Parsha

Mazal Tov: Lazaro Stern, Gustavo Damasceno, José Marcelo Morgensztern and Sheila Gerstler's  for their birthdays.

Pray for Refuah Sheimah: Yossefa (Josie) bat Sharon and Rafael ben Gladis.

Continue Praying for: Miriam (Mariana) bat Zulay, Adina (Heidi) bat Sarah and Yosefa (Josie) bat Sharon.

Lech Lecha

Genesis 12:1 - 17:27

The Almighty commands Avram (later renamed Avraham) to leave Haran and go to "the place that I will show you" (which turned out to be the land of Canaan -- later renamed the Land of Israel). The Almighty then gives Avram an eternal message to the Jewish people and to the nations of the world, "I will bless those who bless you and he who curses you I will curse." Finding a famine, Avram travels to Egypt (once renamed to be part of the United Arab Republic) asking Sarai (later renamed Sarah), to say she is his sister so they won't kill him to marry her (the Egyptians were particular not to commit adultery ... so they would kill the husband instead).

Pharaoh evicts Avram from Egypt after attempting to take Sarai for a wife. They settle in Hebron (also known as Kiryat Arba) and his nephew Lot settles in Sodom. Avram rescues Lot -- who was taken captive -- in the Battle of the Four Kings against the Five Kings.

Entering into a covenant with the Almighty (all covenants with the Almighty are eternal, never to be abrogated or replaced by new covenants), Avram is told that his descendants will be enslaved for 400 years and that his descendants (via Isaac, "... through Isaac will offspring be considered yours." Gen. 21:8 Isaac, not Ishmael!) will be given the land "from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates."

Sarai, childless, gives her handmaid Hagar to Avram for a wife so that he will have children. Ishmael (the alter zedeh - the grandfather -- of our Arab cousins) is born. The covenant of brit mila, religious circumcision, is made (read 17:3-8), G-d changes their names to Avraham and Sarah and tells them that Sarah will give birth to Yitzhak (Isaac). Avraham circumcises all the males of his household.

* * *

"And he (Avraham) trusted in G-d, and G-d reckoned it to him as righteousness" (Gen. 15:6).

Why was Avraham's trust in G-d considered to be righteousness?

If G-d spoke to any of us, would we not have an unshakable faith? We do not have faith that there is a moon or that two plus two equals four. That which we see or understand does not require an act of faith.

On a person's Judgment Day he will be asked, "Did you transact in faith?" (Talmud Bavli, Shabbos 31a). This is usually understood as asking whether one transacted business honestly.

When a person transacts in business, he negotiates and tries in every way to maximize his profit. He does not settle for a meager gain. This is what one will be asked on Judgment Day: "Did you transact in faith? i.e., did you do everything possible to maximize your faith, or did you just accept whatever you were given?

Abraham transacted in faith. He, of course, knew there was a G-d. He did not have to have faith in His existence. However, he tried to strengthen his faith by coming to an ever greater knowledge of G-d, and believing even that which they could not see about G-d.

Some people take their faith in G-d for granted. Of course they believe that there is a G-d. However, they may not have gone beyond that to try to know more and more about G-d. We have great works available to us to increase our knowledge and therefore our faith and understanding of G-d. If we fail to do so, we will have no answer on Judgment Day when we are asked, "Did you seek to improve the quality of your faith? Did you transact in faith?"

To strengthen the muscles of your heart, the best exercise is lifting someone else's spirit.

Shabbat Shalom!

R. Ovadiah Tank

Online Learning

Rabbi Tank is dedicated to finding modern usefulness and meaning in ancient wisdom texts and he is happy to provide spiritual, cultural, social and educational programming for communities around the world. 

Rabbi Tank is a professor at the American Jewish College of New York where he teaches classes on Talmud, Chassidism, Jewish History, Contemporary Jewish Law and Jewish Music. He has got a Degree in Biblical Archeology from Bar Ilan University and a Harvard Degree in Judaic Studies. He also got his Bachelor's in Business Administration and he earned a postgraduate degree in International Relations. 

Rabbi Tank works as a Kosher Supervisor and as a Chaplain, with active involvement in Bikur Cholim, peace negotiations and humanitarian relief operations. Rabbi Tank is a Member of the National White House Faith Leaders, an Executive Office of the President of the United States.

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