BibleThemes - LechLecha

How our ancestors affected the future, for our benefit:

(And perhaps the effect of our actions, their future descendants, as a back-ripple in time helping them!)

Two (long) posts (A & B) on this topic for Parshat "Lech Lecha":

A: The deeper-level purpose of:

i. a specific divine prophecy to Avram about the future;

ii. various 'tests' of Avram & Sara;

in this week's Torah portion (re parshat 'Lech lecha');

B: The hidden depths of meaning and interlocking strands underlying various fateful events involving Avram as revealed via a kabbalistic interpretation.

A: Both i. & ii. above as opportunities for the ancestors to affect the future, for the benefit of their descendants

(Also: the effect of the actions of future descendants as a back-ripple in time affecting the ancestor.)

I wish to re-cast in a very positive light an event which is usually intepreted negatively.

When God tells childless Avram "your descendants will inherit you (living in the Land)", Avram asks God:

"Bameh eda ki erasheno".

This is usually interpreted as being sceptical or doubting, the question: "how can I know that I will indeed inherit it to my descendants?"

Because of the prophecy he recieved soon thereafter, in the eerie "brit ben habetarim" ("covenant between the pieces") vision, wehre God spoke about a future long enslavement of his descendants, many commentators state that it was his seemingly sceptical response which partially caused that future enslavement. In other words one could say that:

Avram was punished as a result of this,
or: the question and doubt created a bad result,
or: his own doubt was later shared by that of his descendants which caused a bad result for them.

My preference however is to interpret all this in the positive way outlined below.

...................................

Effect of the future as a back-ripple in time: re Avram avinu (our father) chasing the 4 kings: On the words of the passage "vayirdof ad Dan" "he pursued them to (the place) 'Dan", the Talmud [Sanhedrin 96a] says he (Abraham) stopped there because when he arrived at that place 'tashash kocho' = his power was weakend. Why? Because he knew his descendants would worship idolatry there.

וירדף עד דן אמר רבי יוחנן כיון שבא אותו צדיק עד דן תשש כחו ראה בני בניו שעתידין לעבוד ע"ז בדן

Rashi quotes this Talmudic source (in his commentary on this parsha (lech lecha) re "they will create an 'egel'") so we can relate to this notion - the back-ripple effect of a future event! - quite seriously not just as an obscure personal opinion recorded in the talmud but as an expression of a real principle of Jewish biblical metaphysics.

While this weakening of Avram's power can be interpreted as a psychological effect, it is more likely meant as metaphysical, that the special power he had (to fight a war against the regional superpower of the time, the 4 kings, who were militarily vastly superior) left him due to the bad 'karma' of the place.

Presumably Avram was aware of the reason for his weakening, and perhaps this is what taught him the principle we enumerated above. Indeed, we speculate that not only was he now sensitive to future events and their negative spiritual effect on the present, but he deduced the above-mentioned corollary of this principle, the future metaphysical-effect of a present action.

We posit that Avram - via his connection to God - intuited not only this principle but also another: We learn in a mishna in Makot that when there is a known bad effect, there is also a good effect, but it is far more powerful, see mishna below. Makos 23a: וְאָמַר רַבִּי חֲנַנְיָה בֶּן גַּמְלִיאֵל: מָה אִם הָעוֹבֵר עֲבֵירָה אַחַת נוֹטֵל נַפְשׁוֹ עָלֶיהָ, הָעוֹשֶׂה מִצְוָה אַחַת עַל אַחַת כַּמָּה וְכַמָּה שֶׁתִּנָּתֵן לוֹ נַפְשׁוֹ. Rashi: דמדה טובה מרובה ממדת פורענות אחד מחמש מאות

We propose that Avram combined these two principles - that the future can affect the present, and that good results of actions outweigh the bad - into a realization that he can do the complete reverse of what happened to him at Dan - have a positive effect, forward on the future, for the benefit of his descendants, a positive effect that is even greater than the negative effect experienced from them back from the future, and therefore the effort sof one person can positively influence the entire future of all his descendants far in the future!

However it was not just that Avram had a realization, but rather he then had a determination to act accordingly, as outlined below, despite the tremendous self-sacrifice involved.

How Avra(ha)m affected the future for the benefit of his descendants

We will parse Avram's above-mentioned question ("bamo edah ki erashena") with an added comma:

"bamo edah ki erashena" --> "bamo edah, ki erashena" = "What can I learn from You, in order for me to do what is necessary in order to ensure that my descendants will be succesful spiritually in inheriting me (ie the land)" ie :

what should I know = bamo edah,
(so that I can figure out what I need to do),
ki erashena = so that I can make sure they indeed they inherit as planned.

Or: "bamo edah ki erashena" = "What can I do to convert this prophecy/promise of a potential future - that my descendants will inherit this land - into solid knowledge", ie to make sure the predicted event indeed takes place.

In other words, Avram understood that God is not simply telling him about a future in order to make him feel good, but rather that it is meant as a great mission, a task for him to accomplish - doing what is necessary in order to bring about ths propspective future. In the interpretation I offer, the promise that his as-yet unborn descendants will inherit the land is conditional - it is a promise that if Avram does his maximum to bring it about, it will indeed suceed, his descendants will in fact inherit him.

And that's why we have the very strange machazeh of 'brit ben habtarim', and God reveals the future, "your descendants will experience 400 years of slavery in a strange land, etc" .["'Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years"]

The purpose of this revelation is SO THAT Avram can prepare for this eventuality. It is NOT simply a prediction/prophecy about a future event, it is a revelation intended to galvanize Avraham and Sara to action, to do what was needed in order to help lessen the decreed amount (which indeed decreased from 400 to 210 years) and to make the exodus successful.

We'll outline further below what they did in this regard.

...

SUMMARY: Pardon the duplication:

When Abram and Sara return to the Land to continue their mission, God appears to Abraham and tells him of the long soujorn his descendants will have to undergo, including slavery. Why would God tell this to Abram (yodoa teda ger yihye zarachah...veyatzu..."), and what would Abram's response be? Just passively accepting this frigthening revelation about his descendants as fact?

No. I believe that they understood it as a challenge. It seems to me that the juxtaposition of these accounts in this parsha help us understand that the promise (of the successful exodus of their descendants from there) was a result of Abraham and Sarah's faithfulness. And so indeed - via their self-sacrifice and determination, faith and dedication - they were able to fulfill the potential in God's promise that they could be a blessing to their descendants. And this then clued them in to the way that their self-sacrifice - following God despite the various terrible challenges making it seem as though God was not with them and that their mission was mistaken - was indeed the way that they would be able to be a blessing to their descendants.

Here we'll choose to focus on the positive, not seeing the slavery of his descendans as punishment for his asking 'bameh eda' but rather to let him know his mission, to create the energies that would be needed by Yakov, yosef and bnei yisrael to stay Jewish in Egypt, and to return to Erets Yisrael, with "rechush gadol", and this is what Avram and Sara succeeded in doing by appropriate action taken when Sarai was kidnapped in Egypt, and rescuing her and taking her out, like Yosef. Sarai was kidnapped and made to be the Pharao's 'slave' in Egypt. So the promise of Avram becoming a nation was not a promise of easy life nor was it unearned or already earned, but rather: God saw Avram's potential that with divine help, and via Avram's efforts, Avram's descendans would be a great nation.

......

Furthermore, Abraham teaches these principles to his children, and they act on it as well.

He sends Eliezer to find Rivka, who presumeably is introduced to many metaphysical principles and kabbalistic secrets by Abraham & Sarah, as we all as by her husband Yischak. Rivka perhaps also on her own even before meeting her future husband and in-laws developed various insights, and later - as we'll see when we get to the parsha "Toldos' showcasing her - she becomes a prime example of understanding the deeper intent of God's message as an invitation to affect the future of her descendants, resulting in her being a fully-proactive ancestress.

...

More examples:

a. The Torah tells that God instructed Abraham to walk throughout the Promised Land. The Talmud (Baba Batra 100a) teaches that this made it easier for his descendants to conquer it as was promised to Abraham, in other words the promise to Abraham regarding his descendants conquering the land also involved an action by Abraham to help make this possible.

בבא בתרא ק ע"א

קום התהלך בארץ לארכה ולרחבה כי לך אתננה ורבנן התם משום חביבותא דאברהם

הוא דקאמר ליה הכי כדי שיהא נוח לכבוש לפני בניו

.....

b. Similarly, the Talmud (Hulin 91b) states that God folded the entire land of Israel underneath Yaakov as he slept (see Rashi) in order that it would then be easier for his descendents to conquer it. .

חולין צא ע"ב

מלמד שקפלה הקדוש ברוך הוא לכל ארץ ישראל והניחה תחת יעקב אבינו שתהא

נוחה ליכבש לבניו

via Rav Sherki. also: עיין אגרות ראיה א עמ' לה על כך שמעשי הקדמונים השפיעו לדורות

....

Some more examples of the power of an individual to shape eternity, and the hidden depths of meaning and interlocking strands underlying the events in our lives

In the Torah-portion "Lech Lecha":

God sends Abram and Sara to the Land:

as soon as they arrive there, there's a famine!
And so they have to leave the Land that they traveled so long to get to, in order to go to Egypt!
And as soon as they arrive in Egypt, Sara is kidnapped!

Why was he told to go to the Land if it was not ready to support his family, and keep them out of danger?

Why couldn't God delay the famine or provide for Avram, or delay the trip to the land? Why tell Abram to go all that way to Cna'an just to have him need to leave it? Why the kidnapping of Sara?

I believe the answer is that Abram and Sara were not living for themselves, and not living for the present, but rather dedicated their lives to ensuring the future success of their descendants.

The Torah recounts how God tells Abraham about the future, God promises that Abraham's descendants will inherit the Land, and tells him that he should be a blessing for his descendants (who will be a great nation), with these words: "And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and vehyeh brochoh"

These last two words: "vehyeh brochoh" can be interpreted/translated as "and you/they will be a blessing to all the peoples of the Earth", however I prefer to translate/interpret it as: "be thou a blessing", in other words "YOU have now the responsibility(or: will be given the opportunity) to be a blessing to them", ie by creating the energies needed by his descendants in order that they become a great nation. (Below we'll see examples, eg Lot & Avram serving matza at the date when in the future Passover would be celebrated, where the interpreatation is that they were focussed on creating energies for their decendants.

