Genesis · Chapter 12

And Hashem said to Abram: Go forth from your land, and from your birthplace, and from your father's house, to the land that I will show you.

לך לך GET THEE OUT (literally, go for thyself) — for your own benefit, for your own good: there I will make of you a great nation whilst here you will not merit the privilege of having children (Rosh Hashanah 16b). Furthermore, I shall make known your character throughout the world (Midrash Tanchuma, Lech Lecha 3)

AND THE ETERNAL SAID UNTO ABRAHAM ‘LECH LECHA’ (GET THEE OUT). This means, “For your own benefit and for your own good. And there I will make of you a great nation whilst here you will not merit the privilege of having children.” Thus the language of Rashi. Now there is no need for it for such is the normal expression of the Hebrew language as in the verses: The rain is over and gone ‘lo’; Literally, “gone to itself.” I will get ‘li’ unto the great men; Literally, “get to me.” Rise up, and get ‘lachem’ over the brook Zered; Literally, “and get to you.” and many similar examples. Our Rabbis, however, have made a Midrash — (a homiletical interpretation) — concerning the verses [addressed to Moses] which state, And thou shalt make ‘lecha’ an ark of wood, Literally, “make to thee.” The Midrash of the Rabbis is as follows: “Here the verse states, And ‘thou’ shalt make an ark, meaning Moses, but in Exodus (25:10) it states, And ‘they’ shall make an ark! This teaches us that the people of a community are commanded to do the work of a Torah-scholar who resides in their midst.” (Yoma 72b.) and Make ‘lecha’ two trumpets of silver, Literally, “make to thee.” The Rabbis commented: “As though it were possible, I would prefer it to be from that which is thine to that which is theirs.” (Yoma 3b.) since it was not his work and it would have been proper for these verses to be stated in the same way as that concerning the tabernacle, i.e., And thou shalt make the tabernacle. OUT OF THY COUNTRY, AND FROM THY BIRTHPLACE. Rashi wrote, “But had he not already departed from there together with his father and reached as far as Haran? But thus, in effect, did the Holy One, blessed be He, say to him, ‘Go still further away from thy father’s house.’”And Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra explained the verse as follows: “And G-d had already said to Abram, ‘Get thee out of thy country,’ since this command came to him when he was still in Ur of the Chaldees, and there He commanded him to leave his country, his birthplace and his father’s house, in which he was.”But this is not correct, for if so, it would follow that Abram was the central figure in the journey from his father’s house by command of G-d, while Terah his father voluntarily went with him. Yet Scripture says, And Terah took Abram his son, which teaches us that Abram followed his father and that it was by his counsel that Abram went forth from Ur of the Chaldees to go to the land of Canaan! Furthermore, [according to Ibn Ezra, who says that the above command came to Abram when he was still in Ur of the Chaldees], the verse stating, And I took your father Abraham from beyond the river and led him throughout all the land of Canaan, should have stated, “And I took your father from Ur of the Chaldees and led him throughout all the land of Canaan,” for it was from there that he was taken, and it was there that he was given this command. In addition, the following difficulty may be put to Rashi and Ibn Ezra: when Abraham commanded Eliezer to get a wife for his son, he said to him, ‘But thou shalt go unto my country and to my birthplace,’ The word moladeti, generally translated “my kindred,” connotes, according to Ramban, both “my birthplace” and “my family.” This is made clear further on in the text. and he went to Aram-naharaim, to the city of Nahor. Aram-naharaim is Mesopotamia. See Ramban above, 11:28. If so, that is his “country” and his “birthplace!” And there, Scripture further says [when Eliezer recounts Abraham’s charge to him], But thou shalt go unto my father’s house and to my family, thus clearly indicating that there (in Mesopotamia) were his father’s house and his family which is “his kindred.” This is not as Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra erred in interpreting, “Unto my country, The word moladeti, generally translated “my kindred,” connotes, according to Ramban, both “my birthplace” and “my family.” This is made clear further on in the text. Haran; and to my birthplace, Ur of the Chaldees.” Now since Ibn Ezra says here that in Ur of the Chaldees it was said to Abraham, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, Abraham would thus have many countries! Accordingly, Ur of the Chaldees is Abraham’s “country” for the verse says, from thy country. And further (Chapter 24, Verse 4) Ibn Ezra interprets my country as meaning “Haran,” which is Mesopotamia! Thus Ibn Ezra has “many countries” assigned to Abraham. But the essential principle you already know from what we have written in the preceding Seder, namely, that Haran is Abraham’s country, and there is his birthplace, it having always been his father’s country, and there Abraham was commanded to leave them. In Bereshith Rabbah,1639:8. The Rabbis here interpret the double expression of the verse as signifying two departures which Abraham is to make: one from Mesopotamia generally, and one from his city in particular. the Rabbis similarly say “Lech lecha: one departure from Aram-naharaim, and one from Aram-nahor.”The reason for mentioning out of thy country, and from thy birthplace, and from thy father’s house is that it is difficult for a person to leave the country wherein he dwells, where he has his friends and companions. This is true all the more if this be his native land, and all the more if his whole family is there. Hence it became necessary to say to Abraham that he leave all for the sake of his love of the Holy One, blessed be He.UNTO THE LAND THAT I WILL SHOW THEE. He wandered and went about from nation to nation, from kingdom to another people, until he came to the land of Canaan, where He said to him, Unto thy seed will I give this land. here. Then the promise, Unto the land that I will show thee, was fulfilled, and Abraham tarried and settled there. The verse which states, And they went forth to go into the land of Canaan, means that he was not heading for Canaan for the purpose of settling there since he did not as yet know that he had been commanded concerning this land. Rather, the righteous one set his goal towards the land of Canaan for that was his intention as well as that of his father when they originally set forth from Ur of the Chaldees. This is the reason why Abraham later said, And it came to pass, when G-d caused me to wander from my father’s house: he was indeed gone astray like a lost sheep. It is possible to say that Abraham knew from the first that the land of Canaan was “the inheritance of the Eternal,” destined that His special Providence be bestowed upon it, and he believed that the Divine promise, Unto the land that I will show thee, alluded to the land of Canaan either in its entirety or to one of all those lands [which together comprise Canaan]. He set his direction towards the land of Canaan generally for [he was certain that] there was the land which He would indeed show him. UNTO THE LAND THAT I WILL SHOW THEE. He wandered and went about from nation to nation, from kingdom to another people, until he came to the land of Canaan, where He said to him, Unto thy seed will I give this land. here. Then the promise, Unto the land that I will show thee, was fulfilled, and Abraham tarried and settled there. The verse which states, And they went forth to go into the land of Canaan, means that he was not heading for Canaan for the purpose of settling there since he did not as yet know that he had been commanded concerning this land. Rather, the righteous one set his goal towards the land of Canaan for that was his intention as well as that of his father when they originally set forth from Ur of the Chaldees. This is the reason why Abraham later said, And it came to pass, when G-d caused me to wander from my father’s house: he was indeed gone astray like a lost sheep. It is possible to say that Abraham knew from the first that the land of Canaan was “the inheritance of the Eternal,” destined that His special Providence be bestowed upon it, and he believed that the Divine promise, Unto the land that I will show thee, alluded to the land of Canaan either in its entirety or to one of all those lands [which together comprise Canaan]. He set his direction towards the land of Canaan generally for [he was certain that] there was the land which He would indeed show him.

