Lech Lecha
Why Avraham Was Punished with Exile
Explores the apparent punishment behind Avraham being sent into exile, the gematria of Eliezer's 318 men, and the unique spiritual role of the nose and the Kohen's lineage.
Why 'Going Away' Can Mean Getting Closer to Yourself
A chassidic reading of Lech Lecha -- the Rebbe's teaching that the farther a shliach travels, the closer he remains to his source -- and Avraham's mission to spread knowledge of Hashem abroad.
Rabbi Schapiro on the Parshah: Lech-Lecha
The Torah promises Avraham greatness for the simple act of leaving his land, an unusual reward for an unusual command. A look at why the Torah stays silent about Avraham's greatness beforehand, and what it means that a Jew's connection to Hashem begins with Hashem, not with our own effort.
Parshas Lech Lecha
Told he cannot have children according to his mazal, Avram is instructed to look past the stars — his name and Sarai’s are about to change so that their fated childlessness will no longer apply. Since a new name alone would be enough to break a mazal reading, the Rebbe asks why Avraham and Sarah were given names that both mean ruling over all the nations of the world, right before the birth of Yitzchak, the first Jew. The answer lies in Chazal’s teaching that the entire world was created for the sake of the Yidden, whose mission is to influence and elevate that world — so establishing Avraham and Sarah’s mastery over the nations was itself the necessary introduction to the birth of the people who would carry out that mission, one that reaches its full expression with the coming of Moshiach.
Parshas Lech Lecha
When Og brings Avraham the news that his nephew Lot was taken captive by the four kings, the Midrash specifies that he found Avraham eating matzah — a detail the Rebbe questions in the Reshimos, since Og’s actual motive was to get Avraham killed in battle so he could marry Sarah. The answer is that matzah is michla d’meheimnusa, the food of emunah, and seeing Avraham eating it told Og that Avraham’s belief in Hashem had become truly internalized rather than superficial — the kind of emunah that operates beyond seichel and calculation. That is precisely what convinced Og that Avraham would go to war despite overwhelming odds, and it is why real emunah, the kind that becomes as much a part of a person as food, pushes a Yid to do what is right regardless of what logic says is possible.
Parshas Lech Lecha
The Midrash traces Og’s name to the word ‘ugos,’ the cakes of matzah he saw Avraham eating just as he arrived to report that Lot had been captured by the four kings. The Rebbe asks why that detail matters, and finds the answer in the Zohar’s description of matzah as michla d’meheimnusa, food of emunah: seeing Avraham absorbed in eating it told Og that Avraham’s belief in Hashem went beyond calculation and logic. That is exactly why Og — hoping Avraham would be killed in the ensuing war — was confident he would go fight overwhelming odds to rescue his nephew.
Parshas Lech Lecha
Unpacks Rashi's three brachos a traveler needs and zeroes in on ואגדלה שמך, the promise that Avraham's name would grow great. Raises the Alshich's question of why a man so thoroughly batel to Hashem would need such a brachah at all, and resolves it: Avraham's fame was never about himself, but about spreading recognition of Hashem's oneness across the world.
Parshas Lech Lecha
Explores the seeming contradiction between Avraham fearing he'd used up his reward after the war with the four kings, and the Rambam's teaching that Avraham represents the ideal of serving Hashem lishmah, without any thought of gain. Resolves it through the deeper meaning of wanting sachar: a desire not for personal benefit but for the kavod of Shamayim, which is why Pirkei Avot calls wealth and honor becoming for tzaddikim.