So in my interpretation, God is essentially saying "YOU (Abram and Sara) will be tasked with creating blessing for your descendants in order that they will be able to be a great nation" [and to be a blessing to all the peoples of the Earth], and in order that your descendants will inherit the Land, in other words their success will come about based on Abraham being a blessing to them.

And so Abraham and Sara accept this mission, to indeed be a blessing for their descendants - to undergo whatever challenges God creates, all the tribulations, and thus prepare the spiritual paths and energies needed for their future descendants. to help THEM in fulfilling THEIR mission.

How did this challenge actually play out, how did their positive acceptance of the tribulations of the challenge help their descendants?

Example:

By not giving up on God when the Land they had been directed to proved to be famine-prone, and not staying in Egypt with the Nile's bounty, or returning to Haran, they thus gave energies to: 1. their grandson Jacob who left the Land to come down as they did, to Egypt, and for the same reason, famine; 2. Jacob's descendants during the exodus from Egypt, to the Land. Indeed God specifies several times to te children of Israel that the merit to inherit the land derived not from teir own actions but because of their forefathers.
When Sarah was kidnapped in Egypt, and Sarah was made into Pharaoh's personal 'slave', Abraham and Sarah did not give up, and continued their mission, and this paved the way for their great grandson Joseph who was kidnapped and sold as a slave to Egypt and who nevertheless maintained his identity as a member of the Abrahamite covenant, and did not renounce the family that had sold him.[Note: Perhaps a midrashic hinto to this connection: According to midrash Sarah entered Egypt in a box carried (like a coffin), so it is like removing Yosef's bones from Egypt, in a coffin.]
Just as Abraham and Sarah do not renounce their mission, and return to the Land, so too Joseph's bones were carried out of Egypt during the exodus of the Jewish People from there, and it was in that merit that they deserved to have the sea open for them on their way returning to the Land. [maybe there's a hint in the midrash re hiding Sarah in a box, ie the merit of Sara in being willing to help Avram (see the story) by hiding herself, having Abram carry her in a box into Egypt, thus earning the carrying of the bones of Josepf in a box out of Egypt.]

Perhaps also:

We were all present at Sinai and that affects us all the time in the current present.
When we observe pesach "as if we ourselves left Egypt" (as the rabbis command us ), perhaps we give merit and spiritual back-assistance to our ancestors to help them overcome the 49 levels of impurity and (deserve to) get out of Egypt......
The readiness of the forefathers/mothers to give their lives for God made it natural for their descendants to do so.

[May we all be blessed to get at least some hint of the meaning of our own lives, especially when events are inexplicable, the pattern inscrutable - even seeming sometimes as though Heaven is working to hinder our efforts in doing the will of God! (Let the inspiration of Abram & Sara indeed be a blessing for us!)]

Appendix: Maaseh Avot Siman Lebanim

some sources

Many interpretations of this maxim involve mistakes made by the avot which had negaive consequences

https://judaism.stackexchange.com/questions/34130/understanding-maaseh-avos-siman-lbanim

https://www.alexisrael.org/lech-lecha---maaseh-avot

My adaptation on this page is fully positive.

Sources indicating positive effects via this principle: see bottom of page: https://harova.org/torah/view.asp?id=1395

Midrash Rabba to Bereishit 14:23. אם מחוט אמר רבי אבא בר ממל: אמר לו הקדוש ברוך הוא: את אמרת אם מחוט, חייך! שאני נותן לבניך מצות ציצית, היך מה דאת אמר (במדבר מו) ונתנו על ציצית הכנף פתיל תכלת, ומתרגמינן חוטא דתכלתא.

ועד שרוך נעל חייך! שאני נותן לבניך מצות יבמה, היך מה דאת אמר: (דברים כה) וחלצה נעלו מעל רגלו.

דבר אחר: אם מחוט

זה ה משכן שהוא מצוייר בתכלת וארגמן. ועד שרוך נעל אלו עורות התחשים. דבר אחר:אם מחוט אלו הקרבנות, כההיא דתנן: וחוט של סקרא חוגרו באמצ, להבדיל בין דמים העליונים לדמים התחתונים.

ועד שרוך נעל אלו פעמי רגלים, היך מה דאת אמר (שיר ו) מה יפו פעמיך בנעלים.

...

...................

B: The hidden depths of meaning and interlocking strands underlying the fateful events in this week's Torah portion ('Lech lecha'), as revealed via a kabbalistic interpretation which sees them as opportunities for the ancestors to affect the future, for the benefit of their descendants

Perhaps we can somehow learn from the below how to see these hidden patterns in our own lives: [May we all be blessed to get at least some hint of the meaning of our own lives, especially when events are inexplicable, the pattern inscrutable.].

I was privileged to hear from HaRav Brandwein ob"m much of the Kabbalistic explanation below (Thanks to Dr Raphi Kellman for bringing HarAv Brandwein to enable us to learn from him!); I added a preface and various explanations plus some of my own thoughts:

Preface:

I) Sequence of events:

· Avrom leaves terach.

· As soon as arrives in Cana’an he has to leave bec of a famine, goes to Egypt,and Sarah is kidnapped.

· Leaves Egypt with wealth, and his shepherds and those of Lot argue; they split. Genesis 13

· War of 4 kings against 5 kings, lot captured, he and the 5 kings are freed. Genesis 14

· King Malkitzedek: introduced as "kohen le’kel elyon"! King of Sodom comes by and now Avram uses term ‘kel elyon’: A received a mesorah from M.

· God’s promise of inheritance, Avraham says 'bameh eda', and then: bris ben habsorim.

.
II) Questions:

1. Why would there be an argument between the shepherds of Abraham and Lot, after all Lot was a dedicated follower who came with Abraham on his journey to the Land, and would Lot who dedicated himself to helping guests at great self-sacrifice fight about material assets, and with Abraham who had rescued him and returned his possesions from the kings who had taken him captive and if it is about the shepherds and not Lot and Abram themselves why is this issue important enough for Abram and Lot to separate and for the story to be told by the Torah in such detail?

2. Why did Lot then chose to live in S(o)dom of all places, given that it was notorious for being so evil!?

3. The long story of the war of the 4 and 5 kings, Gen 14, is very obscure and seemingly not important in the light of thousands of years of history - why was it included in the Torah which is often so sparing of words?;

4. Why was Lot so important to the king leaders of the world at that ime in that region that he was held as a captive, and surely Abraham could ransom him he was so wealthy why did he need to make war?

5. How could Abraham and his small band of men prevail against the winners of the world war of the time (the 4 kings)?

6. Why the ceremony of bread and wine.....?

7. Why would Lot openly engage in hospitality (in full public view at the city gates) when it was so forbidden an activity there?! Genesis 19

..........

Answers:

Why argument between shepherds? Just as with the earlier events of Abram & Sara's life at the beginning of this week's portion, all the stories above are actually about how Avraham and Lot were preparing the way for their descendants, creating the needed energies for their use. As shepherds of the future Jewish People, they discussed who would take which challenge ('argument of the shepherds').

2 Lot went to Sdom not despite their being so evil, but because they were so evil! His mission was to save the 'spark of holiness' there, which was so powerful and had become corrupted {in Kabbalistic terms, by/forming the 'shell' (klipah)} transforming the people of Sdom into twisted versions of what they could have been had they used the special power of the place in the right way.

Avraham left it to Lot to choose where he would focus his activities, and Lot chose S(o)dom. As we know from the story later on, there Lot risked his life for hospitality. Interestingly, Avraham did the same on the plains of Mamre! ie both ancestors chose the vehicle of "chesed" (lovingkindess) to guests - indeed, even moreso, it was actually risking life/health to help travelling strangers in need - as the path to creating the great spiritual energies needed for posterity.

3. Why tell about the war, and why in detail? Because the four kings represent the power of galut (Traditionally the multi-thousand year galut is known as the period of 4 Kingdoms], and they were fighting against the five kings, ie as per Tradition the 5th being mashiach (messiah); ie 4 kings fighting against 5 kings represent the power of galut (exile) fighting to prevent the time of moshiach. This is a type of notion found in time-travel stories where a future event is somehow known to those in the past who then battle to prevent it/make it successfully realized - but also Kabbalistically there can be not just reincarnation of individuals but a group who are struggling against each other can return in another generation to carry on the struggle or challenge).

4. The future 'annointed king' ie "the mashiach/messiah' who will bring the Jewish People back to Israel and rebuild the Temple would be descended from king David who was descended from Lot via Ruth via Moab as described in next week's portion, so the 4 kings fighting against 5 kings represent the power of galut (exile) fighting to prevent the time of moshiach by captured Lot to prevent the eventual emergence from him of David!

5. Avraham understood this deeper current, and so knew that every effort needed to be made to rescue Lot, even though the last thing he wanted was to engage in wars. Abraham's willingness to risk his life and his spiritual pursuits to engage in warfare to rescue his nephew, brought about the merit for him to achieve victory. Midrash describes th emiracles in winning the war.

6. Why the ceremony of bread and wine? Because Malkitzedek , who the Torah calls "cohen le'el elyon' 'priest to the all-High God' (Traditional sources tell us he was Shem, son of Noah), was custodian of God's great blessing , passed on by Noah to him. He sees that his descendant Abraham is unconcerned with the material wealth he could have acquired as booty, and recognizes him as the spiritual inheritor of the Line of Spiritual Tradition, and so he transmits to Avraham "the blessing" (ie from Noach, ie from God, the blessing which eventually was passed on to Jacob and then further to the tribes) in a special ceremony.

Note to those familiar with the details of the story: It's worth looking at the passages to see that Malchitzedek interrupted between these two events:

a. the approach of the king of Sdom;

b. when the king of Sdom spoke.

