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Lech-Lecha
Genesis 12:1 - 17:27
G-d speaks to Abram, commanding him to "Go from your
land, from your birthplace and from your father's house,
to the land which I will show you." There, G-d says, he
will be made into a great nation. Abram and his wife
Sarai, accompanied by his nephew Lot, journey to the
Land of Canaan, where Abram builds an altar and
continues to spread the message of a One G-d.
A famine forces the first Jew to depart for Egypt,
where beautiful Sarai is taken to Pharaoh's palace;
Abram escapes death because they present themselves as
brother and sister. A plague prevents the Egyptian king
from touching her and convinces him to return her to
Abram and compensate the brother-revealed-as-husband
with gold, silver and cattle.
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Back in the Land of Canaan, Lot separates from Abram
and settles in the evil city of Sodom, where he falls
captive when the mighty armies of Chedorlaomer and his
three allies conquer the five cities of the Sodom
Valley. Abram sets out with a small band to rescue his
nephew, defeats the four kings, and is blessed by
Malki-Zedek the king of Salem (Jerusalem).
G-d seals the Covenant Between the Parts with Abram,
in which the exile and persecution (Galut) of the people
of Israel is foretold and the Holy Land is bequeathed to
them as their eternal heritage
Still childless ten years after their arrival in the
Land, Sarai tells Abram to marry her maidservant Hagar.
Hagar conceives, becomes insolent toward her mistress,
and then flees when Sarai treats her harshly; an angel
convinces her to return and tells her that her son will
father a populous nation. Ishmael is born in Abram's
86th year.
Thirteen years later, G-d changes Abram's name to
Abraham ("father of multitudes") and Sarai's to Sarah
("princess"), and promises that a son will be born to
them; from this child, whom they should call Isaac
("will laugh"), will stem the great nation with which
G-d will establish His special bond. Abraham is
commanded to circumcise himself and his descendents as a
"sign of the covenant between Me and you."
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