"Go forth" — Hashem commanded Abraham while he was still in Ur of the Chaldeans to leave his land, his birthplace, and his father's house. The reason is that Hashem knew that Terah, once he had set out to go to the land of Canaan, would settle in Haran. Now Terah did not die until sixty years after Abraham left his father's house in Haran — but Scripture did not specify his years at his departure from Ur of the Chaldeans. As for the phrase "that I will show you" — He revealed the secret to him afterward, for so it is written: "and they went forth to go to the land of Canaan" (Gen. 12:5). Alternatively, the meaning of "I will show you" is what He said to him: "for all the land that you see, to you I will give it" (Gen. 13:15).

אל הארץ אשר אראך, to the specific area within the country which I will show you in a heavenly vision. This is why Avram kept moving further into the land without pitching his tent to settle down until he received the appropriate sign from G’d. This occurred when he reached Shechem, where we are told that G’d appeared to him (verse 7)

ויאמר ה׳ אל אברם, G'd said to Abram, etc. There are two reasons for the most unusual phenomenon of G'd speaking to Abraham without having first appeared to him in some kind of vision. 1) Abraham's constant endeavour to get to know his Creator, something no one had ever done before him. According to our tradition Abraham already recognised his Creator at the age of five without having received any guidance from a teacher. G'd therefore did not have to prove His existence to Abraham by appearing to him in a vision. He could take it for granted that Abraham was aware of who was speaking to him. 2) During the ten generations since Noach that preceded Abraham not a single human being had recognised his G'd so that G'd had found him worthy to speak to. G'd therefore decided to test Abraham before speaking to him. He did this by demanding of Abraham that he leave his home, etc. Only after he had successfully passed that test did G'd decide to reveal Himself to Abraham in a vision as we find in 12,7. G'd did not relate in this manner to later generations because those generations had already absorbed a measure of faith in G'd through the example of their patriarch Abraham. They were born into an environment of some sanctity, an advantage not enjoyed by Abraham. As a result, G'd was able to commence His communications with such people by granting them a vision before He spoke to them. In Psalms 45,11 the Psalmist refers to Abraham's experience when he says: "Take heed, lass, and note, incline your ear; forget your people and your father's house." Our sages declared that the first half of that verse שמעי, listen, applied to our patriarch Abraham, i.e. when G'd spoke to him in 12,1. The second half of the verse where the Psalmist speaks about דאי, i.e. a visual experience, refers to 12,7 when G'd is reported to have appeared to Abraham in a vision. The sound and the vision did not occur simultaneously. To signify this the Psalmist did not say שמעי וראי בת, but placed the word בת in the middle. The best proof for the correctness of our view is the comparison with Moses' experience at the burning bush (Exodus 3,2-4) when a visual phenomenon preceded G'd speaking to him. לך לך מארצך. "Go forth for yourself from your country." Why did G'd tell Abraham to leave his birthplace after He had already told him to leave his country? Surely, leaving one's country includes leaving one's birthplace? The Torah lists the departures according to the pain of leave-taking involved. It is less painful to leave one's country than to leave one's birthplace, and it is even more painful to leave one's family. Abraham is commanded to leave in an ascending order of the nostalgia involved. He complied with the most difficult part of the test by leaving his parental home. The manner in which the Torah describes the process indicates that Abraham received an additional reward for each stage. We have a similar description of the gradually increasing difficulty of complying with G'd's command when G'd told Abraham to take: "your son, your only one, the one you love," as an introduction to the עקדה in Genesis 21,2. It is also possible that whereas Abraham's departure from Ur Casdim had included a migration of his whole family, now G'd demanded that he leave his family behind. Abraham did not understand this correctly; this is why he took Lot with him. Alternatively, Abraham did understand that he was not supposed to take Lot with him, but the latter was so attached to him that he insisted on coming along on his own. When the Torah