So I interpret this as meaning that Malkitzedek saw the king of Sdom approaching and made sure to get to Avram first. He armed Avram with secrets and only then does the king of Sdom get to speak to Avram. And as is seen from the wording in the passages, Malkitzedek used special key-words in speaking to Avram, words that then appear in Avram's reply to the king of Sdom.

Even if you don;t read Hebrew, you can see how the spiritual keywords words of Malkitzedek to Avram are then used by Avram in his statement to the King of S'dom:

16 And he (ABRAM) brought back all the goods, and also brought back his brother Lot, and his goods, and the women also, and the people.[CAPTIVES, RESCUED FROM THE WAR]

17 And the king of Sodom went out to meet him

יח וּמַלְכִּי-צֶדֶק מֶלֶךְ שָׁלֵם, הוֹצִיא לֶחֶם וָיָיִן; וְהוּא כֹהֵן, לְאֵ' עֶלְיוֹן.

18 And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine; and he was priest of God the Most High.

יט וַיְבָרְכֵהוּ, וַיֹּאמַר: בָּרוּךְ אַבְרָם לְאֵ' עֶלְיוֹן, קֹנֵה שָׁמַיִם וָאָרֶץ.*

19 And he blessed him, and said: 'Blessed be Abram of God Most High, Maker of heaven and earth;

כ וּבָרוּךְ אֵ' עֶלְיוֹן, אֲשֶׁר-מִגֵּן צָרֶיךָ בְּיָדֶךָ; וַיִּתֶּן-לוֹ מַעֲשֵׂר, מִכֹּל.

20 and blessed be God the Most High, who hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand.' And he gave him a tenth of all.

21 And the king of Sodom said unto Abram: 'Give me the persons, and take the goods to thyself.'

כב וַיֹּאמֶר אַבְרָם, אֶל-מֶלֶךְ סְדֹם: הֲרִמֹתִי יָדִי אֶל-ה' אֵ' עֶלְיוֹן, קֹנֵה שָׁמַיִם וָאָרֶץ.*

22 And Abram said to the king of Sodom: 'I have lifted up my hand unto the LORD, God Most High, Maker of heaven and earth,

23 that I will not take a thread nor a shoe-latchet nor aught that is thine, lest thou shouldest say: I have made Abram rich;

24 save only that which the young men have eaten, and the portion of the men which went with me, Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre, let them take their portion.'

I interpret this as meaning that Malchitzedek's intervention was intended to protect Avra(ha)m from the negative effect of what the king of Sdom offered, and with this assistance Avram's answer was the right one - indeed this intervention to help his descendant Abram itself was an active component in giving him the brocho(blessing).

Avram deserved this protection, and becoming intiated into the chain of tradition, because of his realization of the importance of rescuing Lot etc, and his willingness to self-sacrifice as a result.

Malkitzedek is king of "Shalem" which later became knowns as "Yerushalem" and then "Yerushalayim" (jerusalem).

After Avram rescues his nephew Lot, and thereby sets in motion the events leading to the birth of King David and his descendant who will build the third Temple in Jerusalem, Malkitzedek appears on the scene, giving Avram his descendent the blessing, the spiritual energies required by Avram to pass on to his descendent Shlomo (Solomon) who would build the Temple in the city he founded (Shalem/Yerushalem/Yerushalayim), and to his descendent the moshiach ben David - born via both Avram and Lot - who will build the the third Temple in Malkitzedek's city.

........

7. Why would Lot openly engage in hospitality in Sdom where it was forbidden?

It is important to note that as explained in the commentary for next week's portion:

a. Avraham's famous hospitality to the travelers (angels) ismirrored in the same exact actions for Lot, in the two juxtaposed stories. Abraham put his health at risk for his hospitality (he was old, after an operation, it was very hot, he had to run to get them from that distance before they passed by) and Lot put his life in danger for the hospitality he offered to those very same 'people'.

b. Both Abraham and Lot were serving special foods to prepare 'spiritual energies' for their descendants ('ugot' and 'matzot', as the Jews ate 'ugot matzot' when the exited Egypt).

Lot rescued the special spark in Sdom (via hospitality at the pain of death) in order to provide this powerful spark to King David his descendant. The energy of this spark of holiness was needed in order to help his descendant David transition from sensitive musician poet shepherd (literally) to a warrior King, and to do so while maintaining the purity of his spiritual essential nature, and being a 'shepherd' of the nation (David is Traditionally one of the '7 shepherds' we welcome into the sukkah each year).

The story of the lineage of David includes his descent from the seemingly illicit union of Yehudah with his widowed daughter in law Tamar, and the extremely odd events leading to the conception of his ancestor Moab (grandfather of Ruth) from Lot as described in next week's portion, and then the well-known events from his own personal life re Batsheva. We can see how the powerful spark - acquired by the tremendous self-sacrifice of his ancestor Lot - both enabled him to achieve his potential, but also warped the key events involved, in ways that indeed seem reminiscent of how it affected the people of Sdom.

Via his correct ethical choices Abram merited the right to ask of God that Lot be tested in order to try to merit being part of the chain. Indeed he was tested with 'hachnosas orchim' ('hospitality, in this case extreme hospitality) and when Lot passed the test he indeed merited to become the ancestor of David, and successfully passed the rescued spark on to him.

And indeed, though Lot passed this divine test, risking his life to help strangers, he did it in a warped way as can be seen from the story - but this was inevitable in Sdom, due to the warping effect of its extremely-strong energies, due to the strength of the nitzotz('spark') there, and the accompanying klipa[covering/shell]).

......

CONCLUSION: May we all be blessed to redeem - safely - the sparks which can enable us to achieve our potential, may we never be discouraged when challenges seem insurmountable and when even the spiritual gets somewhat warped, and when despite our good intentions our mission seems to go wrong from the getgo (as did Abraham's), and let us be aware at key moments of doubt and weakness - and be strengthened by this realization - that our actions can have the power to affect eternity!

Seeing events at different levels: Everything can be seen in a mundane shallow manner, or with eyes that go deeper. Examples:

i. We can walk down the street and notice only what people are wearing or which model cars went by, and describe the scene based on that. An animal might enjoys sniffing the scents and would describe the scene based on the trails of chemicals left behind by other passing animals. Someone more developed might notice the emotions in people's faces, or might even realize that what they see is a challenge, and so they not just notice emotions but actively help those who seemed to be in pain or need.

ii. Imagine a deep emotional spiritual interaction taking place - or a wonderful shabbat meal with an aura of holiness - as seen by a cockroach, or as described by an unsophisticated machine, or an alien with completely different senses than ours, and no social sense. All the description may be true, but some we would consider deeper than others.

iii. 100 years ago, HaRav Kook once chided a disciple who referred to non-observant Israelis using the common term 'chiloni', 'secular' (or mundane as opposed to holy), even though they themselves used this term to categorize themselves. He said (something like the following) "If someone had told you 100 years ago that Jews would leave sophisticated Europe to go to the Middle East, to live here under the Ottoman Empire, in a land that is all desert and swamp, and would work themselves to the bone to make the land flourish, and to build houses so that they could bring all the Jewish People here, and would revive the holy tongue, you would be disbelieving, and say that those people must be the "lamed-vav" 36 righteous people. And yet you are calling them 'SECULAR'?! Explanation: In other words HaRav Kook saw them as instruments in the divine plan, moved by God's spirit to re-build the holy land and bring back the Jewish People, and to him the rest (that they were mostly non-sabbath observers, atheist socialist educated inetellectuals, professors, doctors, writers and philosophers etc, who believe din some type of Jewish nationalism) was just irrelevant externals.

Conclusion: Similarly, all the above interpretation of Avraham & Sarah's actions, and of Lot etc, and talk of their 'shepherds' etc, is an example of a deep penetrating understanding presented in kabbalistic sources (eg the Sulam commentary on the Zohar as understood/transmitted by HaRav Brandwine) of what otherwise might seem like mundane incidents, perhaps involving seemingly ordinary people, engaged in activities which are meaningless in the larger scheme of things.

May we all be blessed to sense the deeper level of events, also in our own lives, especially when they seem inscrutable, meaningless, or just strange, irrelevant or disjointed, like the stories in this week's parsha might seem at first glance, and especially in special times like these to engage in helping others including even strangers (safely) as Abram and Lot did to such incredible time-transcending effect, and to merit the benefit of the energies created for us by our ancestors (and to create positive energies for future generations, and perhaps even backwards to our ancestors living in various spiritually and physically perilous times past).

There are of course obvious cases of people attempting via their words to influence people in the future who will hear those words or remeber them etc:

Yakov's death-bed words
Moshe Rabenu's words before dying ('pen...")
Yonah's announcement to the people of ninveh is not information about the future - it is meant to warn thenm of what the future will be if they don't change.

somewhat but not directly related to https://sites.google.com/nyu.edu/biblethemes/vayetze

* The 'futuristic' aspects of a prophetic vision or encounter 'actualizing' in a way which depends on the prophet's reactions to the encounter (in words & deeds).

* The boomerang/karmic effect of a protagonist's words & actions, when these caused harm to another, or expressed a lack of faith (despite their apparent justification or noble intent).

* How an individual human's destiny is affected by their intentions, and by the words & actions of theirs and of others.

* The effects of names, and their interrelationship with events and destiny.

All of these are meant to illustrate & make explicit the metaphysical level of cause-effect implicit in the narratives - or more correctly, in their midrashic-level interconnection.

...

Appendix: Maaseh Avot Siman Lebanim

some sources

Many interpretations of this maxim involve mistakes made by the avot which had negaive consequences

https://judaism.stackexchange.com/questions/34130/understanding-maaseh-avos-siman-lbanim

https://www.alexisrael.org/lech-lecha---maaseh-avot

A positive way of seeing this principle is: bottom of page: https://harova.org/torah/view.asp?id=1395, Midrash Rabba to Bereishit 14:23.

see more google results at the end of this page

My adaptation on this page is fully positive.

...

google search results:

Lech Lecha - Maaseh Avot Siman Lebanim - Alex Israel https://www.alexisrael.org › lech-lecha---maaseh-avot

Understanding Maaseh Avos Siman L'banim - Mi Yodeya https://judaism.stackexchange.com › questions › unders...

