Weekly Parsha

Refuah Sheimah: "May it be Your will, LORD my G-d, and the G-d of my forefathers, that You quickly send refuah sh'lemah (complete healing) from heaven, spiritual healing and physical healing to Ben Waistein (Benyiamin ben Elisheva) from Israel.

Continue praying for : Stuart Holtzclaw and Randy Shute from Syracuse, NY, Teddy Welz, Miriam (Mariana) "bat Zulay", Adina (Heidi) "bat Sarah" e Yosefa (Josie) "bat Sharon", Rafael ben Gladis e Esther Bracha "bat Sarah".

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) 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 (the Almighty) took (Avraham) outside and He said to him, 'Look up, please, at the heavens and count the stars, if you can count them.' And He said to him, 'So, too, will be your descendants'" (Genesis 15:5).

Was the Almighty just telling Avraham about the number of his descendants -- or was there a deeper message?

The Baal Shem Tov explained that the descendants of Avraham are like stars. We see the stars from a great distance and they appear to be mere tiny specks, but in reality in the heaven they are gigantic. So, too, in this world many people look very small. However, in reality they have greatness!

When you look at another person -- particularly, a child -- realize that he is like a star. He might seem small to you. He might not appear as having accomplished very much. Gain an awareness of the great potential of each person. View each person as an entire world, as an enormous being in the cosmos.

When you see people in this light you will behave towards them with great respect. When you show others this respect, they will gain greater respect for themselves. This can give a person the encouragement he needs to live up to his potential greatness!

The world little notes nor long remembers individual acts of kindness ... but people do. An ounce of action is worth a ton of theory.

Shabbat Shalom

R. Ovadiah Tank

Online Learning

Rabbi Tank is a professor at the American Jewish College in New York, where he teaches classes on Talmud, Jewish History, and Contemporary Jewish Law. Rabbi Tank is dedicated to finding modern utility and meaning in ancient wisdom texts and is pleased to provide spiritual, cultural, social and educational programming to communities around the world. 

Rabbi Tank was educated at Yeshivas in New York and Miami. He studied Biblical Archeology at Bar Ilan University and Jewish Studies at Harvard University. Rabbi Tank has a Bachelor degree in Business Administration and he is also graduated in International Economic Development from the University of Oxford. 

Rabbi Tank is a Jewish Chaplain actively involved in peace negotiations and relief operations. Rabbi Tank is the director of international affairs at the World Jewish Confederation in the United States and He is member of the White House National Religious Leaders , an Executive Office of the President of the United States in Washington, D.C.