TorahParsha

The World

 

for Parshat Lech-Licha

 

i

After the Sin, God moves Adam and Eve east of Eden.

After Cain murders Abel, God places Cain in the land of Nod,

which is also east of Eden.

Later the people of the world migrate to Babel from the east.

Humanity travels west to east

and east to west.

 

But God sends Abraham to Israel

and in Israel, Abraham journeys south.

And God promises him the Land in all directions:

north, south, east, west.

 

ii

Just after this promise

comes the war of five kings against four,

of fighting from every direction.

Abraham rushes to that conflict

to rescue captive people.

He is honored by the king of Shalem,

a city which Abraham has saved,

a city whose king is

a priest of God Almighty.

 

iii

In Israel Abraham encounters the new axis:

the possibility of travel in all directions

of reaching people of all directions

of bearing responsibility

for people of all directions.

 

In this,

he encounters God Almighty.

 

 

___

Shabbat Shalom,

Abe

The translation of “migrate” is taken from the JPS Tanakh 

God of Laughter

for Parshat Lech-Licha

i

Sarah has been barren all her life. She will be ninety.

Abraham will be one-hundred.

God announces that they will give birth to a son. They laugh.

*

God says: you shall call your son’s name Isaac, Yitzchak.

Yitzchak means: He-Will-Laugh.

ii

A joke does not make sense until its conclusion comes.

The punchline comes, and the punchline reveals that there are ways of viewing the world that you had not considered: and the story makes sense.

You are given sudden clarity. You laugh.

iii

You would have thought it impossible that Abraham and Sarah should have a child.

But there is another way of viewing the world.

There is the world beyond the level at which we understand things.

There is the level of God.

*

Isaac guides Abraham and Sarah to this level of God.

This revelation brings laughter.

Isaac is the punchline to the story of Abraham and Sarah.

iv

The story of Abraham and Sarah is a story which can have a punchline, because it is a story that God tells.

And the people they birth, too, is a story that God tells.

___

Shabbat Shalom,

Abe

I cannot remember how much of this idea is my own: it came to me and felt recollected, I think largely from Avivah Zornberg. 

TorahParsha.com.

God of Laughter

for Parshat Lech Licha

 

i

Sarah has been barren all her life. She will be ninety.

Abraham will be one-hundred.

God announces that they will give birth to a son. They laugh.

*

God says: you shall call your son’s name Isaac, Yitzchak.

Yitzchak means: He-Will-Laugh.

ii

A joke does not make sense until its conclusion comes.

The punchline comes, and the punchline reveals that there are ways of viewing the world that you had not considered: and the story makes sense.

You are given sudden clarity. You laugh.

iii

You would have thought it impossible that Abraham and Sarah should have a child.

But there is another way of viewing the world.

There is the world beyond the level at which we understand things.

There is the level of God.

*

Isaac guides Abraham and Sarah to this level of God.

This revelation brings laughter.

Isaac is the punchline to the story of Abraham and Sarah.

iv

The story of Abraham and Sarah is a story which can have a punchline, because it is a story that God tells.

And the people they birth, too, is a story that God tells.

 

______

Shabbat Shalom, Abe

 

I cannot remember how much of this idea is my own: it came to me and felt recollected, I think largely from Avivah Zornberg. 

TorahParsha.com.

What Abraham taught economies

for Parshat Lech Licha

i

Abraham flees to Egypt

from the famine in Canaan.

*

He fears the Egyptians will kill him

over his beautiful wife.

*

Abraham and his nephew,

Lot,

share land.

But there is not enough land for both of them.

Their shepherds come to fighting.

They part ways.

*

Here

is a world

of scarce resources,

of winner-take-all.

 

ii

Lot

and others of Sedom

and their property

are captured in war.

Abraham rescues them.

The king of Sedom says:

I will take the souls, the people;

you, Abraham, keep the people’s property

you have rescued.

*

This is like a payment:

people for things.

*

Abraham says:

You, king, keep everything—

the people

and the things that come with them.

 

iii

In a world of scarcity

a person becomes

the things he has

that others want.           

He is captured

or killed

or purchased:

anything

for others

to have his things;

and he becomes summed up

by what he has,

what can be taken away.

*

And that is the nature of economies.

*

But Abraham offers a revolution:

he refuses

to take

the value of a man

from him.

 

 

 _____

Shabbat shalom,

Abe

 

Please pray for for Ayelet Yakira bat Chaya Hinda Matel Nechama

 

www.TorahParsha.com / @TorahParsha

 

 

What Abraham taught economies

for Parshat Lech Licha

i

Abraham flees to Egypt

from the famine in Canaan.

*

He fears the Egyptians will kill him

over his beautiful wife.

*

Abraham and his nephew,

Lot,

share land.

But there is not enough land for both of them.

Their shepherds come to fighting.

They part ways.

*

Here

is a world

of scarce resources,

of winner-take-all.