Ma'aseh Avot Siman leBanim | Yeshivat Har Etzion https://www.etzion.org.il › philosophy › issues-educatio

Famous Rambans- Vayishlach- Maaseh Avos Siman Lebanim https://www.yutorah.org › rabbi-beinish-ginsburg › fa...

Lech Lecha 5771, Rav Yonatan Horovitz - Midreshet Harova https://harova.org › torah › view

Maaseh Avot Siman LeBanim? An Analysis of Yaakov's ...https://outorah.org › ...Maaseh Avot Siman LeBanim? An Analysis of Yaakov's Actions in His Reunion with Eisav ... When instructing those bringing the gift Yaakov refers to Esav as אדני, " ..

Ma'aseh Avos Siman LeBanim - The Jewish Link https://jewishlink.news › features › 54558-ma-aseh-avo...

Ma'aseh Avos Siman LeBanim. By Rabbi Hershel Schachter | November 03, 2022. Email. Editor's note: We are proud to present a new series, reprinted with ...

Perspectives on the Avot and Imahot - The Lookstein Center https://www.lookstein.org › professional-dev › bible The Ramban in his commentary on the Torah has repeatedly articulated the dictum “maaseh avot siman l'vanim”. The footsteps of our Avot and Imahot are writ ...

......................................................................................................

C: Miscellaneous material for Lech lecha

Lech lecha!

lecha = avraham's journey instead of terach's: so no lack of kibud av, and it is NOT just a "continuation".

H' tells Avraham he should continue his father's journey, to cna'an. but that he should do i on his own, and as HIS journey, this is 'lecha'. And so it inot a digrace that Avrhaam leaves terach when he is still alive, he is after all continuing his fathers misison.

When terach stays in Haran on the way to c;na'an, there's not necessariyl any way to know tha the will not continue, so maybe avraham is preparing the way, getting to the destinaiton ahead of his father;s arrival! this is kibud av, not the opposite.

...

Terach starts the journey, not Avram. A's journey would seem to start from Haran. However, Hashem later says "anochi hashem asher hotzeisicha me ur kasdmim' so Hashem considerd the lech lacha to have been form ur not from haran! (This gives support to the traditional teaching that A initiated and terach followed).

But my interpretation is: Hashem tells A that terach will not make it to canaan, and A should take over his father's journey - now he is to make it his own journey, Lech LECHA! At the time A left Haran, of ocurse people did not now that T would never continue, so it could have seemed to then as though A is preparing the ground for his father, going ahead to make arrangmeents so that his father's journey will be that much smoother. God however knows that t will not continue, and that is why God tells A to go, and to go for him not for his father, and that is why T's death is told before A's journey, to let us know that A knew form God that T wouild die in Haran! (ie w/o ever getting to E Yisrael.

................

Continuing in one's father's footsteps, completing his mission, but nevertheless as a completely separate mission of one's own

Two sets of passages describing two related events, one re Terach, and the other re his son Abram.

Both sets are composed of three phrases:

1. taking people along; mention of Avram, Sara Lot;

2. leaving, going towards Cna'an

3. arriving somewhere, remaining there.

The parallels are highlighted in Hebrew:

(11:31 at the end of the previous portion (last week), 'Noah', then almost other immediately following, 12.5 at the beginning of this week's portion: 'Lech Lecha')

וַיִּקַּח תֶּרַח אֶת-אַבְרָם בְּנוֹ, וְאֶת-לוֹט בֶּן-הָרָן בֶּן-בְּנוֹ, וְאֵת שָׂרַי כַּלָּתוֹ, אֵשֶׁת אַבְרָם בְּנוֹ;

וַיֵּצְאוּ אִתָּם מֵאוּר כַּשְׂדִּים, לָלֶכֶת אַרְצָה כְּנַעַן ,

וַיָּבֹאוּ עַד-חָרָן וַיֵּשְׁבוּ שָׁם

ה וַיִּקַּח אַבְרָם אֶת-שָׂרַי אִשְׁתּוֹ וְאֶת-לוֹט בֶּן-אָחִיו

וַיֵּצְאוּ, לָלֶכֶת אַרְצָה כְּנַעַן

וַיָּבֹאוּ, אַרְצָה כְּנָעַן. וַיַּעֲבֹר אַבְרָם בָּאָרֶץ

Right in between these two is the iconic command from God to Abram: "lech lecha", go (for you), [there is a great deal of Traditional commentary on all this] which makes complete sense as the connecting link between the trip initiated by his father and the one he now undertakes, completing that one but as his own specially individually divinely-commanded challenge.

...................

"I am the God who took you out of ur kasdim".

Chazal make a point of the issue of Avram's leaving Haran while his father is alive: they say that God went to the length of having moshe rabenu write the story in a disjointed way, with the purpose of not embarrassing Avram - this is accomplished by recording Terach's death before recounting Avram's leaving for cna'an, which would protect Avram from accuasations of violting: kibud av.

I will prefer to understand chazal's words as meaning that God took actions with this intent (saving Avram's honmor), by placing the idea in Terach's head rather than that the Torah was written in a way which would hide what happened - after all, which reader are we protecting Avram against?

Perhaps God told Terach to leave Ur Kasdim, or placed this notion in his head, in order for Avram to be able to make the journey wihtout having to abandon his father in a very distant land. And then when Terach reached the half-way point - Harran - God had him stay and told Avram to continue the journey instead. In this way, it was Avram's journey, and thus the wording "lech lecha", ie you not your father.

And so since Terach's idea to go to Cna'an was from God and was in order to facilitate Avram's later continuation to cna'an itself, and this is why God says "I am the God who took you out of ur kasdim". And that's why God could say "lech lecha meartzecha ummemoledetch not just beis aicha, ie the entire trip s now revealed as haing been from the bggining trip of avram, or maybe he was told this at the outset, or no it is recast by god as a trip of avram Or maybe terach was supposed to be the one, but he didnt accomplish the mission, he was a descendant o shem, nd in thery could have been the one, but didnt follo through the whole way.

And in this case if it was God commanding him to go, then he has to go, and his leaving cannot be considered a violation of kibud av. (Like if one is drafted t fight a milchemes mitzva and leaves his father to fulfil his duty, etc)

-----

R Machlis: .He asked me to speak, I said over R Brandwein’s deep connecting torah on Lech Lecha, as i had in previous years at this parsha, in his name. Afterwards he told me it was good.

I prefaced it with saying one could describe this as a bunch of people eating in a room, aftetr having congregated near a wall. it owuldb be true but.... many different levels

And same re Harv kook, even though the people called themselves chilonim and claimed that thier motivaiton was secular, nationalist etc et,c R Kook saw the deeper level, and understood it was a cosmic event moving through them, so the description could be at this level or that - even if the participants describe it shallowly, it can be seen as very depp pocess.

So I appled tha to tthe parsha descrioption of ro'e avram and lot.

........

A saved sdom from the 4 kings, so why werent they tolerant forgiving of Lot's actions?

Maybe they were to some extent, which is why he was able to sit i shaar ha'ir and invite, but for some reason this time was different.

Why? Maybe th act that they wer emalachim was senses by them in some way?

lso: maybe Lot knew they didnt want his daughters which is why it was ok t offer them, and it just pointed out their evilness twistednes.

Maybe vraham SHOULD have requested somethign from the kig of sdom, the safety of Lot in the future despite his acitons....

.......

7 And the LORD appeared unto Abram, and said: 'Unto thy seed will I give this land';

.......................

Chumash: breishis , noach,lech lecha: shem, cna'an, avram, terach,

recasting Eden story: evolution says an individual first emerged as human, so it was alone, and mating with the others was like with animals, and so God made it a partner, of its same genetic makeup.
so what is the flood account?
The way the torah tells the post flood story is interesting, first genealogy of cham, with clear implicaiton of many nations spread out, so it goes until after migdal bavel, then of yefet, and shem until ever, peleg, in his time nifligu etc, and then the story of how it was nifligu, migdal bavel, then instead of picking up from him, starts the genealogy over from shem.

.......

why didn;t Shem and Avram speak out re the migdal? maybe shem was like his father so he didnt say anyhting, and maybe this event and disaster was what taught avraham to be proactive?

but actually avram argued re sdom only bec God told him about it... so maybe avram was powerless to stop god re migdal bavel, but why not talk the peopel out of it. In any case, we don;t know what the issue was, why the migdal was bad.

...................

Cham seemed to be cursed but his descendants are mighty warriors (nimrod) and great kings of many lands.

But actually it is cna'an who is curesed

But why is cnaan cursed? There seems to be no hint in the chumash story itself?

but the gelealogy places cnaan between sidon and aza, so it was already after the split, so again the genealogy crosses ver the migdal bavel without comment, but the genealogy of shem IS interrupted by it. Why?

it is strange that of all poeple cnaan is cursed not cham, and then cnaan gets to live in the land that seems holy even before Bney yisrael get to it.

why did terach go to cnaan? maybe bec as a descnant of shem he was owed tribute by cnana due to the curse?

do we see from later history that cnaan was cursed? were the avadim?

.................................

When H says 'go', the promise is of becoming a great naiton, not of owning the land! It is only after arriving, and knowing which land it is, that the promse of ownership is given.

Could it be that avram earned the ownershio by obeying and going?

maybe the cnaani did not yet earn expulsion, until then?

why dos it say 'vehacna'ani at va'aretz'?

................................................................................................................

Why did avram continue South? meforshim say to ylm, har homori'ah.

ח וַיַּעְתֵּק מִשָּׁם הָהָרָה, מִקֶּדֶם לְבֵית-אֵל--וַיֵּט אָהֳלֹה; בֵּית-אֵל מִיָּם, וְהָעַי מִקֶּדֶם, וַיִּבֶן-שָׁם מִזְבֵּחַ לַיהוָה, וַיִּקְרָא בְּשֵׁם יְהוָה. ט וַיִּסַּע אַבְרָם, הָלוֹךְ וְנָסוֹעַ הַנֶּגְבָּה. {פ}

....................................................................................................................

