פרשת לך לך תשי"א - התגלות ה' לאברהם

And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him: ‘I am God Almighty; walk before Me, and be thou wholehearted.

אני אל שדי I AM GOD ALMIGHTY — I am He whose (ש) Godship suffices (די) for every creature (Genesis Rabbah 46:3), therefore, ‘‘walk before Me”, and I will be your God and Protector. Similarly, wherever in the Scriptures this Divine Name שדי occurs, it signifies the idea of His sufficiency — but it all depends upon the context as to what the “sufficiency” refers to.

התהלך לפני WALK BEFORE ME — as the Targum takes it: worship before Me — cleave to My service.

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.

ויאמר אלוקים אל אברהם, once G'd had changed Avram's name Moses never again spelled in the former way. Our sages have gone so far as to describe anyone referring to Avraham as Avram as having violated a positive as well as a negative commandment. (Bereshit Rabbah 46,8) They base this on the wording "your name shall not be called Avram, but your name shall be Avraham." (verse 5) Many people question this, pointing out that in Nechemya 9,7 we read אתה הוא ה' האלוקים אשר בחרת באברם , "you are the Lord G'd Who has chosen Avram." The answer is that perhaps what Nechemya meant was that G'd had chosen Avraham to be Avraham at a time when he was still known as Avram. According to the plain meaning of the text, the wording of the Torah is only a warning not to call Avraham by this former name, it is not part of the 613 commandments

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.

These people bring, but do not recite: the convert brings but does not recite, for he is unable to say [in the Biblical recitation] "[the land] that God swore to our fathers to give to us." And if his mother was from Israel, he brings and recites. And when he prays by himself, he says [in place of, "the God of our fathers"] "the God of the fathers of Israel." And when he is in the synagogue, he says "the God of your fathers." And if his mother was from Israel, he says "the God of our fathers."

אני הנה בריתי אתך, just as you have ben certain that when I said to you that I am א-ל שדי that I have the power to change the laws of nature, I am telling you additionally, that you will not only be the founder of one nation, but that you will became the founder of numerous nations. Both Yitzchok, Ishmael, and the sons of Keturah will al become important nations.

And the sons of Noah, that went forth from the ark, were Shem, and Ham, and Japheth; and Ham is the father of Canaan.

And unto Shem, the father of all the children of Eber, the elder brother of Japheth, to him also were children born.