Lech Lecha- Text and Character: Abraham

The Lord said to Abram, “Go forth from your native land and from your father’s house to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you shall be a blessing.

I will bless those who bless you and curse him that curses you; and all the families of the earth shall bless themselves by you.”

Abram went forth as the Lord had commanded him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran. Abram took his wife Sarai and his brother’s son Lot, and all the wealth that they had amassed, and the persons that they had acquired in Haran; and they set out for the land of Canaan.

(1) YHVH said to Abram, "Go you forth from your land…" … Rabbi Yitzchak said: this may be compared to a man who was traveling from place to place when he saw a bira doleket/castle aglow/lit up (full of light/in flames). He said, "Is it possible that this castle lacks a person to look after it? The owner of the building looked out and said, “I am the owner of the castle.” Similarly, because Abraham our father said, “Is it possible that this castle has no guide, no one to look after it?," the Holy Blessed One looked out and said to him, “I am the Master of the Universe.” … Hence, God said to Avraham, Lech Lecha.

(1) לך לך GET THEE OUT (literally, go for thyself) — for your own benefit, for your own good: there I will make of you a great nation whilst here you will not merit the privilege of having children. Furthermore, I shall make known your character throughout the world (Tanchuma)

(1) In Abraham there was chosen as progenitor of this people a man who, in his individual life, already realized the ideal of the people that was to be. The All-One, whom he alone worshipped amidst the multitude of idolatrous seekers after wealth and lust, the All-One called and loving Him alone, Abraham cast from him his native land, his family, his parental dwelling, and all which man loves and cherishes, and followed Him who called him; he accepted the mission to become progenitor of a people from which "blessing should come to all the peoples of the earth which would keep the way of the Lord, to do righteousness and judgment," and followed Him; he carried out the ideal of this love to the All-One in his love to his children, to his fellow beings; he cared for them, saved them, instructed them, whenever and wherever he could, and prayed for them to the Judge of all. And He, for whom he left all, and whose call he had followed into a strange land, He protected him upon his wanderings, and blessed him, so that he needed to derive safety and blessing only from His hands, and used them only for the salvation of the world.

(3) 'כי לך ולזרעך וגו, because I have given him and his descendants this land, I have now commanded you not to leave this land which I described as the land I will show you, etc.” in Genesis 12,1.

(1) אל הארץ אשר אראך, to the specific area within the country which I will show you in a heavenly vision. This is why Avram kept moving further into the land without pitching his tent to settle down until he received the appropriate sign from G’d. This occurred when he reached Shechem, where we are told that G’d appeared to him (verse 7)

(1) מארצך, G’d had to add this as it is difficult for a person to leave a homeland in which he had dwelled for many years, all the more so if that land was at the same time the place where he had been born.

(14) ונברכו, an expression meaning “refining and improving thereby.” It means that these nations will be improved through intermarriage with your family. כל משפחות האדמה. The word is in a passive, weak mode as I have already explained on the same phrasing in Genesis 12,3

(3) ונברכו בך כל משפחות האדמה, “and all the families of the earth shall count themselves blessed if they can establish family ties with you.” The root of the word ונברכו is the same as that of מבריך, “to graft.” They will consider it an accomplishment to have Abrahamitic blood in their veins.

(5) אשר עשו בחרן [THE SOULS] THAT THEY HAD GOTTEN (literally, made) IN HARAN — The souls which he had brought beneath the sheltering wings of the Shechinah. Abraham converted the men and Sarah converted the women and Scripture accounts it unto them as if they had made them. However, the real sense of the text is that it refers to the men-servants and to the maidservants whom they had acquired for themselves. The word “עשה” is used here as (in Genesis 31:1), “he has acquired (עשה) all this wealth”, and (Numbers 24:8), “And Israel acquires (עושה) wealth” — an expression for acquiring and amassing.

(14) “And the souls that they had made in Haran.” Said Rabbi Elazar ben Zimra: Even if every creature on earth conspired to create (out of nothing) even one mosquito, they could not give it a soul--and you say “the souls that they had made.” Therefore (they must be) they must be those who lived with them and converted. And it it meant “converted” why did it say “made?” In order to teach you that each one who brings an idol worshipper and converts him, it is as though he created him. And why did it say “that they made” rather than “that he made?” Said Rav Huna: Abraham would convert the men, and Sarah would convert the women.