3 times "נָפוּץ עַל-פְּנֵי כָל-הָאָרֶץ"

ד וַיֹּאמְרוּ הָבָה נִבְנֶה-לָּנוּ עִיר, וּמִגְדָּל וְרֹאשׁוֹ בַשָּׁמַיִם, וְנַעֲשֶׂה-לָּנוּ, שֵׁם:

פֶּן-נָפוּץ,

עַל-פְּנֵי כָל-הָאָרֶץ

וַיָּפֶץ יְהוָה אֹתָם מִשָּׁם,

עַל-פְּנֵי כָל-הָאָרֶץ;

וַיַּחְדְּלוּ, לִבְנֹת הָעִיר. ...וּמִשָּׁם

הֱפִיצָם יְהוָה,

עַל-פְּנֵי כָּל-הָאָרֶץ.

......

by cain & hevel: potzeso haaretz es piha: the same word as :nafutz: the earth spread its mouth to swallow the blood/body...?

Is there a conneciotn between choron and horon?: so that there's a balance here:

וַיָּמָת הָרָן, עַל-פְּנֵי תֶּרַח ...וַיָּמָת תֶּרַח, בְּחָרָן.

My dvar torah/vorts for my for nephew Chaim Eliezer Bar Mitzvah shabbos parshas lech lecha 2013

Chaim, have simchas chayim even more important, Zeideh hd, even though he was v serious.

He was sharp, clevelr also, and nevertheless was gentle,mld-manered

Eliezer:

A was a king, defeatred the major kings in battle, malkitzedek and melech sdom recognized hi m as leader, but he didn’t cal himself king, his title of honor was eved hashem.

Eliezer was eved avraham, who was eved hashem

Eliezer was sent for shiddach – imagine who would this family trust to find a shiddach for …J A sent a malach to accompany E, why need E if have malach? Bec Eliezer was so special.

Eliezer’s descent is not explained in chumash, name elokai be’ezri where is this entoined. First to have name with el in it?look thru kists of names before him.

Ch Eliezer: was name of Zeideh given after someone? Name Chaim is usual or only after sick? Is it mentioned naywhere as someone’s name in Tanach or Gemoro, where is the first menoitn?

Why did R Elizer and R Yishmoel have names after non-Jews (there’s nno R Esov or R Bil’om!) But nowadays noone takes name Yishmoel.

E was A’s shamash on theior trip abroad (war), and Z was the rov’s shamash on their mission..

Eliezer was sent by Avraham on a mission to a foreign land, so was R Ch Eliezer as a young man (lucky that the mssion didn’t involve returning – tzedoko tatzil mimovess)

E chose rivka bec of chesed, and z chose name of chofetz chaim fo yeshiva as a way of teaching aobut chesed etc.(ch ch also wrote sefer ahavas chesed)..and so if the ch chaim was named for his sefer, and Z named his yeshiva for the person and sefer, then Z chaimcould say his nakme chaimwas also after the ch chayim.

E davened to Hashem and was answered, had great siyatah dishmaya (maybe it was the malach sent by A, maybe it was zechut of A, but the fact is that A entrusted it all to him!)

In TA Z needed to deal with problematic parents not wishing to send kids ot Yeshiva, and E knew how to deal woth Lovon to have him send Rivka to ‘seminary’ in Eretz Yisrael. And Z knew how to deal with the board (see Jubiles) and E knew how to dela with Lovon’s pres of board, Bsu’el..

Ch E’s older brother is Avrohom, after his Zeideh, who also escaped from an antisemite’s furnace. Kibus av, older brother ‘es’ lerabos, hopefully not an eved though…. But Avrohom was eved hashem as a term of affection, avid and also ohavi. But if your master calls himself ‘eved hashem’, then what better homnor than to be considered eved by your master. This parsha is about Avrom and his eved Eliezer who was so great that he was to be Avrom’s yoresh! So ‘eved’ is something special. God gives Avrohom the yerusha (eretz yisrael), gives his eved Avrohom and Avrohom to his eved Eliezer.

Tradition to name after deceased: we don’t see this in chumash much at all, in Nach there are no “Avram Yitschak Yaakov Yosef Moshe etc”. But in our parsha we have Nachor, grandson of nachor [presumably after his grandfather died (ages work out, interesting that Avrohom Haran and nachor are said to be bron at a certain age of terach, as though they are triplets, but they were not, so there were ore years until the 2nd and 3rd were born, so the numbers can easily work out.]

Great non-Jews: Chanoch, who must have had descendants who revered his name and maybe continued his tradition. Shem had various children. Even Pharoah who took Sarah realized from the nega’im what the source was and took the correct steps. Malkitzedek (Shem?), Lot who was willing to put his life in jeopardy to save strangers.

Terach is first to go to eretz canaan.

Q to look uo: In haftoroh of Noach has “lechu el hamayim” which his translated as “come to the water…”. Is this correct?

And “vayehi hashemesh lavoh” in this parsh is when sun is about to SET, not to rise!

But lech lecha is me’artzecha so it is from, ie must be to leave. But maybe lech is come and lech lecha is go?! But vayelech is went, so can’t really see lech as come So why lechu lamayim is come?

Hashem promises children as dust of the Earth (13:16) and also as the stars: 15:5 (vayotzei osoh hachutzah. (AR: easily can count the stars in sky, only a few thousand visible, but H took A ‘outside’ from where can ssee billions…..can’t count that many..[to H re Y promse is of many , uncountable, but neither dust nor stars.]

Pun: u’ben meshek beti hu yoresh oti Dameshek Eliezer

kum hithalch baaretz: this is another usage of the key-word 'hithalech'!

Show on map sequence of travels: even in modern times, J’s (ch E’s grandparents) moved around, Europe, US, Israel)

Ur, Choron (I was there, temple of Sin the Moon goddess, mincha), shchem (elon moreh), East of Bet-El, then to the negev, then to Egypt, back to Bet-El, from here Lot sees Sodom, Elonei Mamre asher beChevron, then war all the way to Damscus.

“Ivri” = ever hanahar. But I would say maybe it is from "vayavor baaretz" (get the exact phrase)

Later mentions gvulot ha;aretz: “nehar mitzraim and Nhar hagadol nehar pratt” So basically Avrom was sent from one end to the other, he walked about all of the promised region, from the beginning of the nehar hagadol to the nehar mitzra’im! And then in machazeh medrash says it was folded up under him, maybe bec of his zchut of having been there, or maybe it means that he had kfitzat haderech when he went there and back.

So A fulfilled ‘kum hishalech booretz leorcho ulerochbo”!

Sequence of events:

· Avrom leaves terach.

· As soon as arrives in Cana’an he has to leave bec of a famine, goes to Egypt,and Sarah is kidnapped.

· Leaves Egypt with wealth, and his shepherds and those of Lot argue; the split. [AR: the 7 ro’im, sepherds, so ro’ei Avrom and ro’ei lot may mean something deep]

· 4 & 5 kings, lot captured, freed.

· Malkitzedek: kohen le’kel elyon!

· King of Sodom; Now Avram uses term ‘kel elyon’: A received a mesorah from M.

· God’s promise of yerusha, A says bameh eda, and then: bris ben habsorim.

· But all this is before promise that he will himself have a son! Only that he will be a great nation (via Eliezer as he thought).

· Sarah gives A Hagar, she gets pregnant, Sarah sends her out , God’s promise to hagar re Yishmoel, his name, birth of Yishmoel,

· Hashem given A name Avrohom, and idea of the Bris, for all his household, which at that time was only Yishmel and Eliezer etc, no Yitschok yet; and then Hashem says that he’ll give all Eretz Cana’an forever to his zera, which at that time was only Yishmel!! Only after this (according to the order of the psukim) does Hashem tell A that Sari is now to be Sarah, and that from her too will he have a son.

· A’s response: He prostrates himself and ‘laughs’; [ Talk of name Yitschok, (I can talk of name Yaakov/Yisroel, my name; idea of seeming pejorative name for Yaakov and Yitschok, deeper meaning of Yitschok) Haftorah, geulah, like oz yimaleh schok pinu, Tatz re laughter.] And then A says ‘lu Y yichyeh lefanecha’Hashem answers ‘S will give birth, you will call his name Yitschak, and hakimoti et briti ito librit olan ulezar’o acharov (includes Esov or not?)

· Hasehem says: Uleyishmoel sha’aticha…ve’es brisi okim es Yitschok”

· A does bris on Yishmoel and on his entire household (so presumably this tradition remained in their families, ie many non-Jeiwsh peoples in that region would have that custom, and indeed it is part of Islam, just that they say Yishmoel was the firstborn and therefore the inheritor of all, the tradition, the land, the blessing etc).

· Show relation between lack of emunah and its consequence: after promise by Hashem of zera, A allows Sarai to give him Hagar (“Vayishma Avrom lekol Sarai”: re Odom, H saus: ‘ki shamatah lekol ishtecho’), and after promise that S will have a child he asks ‘lu Y yichyeh lefanecha’. After ‘bameh edah ki yirashenu’ he is told that his children will be avodim for many years.

Special phrases: Ani kel shakai, hishalech lefanay vehyey somim/kum hithakech ba'aretz!. See list of mitzvos in Rambam

......

SEE ATTACHED FILES ON THIS email: https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#advanced-search/from=air1%40nyu.edu&to=air1%40nyu.edu&subject=lech+lecha&subset=all&within=1d&sizeoperator=s_sl&sizeunit=s_smb&query=from%3A(air1%40nyu.edu)+to%3A(air1%40nyu.edu)+subject%3A(lech+lecha)/FMfcgxRtdmWXHdrMTVFHLbdcmHQbWSnL Chumash: for Lech Lecha to generic location, re B'er Sheva, and re Yitschak's name

not all of this is complete, but perhaps it is related to some of the material you already worked on?

I hope to go through all the places in chumash where a name of a person or place is given to see if there are other examples re expectations.

[Though actually it is true also in a sense re the chagim and shabbat: if we were told sippur yetsiat mitsrayim and then that we should celebrate it annually, and we should on that holiday do..BLANK..we'd never guess the cantral aspect of the holidays, nor the mlachot of shabbat etc, nor that shabbat is zecher letziyat mitzrayim.. But I''ll have to look through everything before reaching a conclusion.]

