant is confirmed when Abram brings sacrifices. At this point, God foretells the Israelite bondage in Egypt. Sarai, who has not been able to bear children, gives her handmaid Hagar to Abram as a concubine. Hagar bears Ishmael. God repeats his covenant to Abram, but now requires Abram and all the 1

2 males of his household to be circumcised as a sign of the covenant. God changes Abram s name to Abraham and Sarai s name to Sarah. Family Reading Genesis 12:1-5 And the Lord said to Abram, Go forth from your land and your birthplace and your father s house to the land I will show you. And I will make you a great nation and I will bless you and make your name great, and you shall be a blessing. And I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse those who curse you, and all the clans of the earth through you shall be blessed. And Abraham went forth as the Lord had spoke to him and Lot went forth with him, Abram being seventy five years old when he left Haran. And Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his nephew and all the goods they had gotten and the folk they had bought in Haran, and they set out on the way to the land of Canaan, and they came to the land of Canaan. Family Discuss Part 1 1. God establishes a covenant with Abram. A covenant is like a contract, or a deal. What does God instruct Abram to do? What will God do in return? 2. Imagine that you are Abram or Sarai and you are preparing to leave Ur of the Chaldees. Bearing in mind that you will not ever return, what would you pack in your suitcase? What do imagine Abram and Sarai were feeling when they left their home? 3. If you could write a covenant between God and people, what would be the conditions? Things God should promise people: Things people should promise God: 4. In the portion, Abram is called an ivri, a Hebrew. The biblical commentator Rashi explains the term by its root letters ayin, bet, resh, meaning other. He translates the phrase as the one who came from the other side of the river (Euphrates). Genesis Rabbah a 4th century collection of midrashim, stories, that fill in the gaps of Genesis uses the same translation, but interprets it as: The whole world stood on one side and Abram the Ivri stood on the other, meaning that Abram s faith ran counter to what all others believed. Does Judaism today still run counter to what others believe? Do you ever feel like an other? Is there a time in which your Jewish values would win, that is, trump your American or secular values? 2

3 Family Discussion Part 2 Red the following section form the Mishna: Mishna, Pirkei Avot 5:4 - Abraham our father was tested ten times and he withstood all ten tests to let everyone know how great was his love for God. The ten trials of Abraham are listed in Avot d Rabbi Natan 33. They are as follows: two trials when he left Haran, two with his two sons, two with his two wives, one in the war of King, one at the covenant of the pieces, one when he was thrown into a furnace by Nimrod and one at his circumcision. 1. Have you ever been tested? By what? (Or, ask: what is something challenging that you accomplished despite how hard it was?) 2. How do you show that you love someone? 3. What questions can you ask of this text? Key Torah Verse- Genesis 12:1 א ו יּ אמ ר י הו ה א ל- אַ ב ר ם, ל -ל מ אַר צ וּמ מּו ל ד תּ וּמ בּ ית אָב י, א ל-ה אָ ר ץ, א שׁ ר אַר א ךּ. 1 And the Lord said to Abram, Go forth from your land and your birthplace and your father s house to the land I will show you V yomer Adonai el Avraham, lech l cha m artzecha, u mimoladitcha, u mibet avicha, el ha aretz asher a recha. 3

4 Lesson 2 Say the prayer for the study of Torah: Baruch ata Adonai, Eloheinu melech haolam, asher kid'shanu bemitzvotav vetzivanu la'asok b'divrei torah. We praise You, Eternal God, Sovereign of the universe, who calls us to holiness through mitzvot, commanding us to engage in the study of Torah. Read the text together Genesis 12:1-9 And the Lord said to Abram, Go forth from your land and your birthplace and your father s house to the land I will show you. And I will make you a great nation and I will bless you and make your name great, and you shall be a blessing. And I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse those who curse you, and all the clans of the earth through you shall be blessed. And Abraham went forth as the Lord had spoke to him and Lot went forth with him, Abram being seventy five years old when he left Haran. And Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his nephew and all the goods they had gotten and the folk they had bought in Haran, and they set out on the way to the land of Canaan, and they came to the land of Canaan. And Abram crossed through the land to the site of Shechem, to the Terebinth of Moreh. The Canaanite was then in the land. And the Lord appeared to Abram and said, To your seed I will give this land. And he built an alter there to the Lord who had appeared to him. And he pulled up his stakes from there for the high country east of Bethel and pitched his tent with Bethel to the west and Ai to the east, and he built there an alter to the Lord, and he invoked the name of the Lord. And Abram journeyed onward by stages to the Negeb. Family Discussion Questions 1. Abram, a mere figure in a notation of genealogy and migration in the preceding passage, becomes an individual character, and begins the Patriarchal narratives, when he is here addressed by God, though he himself as yet says nothing, responding only by obedience. Is there a time when someone asked you to do something and you simply obeyed? In what case would you do something, no-questions-asked? 2. Abram answered God s call to leave Haran. In this initial step, he was acknowledging his acceptance of one God. A midrash a story explains Abram s attitude to the multiple gods his father Terach, an idol maker, crafted. The midrash states that one day Abram, left in charge of the idols, smashes everyone but the largest. When Terach returns, he asks, Who smashed the gods? Abram replies: The largest one. Terach responds: Idols cannot move. They are made of clay and wood. Then why do worship them? counters Abram. 4

5 Like Noah, Abram may be considered a maverick for his stand. What characteristics or qualities did Abram exhibit which set him apart from other people? How does the worship of one God differ from the worship of idols? Think of something that demands a lot of our attention today. What, if anything, in our society, do we ascribe false glamour to? can this be considered idolatry? 3. In Lech L cha, Abram begins the journeys which will characterize his life both physically and spiritually. There is an old Jewish expression which says: Changing your place changes your luck. Can you cite other instances in Jewish history when changing or moving changed a person s luck or future? 4. This week's selection, God calls to Abram: " Go forth from your land and your birthplace and your father s house to the land I will show you. Rashi asks, "Had he not already departed from there (his birthplace) together with his father and reached as far as Haran?" In so doing he refers back to the end of the previous parashah, where it is written, "Then Terah took his son Abram and his brother's son Lot son of Haran and his daughter-in-law Sarai, and they all left Ur of the Chaldeans to go to the land of Cannan; but they got as far as Haran and settled there." (11:31). Answering this question, Rashi teaches that God is commanding Abram to continue the journey his father began. Abram began the journey with his father, but the rest he had to make alone. Our parents give us a foundation but ultimately we need to strike out on our own to realize our destinies and to establish a name for ourselves. This is true psychologically, whether or not we physically move from our home towns. Consider: In what way are you like your parents and in what ways are you different? 5. Later in the Torah portion Lech L cha, God commands Abraham to circumcise himself. This is the physical sign of the covenant which God has established with Abraham. This covenant, known as Brit Milah, becomes a sign for all generations of male Jews. Even in the Reform movement in which we ve altered many of our rituals, or done away with them completely, many still hold on to circumcision as an important religious ritual. Why do think that is? How does a female become part of the covenant? What does it mean to be in covenant with a higher power? Key Torah Verse- Genesis 12:1 א ו יּ אמ ר י הו ה א ל- אַ ב ר ם, ל -ל מ אַר צ וּמ מּו ל ד תּ וּמ בּ ית אָב י, א ל-ה אָ ר ץ, א שׁ ר אַ ר א ךּ. 5 1 And the Lord said to Abram, Go forth from your land and your birthplace and your father s house to the land I will show you V yomer Adonai el Avraham, lech l cha m artzecha, u mimoladitcha, u mibet avicha, el ha aretz asher a recha.