God As an Ally
Oct 9, 2013 By Matthew Berkowitz | Commentary | Lekh Lekha
A journey of four thousand years begins with God’s command to Abraham.
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The Redeeming of Captives
Nov 5, 2011 By Eliezer B. Diamond | Commentary | Lekh Lekha
What does it mean to be someone’s brother or sister, beyond a biological fact? In Genesis, the answer seems to be: not much. Every story involving brothers is one of violence, discord, enmity, or deceit. Cain murders Abel; Ham shames his father and is doomed to serve his brothers. Isaac and Ishmael, Jacob and Esau, Joseph and his brothers—we all know how those relationships played out. In fact, the only brother who comes to his brother’s aid is not actually his brother: it is Abraham—then Abram—who rides to the rescue of his nephew Lot.
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Abram’s Trek, a Journey of Generations
Oct 24, 2012 By Matthew Berkowitz | Commentary | Lekh Lekha
At the opening of this week’s parashah, Abram, the nascent visionary and patriarch of the Israelites, is given the divine command to separate from all that is known and familiar.
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Spiritual Journeys
Nov 4, 2006 By Matthew Berkowitz | Commentary | Lekh Lekha
One of the questions commentators wrestle with is “why was Abraham chosen?” What leads God to command this particular individual, lekh l’kha, “go to yourself”?
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Trusting the Journey
Oct 24, 2012 By Marc Wolf | Commentary | Lekh Lekha
Like many of the richest parts of the Torah, the opening lines of Parashat Lekh Lekha are fraught with ambiguity: “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’” (Gen. 12:1).
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What’s in a Name?
Oct 9, 2013 By Daniel Nevins | Commentary | Lekh Lekha
What’s in a name? Quite a lot, but you need to know the story.
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The Eyes Have It: Looking at the Text
Oct 31, 2014 By Anne Lapidus Lerner | Commentary | Lekh Lekha
Matthias Stom’s “Sarah Leading Hagar to Abraham” (c. 1638)—brought to my attention by Mimi Kaplan, a student at the Albert A. List College of Jewish Studies of The Jewish Theological Seminary—is a proverbial picture worth a thousand words.
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A Lesson for Abraham
Oct 23, 2015 By Judith Hauptman | Commentary | Lekh Lekha
Lekh Lekha was the first parashah I ever learned. As kids in Hebrew school, we were not taught Bereishit or Noah, probably because of the theological questions they would raise. We began Bible study with Lekh Lekha. I am happy to return to it as an adult and try to understand its message anew.
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