In any case it is mostly unfinished since I didn;t yet think through what it is that one could learn from these parallels etc.

Note:

Re "Themes": The above is a combination of the themes of:

1. A prophet being proactive [Note: Prophecy doesn't mean prediction in Bible/Hebrew, but some prophecies did contain information about future develoments, or how things would occur if changes were not made in the behavior of the people involved.];

2. A prophet's actions meant to effect the future;

3. A deeper purpose of the 'tests' (nisyonot) of our forefather/mothers.

...

"Getting" God:

How amazing it is when we feel someone truly 'gets' us (understands us and sees us as we see ourselves).

Imagine if we just did something that looked really bad but was actually good if one knew and understood sufficiently deeply, but others seeing it judge us harshly., because ultimately they are being superficial , even if unintentionally. Judaism is about "getting" God at the deepest level, and thereby establishing the deepest conneciton, rather than the more superficial connections established when one deeply misunderstandss what God is all about, even if this misunderstanding derives from good but misplaced intentions.

Genesis is a radical document of contrasts. God is all powerful creator of everything, who planned the universe's content and design; humans are weak and fallible, created from the dust, but are fashioned in the creator's image, infused with the creator's 'breath/spirit'.

Humans mirror God in possessing a free will, and so they (like God) are morally responsible for their actions.

Judaism - as understood by those who received Genesis from God - is a difficult belief system. On the one hand God is merciful and all powerful and infuses all of existence and knows all that occurs everywhere always including thoughts, intentions and plans and has complete power of nature as well as the power to change human thought and to confute any plan, yet throughout history every day so many people suffer terribly, there is so an abundance of cruelty and hate, and natural disasters have devastated populations for as long as humanity has existed. And we think of God as a moral being and we are supposed to hold all accountable for their actions, so how are we to believe in a God who violates every command God gave to US!? Given this very basic contradiction it is understandable why so few outside people have adopted Judaism in the millenia since its origin.

Instead, throughout the world there are belief systems designed to not engender this dichotomy: eg there is only the natural universe no God or Supreme Being of cosmic mind; there is a Mind but it is not concerned with humanity, or it is inscrutable or evil; there is a natural system of Karma but no Being designed it and oversees it; there is a cosmic Mind or Love Force but it cannot intervene to prevent action; there are several powerful Beings and they are competing and this causes the chaos and strife we experience; God the creator is old, vengeful and angry and lesser beings, younger and more loving protect us from God. Only Judaism proposes the impossible combination outlined earlier. And this is the essence of the radical Jewish notion of "Monotheism", that there is ONLY God ('en od milvado'), that ALL is from God, God is ALL powerful and ALL knowing, and God is all-merciful. Removing God's responsibility for the pain and suffering in our world by diminishing God's ability to act is not the Jewish belief, nor is splitting the divine into a powerful angy old god and a nicer youunger one who protects us. ONLY GOD EXISTS. And God is all-merciful and compassionate and loving. Go figure!

Why did God love Abraham and choose him to start a nation? Because Abraham was the first to understand all this. To really 'get it', that God was both all-powerful and yet also all-loving. To be so deeply understood by Abraham created a deep bond - this is why God loved Abraham deeply. And since Abraham would teach his childen this cosmic secret, he could be the progentior of a nation dedicated to connecting to God as Abraham did via embracing this true difficult and sophisticated complex and seemingly contradictory understanding of the Being to which one is connecting. Only Jews can accept that God knew of the Holocaust and the tsunami and all cancers etc and allowed them all to happen and is all-compassionate, and can pray to God and try to connect more deeply. And when God feels the desire to connect on the part of someone who truly 'gets' this, the Abrahamic connection is ratified.

From file "chumash from email nyu NEW..."

……Avrohom LechLecha…….

Lech lecha = go to a place un-named: the only time this expression is used are two cases, both involving Avraham

(1 וַיֹּאמֶר ָה אֶל-אַבְרָם, לֶךְ-לְךָ מֵאַרְצְךָ וּמִמּוֹלַדְתְּךָ וּמִבֵּית אָבִיךָ, אֶל-הָאָרֶץ, אֲשֶׁר אַרְאֶךָּ.

וַיֵּצְאוּ, לָלֶכֶת אַרְצָה כְּנַעַן, וַיָּבֹאוּ, אַרְצָה כְּנָעַן.... וְהַכְּנַעֲנִי, אָז בָּאָרֶץ.

Avraham perceives it as kna'ani, and so it becomes that.

(2וְלֶךְ-לְךָ, אֶל-אֶרֶץ הַמֹּרִיָּה; וְהַעֲלֵהוּ שָׁם, לְעֹלָה, עַל אַחַד הֶהָרִים, אֲשֶׁר אֹמַר אֵלֶיךָ.

וַיָּקָם וַיֵּלֶךְ, אֶל-הַמָּקוֹם אֲשֶׁר-אָמַר-לוֹ הָאֱלֹהִים.

ד .. וַיִּשָּׂא אַבְרָהָם אֶת-עֵינָיו וַיַּרְא אֶת-הַמָּקוֹם מֵרָחֹק

. ה וַיֹּאמֶר אַבְרָהָם...וַאֲנִי וְהַנַּעַר, נֵלְכָה עַד-כֹּה

. ט וַיָּבֹאוּ, אֶל-הַמָּקוֹם אֲשֶׁר אָמַר-לוֹ הָאֱלֹהִים,

יד וַיִּקְרָא אַבְרָהָם שֵׁם-הַמָּקוֹם הַהוּא, ָה יִרְאֶה, אֲשֶׁר יֵאָמֵר הַיּוֹם, בְּהַר ָה יֵרָאֶה

Avraham does not give it a specific designation, leaving it 'the place God mentioned', and so the name reflects this.

........

ו וַיִּקַּח אַבְרָהָם אֶת-עֲצֵי הָעֹלָה, וַיָּשֶׂם עַל-יִצְחָק בְּנוֹ, וַיִּקַּח בְּיָדוֹ, אֶת-הָאֵשׁ וְאֶת-הַמַּאֲכֶלֶת; וַיֵּלְכוּ שְׁנֵיהֶם, יַחְדָּו.

ז וַיֹּאמֶר יִצְחָק אֶל-אַבְרָהָם אָבִיו, וַיֹּאמֶר אָבִי, וַיֹּאמֶר, הִנֶּנִּי בְנִי; וַיֹּאמֶר, הִנֵּה הָאֵשׁ וְהָעֵצִים, וְאַיֵּה הַשֶּׂה, לְעֹלָה. ח וַיֹּאמֶר, אַבְרָהָם, אֱלֹהִים יִרְאֶה-לּוֹ הַשֶּׂה לְעֹלָה, בְּנִי; וַיֵּלְכוּ שְׁנֵיהֶם, יַחְדָּו

יט וַיָּשָׁב אַבְרָהָם אֶל-נְעָרָיו, וַיָּקֻמוּ וַיֵּלְכוּ יַחְדָּו אֶל-בְּאֵר שָׁבַע

At the end it was not (just?)Avraham and Yitschak who went 'yachdav'.

....

, וַיָּקָם וַיֵּלֶךְ, אֶל-הַמָּקוֹם

, וַיָּקֻמוּ וַיֵּלְכוּ יַחְדָּו אֶל-בְּאֵר שָׁבַע

……

B’er Sheva

B'er Sheva is 'well seven': the origin of this meaning is given in the story of Yitschak and Avimielch's servants but not the explanation for the "7"; a number of wells are mentioned in the story, but it seems to be less that 7. On the other hand an earlier story tells of Avraham and Avimelech and gives the place a very similar name, B'er Shova: "well oath". But there the number 7 appears prominently.

טו וכל-הבארות, אשר חפרו עבדי אביו, בימי, אברהם אביו--סיתמום פלשתים, וימלאום עפר....... יח וישב יצחק ויחפור את-בארות המים, אשר חפרו בימי אברהם אביו, ויסתמום פלשתים, אחרי מות אברהם; ויקרא להן, שמות, כשמות, אשר-קרא להן אביו.

Well #1 יט ויחפרו עבדי-יצחק, בנחל; וימצאו-שם--באר, מים חיים. כ ויריבו רועי גרר, עם-רועי יצחק לאמור--לנו המים; ויקרא שם-הבאר עשק, כי התעשקו עימו. כא

Well #2ויחפרו באר אחרת, ויריבו גם-עליה; ויקרא שמה, שטנה.

Well #3 כב ויעתק משם, ויחפור באר אחרת, ולא רבו, עליה; ויקרא שמה, רחובות, ויאמר כי-עתה הרחיב יהוה לנו, ופרינו בארץ

. כג ויעל משם, באר שבע.

כד ויירא אליו ה, בלילה ההוא, ויאמר, אנוכי אלוהי אברהם אביך; אל-תירא, כי-איתך אנוכי, ובירכתיך והרביתי את-זרעך, בעבור אברהם עבדי. כה וייבן שם מזבח, ויקרא בשם ה, ויט-שם, אוהלו

Well #4 ; ויכרו-שם עבדי-יצחק, באר.

כוואבימלך, הלך אליו מגרר; ואחוזת, מריעיהו, ופיכול, שר-צבאו....... לאוישכימו בבוקר, ויישבעו איש לאחיו; וישלחם יצחק, וילכו מאיתו בשלום.

Well #5 לב ויהי ביום ההוא, ויבואו עבדי יצחק, ויגידו לו, על-אודות הבאר אשר חפרו; ויאמרו לו, מצאנו מים. לג ויקרא אותה, שבעה; על-כן שם-העיר באר שבע, עד היום הזה.

.......

B'er Sheva: is it mentioned without a name before it is given a name?

