{"id":4306,"date":"2018-10-15T14:36:56","date_gmt":"2018-10-15T14:36:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/batkol.info\/?p=4306"},"modified":"2018-10-15T14:36:56","modified_gmt":"2018-10-15T14:36:56","slug":"parashat-lech-lecha","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ratisbonne.org.il\/bk\/2018\/10\/15\/parashat-lech-lecha\/","title":{"rendered":"Parashat Lech Lecha"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Shabbat Table Talk<\/strong><\/p>\n

Parashah Lech Lecha \u2013 Erev Shabbat 19th <\/strong>October, 2018<\/strong><\/p>\n

Week of 14th-20th October 14, 2018<\/strong><\/p>\n

Torah portion: Gen 12:1 – 17:27 Haftarah\u00a0: Isa 40:27 – 41:16<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Download<\/a><\/p>\n

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\"\"This week\u2019s Torah portion, Lech Lecha (literally, betake yourself; go to you), begins with the story of God\u2019s call to Abraham, the promise of blessings and Abraham\u2019s response (Gen 12: 1-3). Towards the end it tells us that God describes his covenant with Abraham and his descendants \u201cas an everlasting covenant throughout the ages\u201d (Gen17:7).<\/p>\n

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Conroy says that Abraham\u2019s call has two components: The \u201cgo from\u201d and the \u201cgo to.\u201d The \u201cgo from\u201d command has these details \u2013 \u201cGo from your country, your kindred and your father\u2019s house.\u201d Like a migrant today, Abraham is asked to leave his country and his family. He is asked to leave everything behind.<\/p>\n

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The \u201cgo to\u201d command, however, says only vaguely, \u201cGo to the land that I will show you.\u201d But where? How far? No details are given, making the command difficult as Abraham is not given the security of knowing his destination.<\/p>\n

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The promise though after the command is quite clear: \u201cI will make you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all families of the earth shall be blessed.\u201d It is a promise full of blessings (It repeats the word bless\/blessing many times).<\/p>\n

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Rashi says that the promise \u201cAnd I will make you into a great nation\u201d addresses the concerns when one is traveling (there\u2019s diminished procreation, money and fame) and is about the three blessings concerning children, money and fame.<\/p>\n

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Abraham\u2019s response is also quite clear. The narrative, in fact, is brief: \u201cSo Abram went, as the Lord had told him.\u201d There is nothing said about the doubts of Abraham, if any. There was nothing said on how he arrived at the decision , on how he told those he would leave behind, etc.<\/p>\n

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What the text tells us is the perfect obedience of Abraham, telling us that he is a man of faith. Despite the unclear destination, Abraham trusted the Lord and left everything familiar. This makes Abraham a model of faith for all of us.<\/p>\n

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But Abraham\u2019s journey of faith was not smooth. In Gen 12:7, we learned that the Lord makes another promise to Abraham: \u201cTo your offspring, I will give this land.\u201d Despite the Lord\u2019s explicit promise of offspring to Abraham, who at 75 then was childless, Abraham, on the face of famine, decided to leave the land being promised to him and went down to Egypt and resided there as an alien. Before entering Egypt, Abraham told his wife Sarah to pretend he was her brother, so that \u201cmy life may be spared on your account.\u201d Because of this, Sarah was taken to Pharaoh\u2019s house, endangering the promise of offspring to Abraham.<\/p>\n

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But despite his selfish act, the Lord does not abandon Abraham. In a later vision, he tells Abraham not to be afraid: \u201cI am your shield; your reward shall be great.\u201d (Gen. 15).<\/p>\n

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In Gen 17, God commands Abraham to \u201cwalk before me and be blameless\u201d and changes his birth name Abram to Abraham (father of multitudes in Aramaic and Hebrew) as he makes another covenant with Abraham to \u201cmake you exceedingly numerous.\u201d<\/p>\n

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There is a Jewish term, Avraham Avinu (Abraham, our Father).\u201d But today, not only Jews consider themselves children of Abraham. Muslims as well as Christians also consider Abraham as their ancestor (Matthew 1:1).<\/p>\n

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Like Abraham, we may have our moments of perfect immediate response to a call to serve God and express our faith. But though we try to be committed Christians, there may be times when, like Abraham, we get sidetracked and may not be as faithful as we hope to be. Abraham\u2019s journey of faith tells us that the Lord will not abandon us even in our moments of weakness. God will always be with us.<\/p>\n

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Reflection and Discussion: 1) Recall and share a moment when like Abraham you immediately answered or acted on a call to serve God. 2). Do you have an Abraham-like model of faith? Please share why he\/she is your model. 3) In your journey of faith, also recall a moment of when you were weak and felt like losing faith. What did you do to walk with faith once again? 4) How can we help in the journeys of faith of members of our family and community?<\/p>\n

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Bibliography: Conroy, Journeys and Servants, CBAP Lectures 2003 (Quezon City, 2006); ETZ Hayim: Torah and Commentary (New York, 2001); NRSV and http;\/\/www.chabad.org<\/p>\n

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This week\u2019s Sunday Gospel Commentary was prepared by<\/p>\n

Miner Generalao, Philippines, Bat Kol July 2014 Alumni<\/p>\n

Email address: mayneer@gmail.com<\/p>\n

[Copyright \u00a9 2018]<\/p>\n

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PLEASE NOTE: The weekly Parashah commentaries represent the research and creative thought of their authors, and are meant to stimulate deeper thinking about the meaning of the Scriptures. While they draw upon the study methods and sources employed by the Bat Kol Institute, the views and conclusions expressed in these commentaries are solely those of their authors, and do not necessarily represent the views of Bat Kol. The commentaries, along with all materials published on the Bat Kol website, are copyrighted by the writers, and are made available for personal and group study, and local church purposes. Permission needed for other purposes. Questions, comments and feedback are always welcome.<\/p>\n

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Bat Kol Institute for Jewish Studies, Jerusalem<\/p>\n

~~1983-2017~~<\/p>\n

\u201cChristians Studying the Bible within its Jewish milieu, using Jewish Sources.\u201d<\/p>\n

Website: www.batkol.info; Parashat Admin: gill@batkol.info<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Shabbat Table Talk Parashah Lech Lecha \u2013 Erev Shabbat 19th October, 2018 Week of 14th-20th October 14, 2018 Torah portion: Gen 12:1 – 17:27 Haftarah\u00a0: Isa 40:27 – 41:16   Download   This week\u2019s Torah portion, Lech Lecha (literally, betake yourself; go to you), begins with the story of God\u2019s call to Abraham, the promise…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":46,"featured_media":4307,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ghostkit_customizer_options":"","ghostkit_custom_css":"","ghostkit_custom_js_head":"","ghostkit_custom_js_foot":"","ghostkit_typography":"","_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ratisbonne.org.il\/bk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4306"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ratisbonne.org.il\/bk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ratisbonne.org.il\/bk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ratisbonne.org.il\/bk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/46"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ratisbonne.org.il\/bk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4306"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ratisbonne.org.il\/bk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4306\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ratisbonne.org.il\/bk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4307"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ratisbonne.org.il\/bk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4306"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ratisbonne.org.il\/bk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4306"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ratisbonne.org.il\/bk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4306"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}