 

ii

Lot

and others of Sedom

and their property

are captured in war.

Abraham rescues them.

The king of Sedom says:

I will take the souls, the people;

you, Abraham, keep the people’s property

you have rescued.

*

This is like a payment:

people for things.

*

Abraham says:

You, king, keep everything—

the people

and the things that come with them.

 

iii

In a world of scarcity

a person becomes

the things he has

that others want.           

He is captured

or killed

or purchased:

anything

for others

to have his things;

and he becomes summed up

by what he has,

what can be taken away.

*

And that is the nature of economies.

*

But Abraham offers a revolution:

he refuses

to take

the value of a man

from him.

 

 

 _____

Shabbat shalom,

Abe

 

Please pray for for Ayelet Yakira bat Chaya Hinda Matel Nechama

 

www.TorahParsha.com / @TorahParsha

 

 

For Parshat Lech-Licha

God of Laughter

i

Sarah has been barren all her life. She will be ninety.

Abraham will be one-hundred.

God announces that they will give birth to a son. They laugh.

*

God says: you shall call your son’s name Isaac, Yitzchak.

Yitzchak means: He-Will-Laugh.

ii

A joke does not make sense until its conclusion comes.

The punchline comes, and the punchline reveals that there are ways of viewing the world that you had not considered: and the story makes sense.

You are given sudden clarity. You laugh.

iii

You would have thought it impossible that Abraham and Sarah should have a child.

But there is another way of viewing the world.

There is the world beyond the level at which we understand things.

There is the level of God.

*

Isaac guides Abraham and Sarah to this level of God.

This revelation brings laughter.

Isaac is the punchline to the story of Abraham and Sarah.

iv

The story of Abraham and Sarah is a story which can have a punchline, because it is a story that God tells.

And the people they birth, too, is a story that God tells.

Shabbat Shalom, Abe

I cannot remember how much of this idea is my own: it came to me and felt recollected, I think largely from Avivah Zornberg.

Please share this thought with one friend.|| TorahParsha.com.

Closeness of Family

i
Abraham comes to Egypt. He fears that the Egyptian Pharaoh will kill him to take his beautiful wife.

Abraham tells Sarah, his wife: say that you are my sister so the Egyptians will not kill me to take you away.

And so Sarah does say that she is Abraham’s sister. And the Pharaoh takes Sarah as his wife, thinking she is indeed Abraham’s sister.

And it is only through miracles that the Pharaoh gives Abraham his wife back.

*
Lot is Abraham’s nephew. And Lot and Abraham dwell side-by-side. And both men own flocks on neighboring lands.

Abraham’s shepherds and Lot’s shepherds come to argue over grazing space.

Abraham tells Lot: it is wrong that there should be strife between me and you, between my shepherds and your shepherds, for we are brethren. And so Abraham suggests that the two of them separate.

Lot moves away.

ii
Later, Lot is taken prisoner in a war. Abraham hears that his brother is taken captive.

Abraham enters the war, and rescues Lot.

*
Before Abraham rescues Lot, Abraham and Sarah are childless.

After Abraham rescues Lot, Hagar, Sarah’s handmaid, gives birth to Yishmael; and Sarah gives birth to Isaac.

iii
Family is a world filled with perils. If you wish to keep yourself safe from the perils of family, you can hold your family at an arm's distance.

You can turn your wife into your sister: and then your marriage will not harm you.

You can send your nephew away: and you will have no strife.

But you can also face the perils of family, and reach out, and bring your family close.

For instance: you can rescue your captive brother from a war.

*
It is only after Abraham faces the perils of family that he becomes a father.

It is only then that God gives him His full promise of progeny, telling him: I have made you a father of many nations.

Based partly on an idea of Rabbi David Silber

Textual note: Abraham's name is Abram throughout most of Lech-Licha, and only becomes Abraham at the end. I have referred to him as Abraham for simplicity.


~~~~~~~~~

God has Heard

i
The angel of God tells Hagar, the Egyptian handmaid, that the name of Abraham's son whom she will bear will be Yishmael.

That name means God has heard.

*
For Hagar is suffering. And the Lord has heard the affliction that Hagar has suffered. And the name Yishmael tells of God's hearkening to that suffering.

Yishma El: God has heard.

ii
And Abraham does, in fact, call his son's name, whom Hagar bore, Yishmael.

But we do not see Hagar mention the angel. And so it would seem that Abraham names his son Yishmael all on his own.

On his own, Abraham has seen the suffering of the Egyptian handmaid.

On his own, too, Abraham has seen how God hears the suffering of the afflicted.

And so he names his son Yishmael.

iii
Then God makes his Covenant with Abraham.

And God gives Abraham a new name, Abraham , which before was Abram; Abraham connoting father of many nations.

*
Abraham knows God's mercy towards suffering people. This knowing allows him to become father of many nations. This knowing is what lets him enter a Covenant with God.

It is the source of his name.