א וַיַּעַל אַבְרָם מִמִּצְרַיִם הוּא וְאִשְׁתּוֹ וְכָל-אֲשֶׁר-לוֹ, וְלוֹט עִמּוֹ—הַנֶּגְבָּה.... ג וַיֵּלֶךְ, לְמַסָּעָיו, מִנֶּגֶב, וְעַד-בֵּית-אֵל--עַד-הַמָּקוֹם, אֲשֶׁר-הָיָה שָׁם אָהֳלֹה בַּתְּחִלָּה, בֵּין בֵּית-אֵל, וּבֵין הָעָי

This is a place where Avraham not only stays, and stayed before but he also built a miz'be'ach there, and yet it has no name.

אֶל-מְקוֹם, הַמִּזְבֵּחַ, אֲשֶׁר-עָשָׂה שָׁם, בָּרִאשֹׁנָה; וַיִּקְרָא שָׁם אַבְרָם, בְּשֵׁם ה. ......

Where was Avraham at the time of this story, before going to Chevron?

. יא וַיִּבְחַר-לוֹ לוֹט, אֵת כָּל-כִּכַּר הַיַּרְדֵּן, וַיִּסַּע לוֹט, מִקֶּדֶם; וַיִּפָּרְדוּ, אִישׁ מֵעַל אָחִיו. יבאַבְרָם, יָשַׁב בְּאֶרֶץ-כְּנָעַן.... יח וַיֶּאֱהַל אַבְרָם, וַיָּבֹא וַיֵּשֶׁב בְּאֵלֹנֵי מַמְרֵא--אֲשֶׁר בְּחֶבְרוֹן; וַיִּבֶן-שָׁם מִזְבֵּחַ, לַָה.

Where is this?

וַתְּעַנֶּהָ שָׂרַי, וַתִּבְרַח מִפָּנֶיהָ. ז וַיִּמְצָאָהּ מַלְאַךְ יְהוָה, עַל-עֵין הַמַּיִם--בַּמִּדְבָּר: עַל-הָעַיִן, בְּדֶרֶךְ שׁוּר…. יגוַתִּקְרָא שֵׁם-ָה הַדֹּבֵר אֵלֶיהָ, אַתָּה אֵל רֳאִי: כִּי אָמְרָה, הֲגַם הֲלֹם רָאִיתִי--אַחֲרֵי רֹאִי. יד עַל-כֵּן קָרָא לַבְּאֵר, בְּאֵר לַחַי רֹאִי--הִנֵּה בֵין-קָדֵשׁ, וּבֵין בָּרֶד

...

Perek 20: א וַיִּסַּע מִשָּׁם אַבְרָהָם אַרְצָה הַנֶּגֶב, וַיֵּשֶׁב בֵּין-קָדֵשׁ וּבֵין שׁוּר; וַיָּגָר, בִּגְרָר.

…..

Immediately after the story of Hagar and Yishmael בְּמִדְבַּר בְּאֵר שָׁבַע, where God helps them find a well, we are told of Avraham and Avimelech and the wells, and the giving of the name B'er Shova. So presumably it took place earlier. Or it was indeed later, but the well had been stolen.

Perek 21: Yishmael and Hagar are in B'er Sheva desert but have no water. So what happened to the well after which the place is named? Was this the well which had been stolen by Avimelech's servants [ וְהוֹכִחַ אַבְרָהָם, אֶת-אֲבִימֶלֶךְ, עַל-אֹדוֹת בְּאֵר הַמַּיִם, אֲשֶׁר גָּזְלוּ עַבְדֵי אֲבִימֶלֶךְ. ]? But then God lets her see a well.

When did Avraham dig this well? When did it get the name B'er Sheva.

יד וַיַּשְׁכֵּם אַבְרָהָם ...וַיְשַׁלְּחֶהָ; וַתֵּלֶךְ וַתֵּתַע, בְּמִדְבַּר בְּאֵר שָׁבַע. טו וַיִּכְלוּ הַמַּיִם, מִן-הַחֵמֶת.. וַיִּפְקַח אֱלֹהִים אֶת-עֵינֶיהָ, וַתֵּרֶא בְּאֵר מָיִם;

.... כא וַיֵּשֶׁב, בְּמִדְבַּר פָּארָן;

.....

That's why the Avimelech/B'er Shova story starts with "וַיְהִי, בָּעֵת הַהִוא" , it likely took place in relation to the preceding story about Yishmael's birth and the expulsion. If it took place somewhere in the middle of:

" ח וַיִּגְדַּל הַיֶּלֶד, וַיִּגָּמַל; וַיַּעַשׂ אַבְרָהָם מִשְׁתֶּה גָדוֹל, בְּיוֹם הִגָּמֵל אֶת-יִצְחָק. ט וַתֵּרֶא שָׂרָה אֶת-בֶּן-הָגָר הַמִּצְרִית, אֲשֶׁר-יָלְדָה לְאַבְרָהָם--מְצַחֵק. י וַתֹּאמֶר, לְאַבְרָהָם, גָּרֵשׁ הָאָמָה הַזֹּאת, וְאֶת-בְּנָהּ"

then when Avraham sent out Hagar and Yishmael, it was after the agreement with Avimelech and so there was a well, which is why it was called midbar s'er shova. If the agreement with Avimelech was after the expulsion, it can explain why Avraham complained criticized Avimelech about his servants having stolen the well, Hagar and Yishmael had almost died as a result. And Avraham had assumed there was a well when he expelled Hagar ad Yishmael, he hadn’t known that Avimelech's servants had stolen it.

[Maybe Avimelech's words are echoing Avraham's protestations that he hadn’t known about it, nor did he hear of it.]

[Avraham must have had a reputation, after exiling his oldest son into the desert without water, and then intending to sacrifice the other son.]

...

After the akeda, Avraham lives in B'er Sheva.

וַיָּקֻמוּ וַיֵּלְכוּ יַחְדָּו אֶל-בְּאֵר שָׁבַע ....וַיֵּשֶׁב אַבְרָהָם, בִּבְאֵר שָׁבַע.

...

וַיִּסַּע אַבְרָם, הָלוֹךְ וְנָסוֹעַ הַנֶּגְבָּה

זָרַע .

……Names of the Holidays (see re Purim etc)…

…….

Yitzchak’s name

וַיֹּאמֶר לָהּ מַלְאַךְ יְהוָה, הִנָּךְ הָרָה וְיֹלַדְתְּ בֵּן, וְקָרָאת שְׁמוֹ יִשְׁמָעֵאל, כִּי-שָׁמַע ה אֶל-עָנְיֵךְ.

Avraham laughs out loud rather than inside, so it is not a hidden laugh, mocking; and first he falls on his face, a sign of submission to God.

יז וַיִּפֹּל אַבְרָהָם עַל-פָּנָיו, וַיִּצְחָק;

In his heart Avraham then thinks:

וַיֹּאמֶר בְּלִבּוֹ, הַלְּבֶן מֵאָה-שָׁנָה יִוָּלֵד, וְאִם-שָׂרָה, הֲבַת-תִּשְׁעִים שָׁנָה תֵּלֵד

And as result: וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹ ,...., וְקָרָאתָ אֶת-שְׁמוֹ, יִצְחָק

[God is making it clear that the child's destiny is affected by the reaction to the message about his birth.]

......

וְקָרָאתָ אֶת-שְׁמוֹ, יִצְחָק; וַהֲקִמֹתִי אֶת-בְּרִיתִי אִתּוֹ לִבְרִית עוֹלָם, לְזַרְעוֹ אַחֲרָיו. כ וּלְיִשְׁמָעֵאל, שְׁמַעְתִּיךָ-

God is referring to the meaning of Yishma'el's name, basically giving it a new but related meaning, just as God gave the name Yitschak with clear reference to its meaning.

And the context is 'bris olam', as opposed to with Yishmael, whose bris is not 'leolam'.

………………………………………

One might falsely recall that Yitschak got his name because Sarah laughed, but actually it was from Avraham's laugh.

And God is implying to Avraham that there is a meaning to Yishma'el's name that derives from Avraham's tfilah-request that Yishma'el live.

יב וַתִּצְחַק שָׂרָה, בְּקִרְבָּהּ לֵאמֹר: אַחֲרֵי בְלֹתִי הָיְתָה-לִּי עֶדְנָה, וַאדֹנִי זָקֵן. יג וַיֹּאמֶר יְהוָה, אֶל-אַבְרָהָם: לָמָּה זֶּה צָחֲקָה שָׂרָה לֵאמֹר, הַאַף אֻמְנָם אֵלֵד--וַאֲנִי זָקַנְתִּי. יד הֲיִפָּלֵא מֵיְהוָה, דָּבָר; לַמּוֹעֵד אָשׁוּב אֵלֶיךָ, כָּעֵת חַיָּה--וּלְשָׂרָה בֵן. טו וַתְּכַחֵשׁ שָׂרָה לֵאמֹר לֹא צָחַקְתִּי, כִּי יָרֵאָה; וַיֹּאמֶר לֹא, כִּי צָחָקְתְּ. .

God is reassuring Sarah and Avraham that she really can have a child – by revealing that what she thought inside her heart is known to God, and so this is really God speaking, and this God is master of her insides (and can therefore make her able to conceive), that's why God says: הֲיִפָּלֵא מֵה דָּבָר

Sarah is then afraid, and denies she laughed, so why does God insists that indeed she laughed? Because Avraham was part of that 3-way nevuah-conversation and it was important to reassure him that this was indeed God. Also, this way Avraham will know that Sarah laughed inside, and he can reassure her that he too laughed, and Yitschak was given his name as a result, she shouldn’t think that the name of her son was given because of her laugh (which was perhaps somewhat more disbelieving or self-confidence lacking).

[This is similar to the situation with Moshe Rabbenu: God tells him re Ahron "ve'samach be'libo", so that MR will know when he meets Ahron that the message is from the God of creation, as will Ahron when MR tells him of this; also it is the God who knows the inner working of everyone's heart, and can harden Pharaoh's heart (or make it agree).]

…

ה וְאַבְרָהָם, בֶּן-מְאַת שָׁנָה, בְּהִוָּלֶד לוֹ, אֵת יִצְחָק בְּנוֹ. ו וַתֹּאמֶר שָׂרָה--צְחֹק, עָשָׂה לִי אֱלֹהִים: כָּל-הַשֹּׁמֵעַ, יִצְחַק-לִי. ז וַתֹּאמֶר, מִי מִלֵּל לְאַבְרָהָם, הֵינִיקָה בָנִים, שָׂרָה: כִּי-יָלַדְתִּי בֵן, לִזְקֻנָיו. ח וַיִּגְדַּל הַיֶּלֶד, וַיִּגָּמַל; וַיַּעַשׂ אַבְרָהָם מִשְׁתֶּה גָדוֹל, בְּיוֹם הִגָּמֵל אֶת-יִצְחָק. ט וַתֵּרֶא שָׂרָה אֶת-בֶּן-הָגָר הַמִּצְרִית, אֲשֶׁר-יָלְדָה לְאַבְרָהָם--מְצַחֵק

In the above, the theme of laughing repeats, and then the same word is used in a different context, with a definitely negative connotation. And then later on in Yitschak's life:

. ח וַיְהִי, כִּי אָרְכוּ-לוֹ שָׁם הַיָּמִים, וַיַּשְׁקֵף אֲבִימֶלֶךְ מֶלֶךְ פְּלִשְׁתִּים, בְּעַד הַחַלּוֹן; וַיַּרְא, וְהִנֵּה יִצְחָק מְצַחֵק, אֵת, רִבְקָה אִשְׁתּוֹ.

…

Yishma'el's name is not mentioned explicitly, and Sarah doesn’t use his name (nor that of Hagar), but she does use Yitschak's name. And then when speaking of Avraham's feelings it doesn’t state Yishmael's name explicitly, instead saying:

עַל-הַנַּעַר :

עַל, אוֹדֹת בְּנוֹ

And then it uses the key word שְׁמַע regarding expelling Hagar and Yishma'el.

. ט וַתֵּרֶא שָׂרָה אֶת-בֶּן-הָגָר הַמִּצְרִית, אֲשֶׁר-יָלְדָה לְאַבְרָהָם--מְצַחֵק. י וַתֹּאמֶר, לְאַבְרָהָם, גָּרֵשׁ הָאָמָה הַזֹּאת, וְאֶת-בְּנָהּ: כִּי לֹא יִירַשׁ בֶּן-הָאָמָה הַזֹּאת, עִם-בְּנִי עִם-יִצְחָק. יא וַיֵּרַע הַדָּבָר מְאֹד, בְּעֵינֵי אַבְרָהָם, עַל, אוֹדֹת בְּנוֹ. יב וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹהִים אֶל-אַבְרָהָם, אַל-יֵרַע בְּעֵינֶיךָ עַל-הַנַּעַר וְעַל-אֲמָתֶךָ--כֹּל אֲשֶׁר תֹּאמַר אֵלֶיךָ שָׂרָה, שְׁמַע בְּקֹלָהּ

......

When told of Yitschak's upcoming birth: Sarah laughs, is then defensive about it, and is afraid. The same three themes repeat with Yitschak: he is afraid (he would be killed by Avimelech), he is defensive (to Avimelech) about his actions, the word צַחֵק appears in a central manner:

וַיֹּאמֶר, אֲחֹתִי הִוא: כִּי יָרֵא, לֵאמֹר אִשְׁתִּי, פֶּן-יַהַרְגֻנִי אַנְשֵׁי הַמָּקוֹם עַל-רִבְקָה, כִּי-טוֹבַת מַרְאֶה הִוא. ח וַיְהִי, כִּי אָרְכוּ-לוֹ שָׁם הַיָּמִים, וַיַּשְׁקֵף אֲבִימֶלֶךְ מֶלֶךְ פְּלִשְׁתִּים, בְּעַד הַחַלּוֹן; וַיַּרְא, וְהִנֵּה יִצְחָק מְצַחֵק, אֵת, רִבְקָה אִשְׁתּוֹ. ט וַיִּקְרָא אֲבִימֶלֶךְ לְיִצְחָק, וַיֹּאמֶר אַךְ הִנֵּה אִשְׁתְּךָ הִוא, וְאֵיךְ אָמַרְתָּ, אֲחֹתִי הִוא; וַיֹּאמֶר אֵלָיו, יִצְחָק, כִּי אָמַרְתִּי, פֶּן-אָמוּת עָלֶיהָ.

We know how Yistchak and Ya'akov received their names, and their meaning, and Yishma'el and Esav, but not Avram – perhaps this is related to the fact that his name is changed, and the name is given meaning.

Yitschak gets the name from God, but as a result of the actions of his parents. Yishmael get the name from the angel and from God, as a result of actions by Hagar, but also perhaps due to Avraham's actions.

We are not told of the naming of the imahot, Sarah, Rivka, Rachel, Leah - but Sarah is given a name when Avraham is.

….

God hints to Yitschak that Ya'akov is his zer'a:

ד וְהִרְבֵּיתִי אֶת-זַרְעֲךָ, כְּכוֹכְבֵי הַשָּׁמַיִם, וְנָתַתִּי לְזַרְעֲךָ, אֵת כָּל-הָאֲרָצֹת הָאֵל; וְהִתְבָּרְכוּ בְזַרְעֲךָ, כֹּל גּוֹיֵי הָאָרֶץ. ה עֵקֶב, אֲשֶׁר-שָׁמַע אַבְרָהָם בְּקֹלִי; וַיִּשְׁמֹר, מִשְׁמַרְתִּי, מִצְו‍ֹתַי, חֻקּוֹתַי וְתוֹרֹתָי.

But there is an interesting othe ruse of the key word:

. וַיִּזְרַע יִצְחָק בָּאָרֶץ הַהִוא, וַיִּמְצָא בַּשָּׁנָה הַהִוא מֵאָה שְׁעָרִים

File “Add to chumash material re Avraham”

Why does God chide Sarah, how was she to know they were relaying a divine message? Are there hints in the narrative that would clue us in to their nature, which perhaps Sarah was expected to recognize (eg saying ‘ken ta’aseh ka’asher dibarta’)?

Why would God ask Avraham why Sarah laughed if it was an internal event, how would God expect Avraham to know? How did Sarah know that she had been criticized if it was mentioned only to Avraham?

Does Avraham still seem to treat the visitors as humans, accompanying them etc? Maybe they ARE human, and are being used by God for this purpose…? In Sdom they act a little more like malachim, but they are called malachim not anashim, and there are only two, so maybe there were people sent to be experiencers/reporters, and also then two malachim?

……….

Sarah becomes pregnant only after incident with Avimelech, and their prayers, so it was indeed perhaps exactly a year later that Yitschak was born. So if the messengers meant a year, Avraham and Sarah knew that she would become pregnant in three months, so they were thinking of this at the time of the Avimelech incident.

The promise ‘u’lesarah ben’ is ambiguous, doesn’t necessarily imply from Avraham, but in Vayera God tells Avraham he will have a son and it will be from Sarah. So maybe she will have two sons, one from someone else, and one from Avraham?

So when Avimelekh takes Sarah exactly at the time she is meant to become pregnant, maybe the ambiguity or uncertainty returns, and is part of the reason they davened for avdei avimelekh, so that Sarah’s child not need be from Avimelekh (and then after that she would give birth to a child from Avraham).

Also: God tells Avraham that sarah laughed because she was old, and didn’t mention that she also laughed because Avraham was old, so maybe it means that Avraham’s age was irrelevant, because he would not be the father! So if Avraham repeated to Sarah what God had said to him, or if she knew on her own by nevuah, then when Avimelekh took her Sarah would think perhaps that the child would not be from Avraham! Or if she told Avraham, then he would think that….

Maybe this is the meaning of shov ashuv elekha, meaning to both Avraham and Sarah…?

….

There is no real a priori need for a return (‘shov ashuv’) in a year, to mark the birth, so why is it said? Maybe it is just the kind of thing that a traveler on an annual trip would say, not necessarily implying an actual return visit? Where else does the expression ‘ko’et chaya’ appear and what does it mean?

…

re my vort re Hagar and the three separate angelic messages: application of “the future unfolding depends on our freewilled responses to situations” So in the context of angels:

Why Angels Don't Multi-task: Angels are not preprogrammed, their message depends on the response of the human protagonist - and that's the meaning of separate angels for each message.

May we all be blessed with the right responses, and appropriate rewards

….

…

It makes ckear why specifically it was h orchim which brought schinah, and why h orchom specifically is greater than k pnei hashchina.

Also makes ckear that it was atest pf avraham, snd bec avraham did this h orxhim, thats why god "appears to him" and why pronised son etc

…

Chumash: like my vort: Maharal on VaYera: hachnasat orchim is more than hachnasat shchinah bec can see the human (who is betselem) but can't see the shchinah: http://www.sefaria.org/Netivot_Olam,_Netiv_Gmilut_Chasadim.4

…..

new vort to add to old. Vayera, vision First word is 'vayera', and then soon after the same latter-combination is used twice more, but as 'vayar', ie Avraham saw. As written in the Torah, without vowels, the word are identical, so maybe it is meant in both senses: vayera (and God appeared in a vision to Avraham)...vayisa enov vayar (Avraham saw in a vision)...vayar vayorotz (and in his vision, Avraham ran..), just that here in this case it is told as actual occurence because the crucial aspect is that Avraham was choosing his actions and words in the vision!

,….

Newly-discovered Sites which quote my material: quote my Yomm Kippur vort, and my Adam/Eve not sursed vort

woman's blog site: http://pathoftorah.com/2015/09/20/yom-kippur/ quotes my Y Kippur vort, probably becaus eit supports the rabbinic inuyim without their reasoning, she leans to karaism and own interpretaiton.http://pathoftorah.com/about/

https://www.facebook.com/pathoftorah/?ref=hl

they have source but dead link? should be http://www.ottmall.com/mj_ht_arch/v37/mj_v37i16.html#CEK

.......................................................

article, paper for sale to students? re my Adam/Eve not cursed: http://samples.assignmentlab.com/essays/view/the-curses-of-adam-and-eve/

my WAIS post on this subject: https://webservicecenter.net/go.jsp?id=02a&objectType=post&o=11714&objectTypeId=5964&topicId=152

http://waisworld.org/go.jsp?id=02a&o=11714