says in 12,5 that he did "take" Lot with him, the meaning is merely that he did not push him away until he found a suitable pretext as he did not want to shame his nephew. As soon as Abraham found a minor pretext to separate from Lot, such as when the shepherds of Lot and those of Abraham began to feud, he used that incident as an excuse to separate from Lot (13,8). It sounds quite uncharacteristic for Abraham, the model of making people welcome in his environment, to push someone away with both hands by saying: "if you want to go to the right, I will move to the left; if you want to move to the left, I will move to the right." The fact that G'd had not communicated with Abraham for a while until immediately after he separated from Lot (13,14), indicates that G'd had been waiting for the moment when Lot would finally separate from him. Only then did G'd show Abraham the extent of the land that would eventually belong to his descendants. G'd delayed fulfilling the last part of the promise contained in our verse until Abraham had rid himself of Lot. An additional meaning of the instruction to Abraham to "go for yourself," is not so much that he was to be alone but that he was to benefit spiritually by this migration. Although man's success in this world does not depend on the amount of effort he invests in his material progress as we know from Psalms 75,7: "for what lifts a man comes not from the east or the west or the wilderness of hills;" our sages say that every time the word הרים, mountains appears in the Bible it means mountains except in this instance. In Psalms 75,7 the word describes a spiritual uplift. This comment of our sages notwithstanding, the fact that a change of one's physical environment brings in its wake an improvement in one's fortune is not to be ignored. This was why G'd commanded Abraham specifically to leave his country. Our sages (Chulin 95) say that there are three things, which do not actually constitute forbidden superstition even if one does pay attention to them. However, such attention borders on superstition. They are: בית, תינוק, ואשה. [If the enterprise one undertakes after building himself a house, after a baby is born to one, or after one has married, turns out well, it may be taken as a good omen. If not, it may be a sign that one should not persevere with that particular endeavour. Rabbi Eleazar adds that one should not be influenced by such failure unless it occurred three times in succession. Ed.] Baba Metzia 75 also said that if one experiences bad luck in one place without moving to another place one has oneself to blame if one's fortunes do not improve. וממולדתך, and from your birthplace. The lesson here is that living in a place endangered by lions is preferable to living in a place surrounded by sinners, though the latter appeared secure. אל הארץ אשר אראך, to the land which I will show you. G'd did not tell Abraham if he was meant to set out on his journey immediately or if he should wait till He would specify the exact location He wanted Abraham to move to. This ambiguity was part of the test to which G'd subjected Abraham. G'd also hinted that He would show Abraham the whole of the land of Israel by broadening his field of vision, etc, as we know from 13,14: "lift your eyes from where you are and look northward, southward, eastward, and westward." G'd also hinted that Abraham should move to ארץ ישראל, a land suitable for the Presence of G'd to become manifest, and for people who are worthy to experience such a manifestation. The Sifri on Numbers 35,34 states that (full) manifestation of G'd's presence depends on the Jewish people being in the land of Israel. Accordingly, the meaning of the word אראך is both: "I will show it (the land) to you," and: "I will show you to it (the land)." One will not achieve its full potential without the other.

ויאמר ה' אל אברם לך לך, The Lord said to Avram: “go for yourself, etc;” While Terach and Avram were still in Ur Casdim, G-d told Avram to leave his homeland. He did not specify his ultimate destination. A different interpretation of the words: מארצך, “from your homeland.” “Leave the land in which you are currently residing.” וממולדך, “G-d added this to prevent Avram from returning to his birthplace, Ur Casdim. ומבית אביך, “and from the house of your father.” G-d did not want Avram to ever return to his father’s house in order to receive his share of the inheritance. He promised to reward him far beyond anything he could expect as his share of his father’s estate. Rashi here adds a peculiar comment, writing that here the meaning of בית אביך is that where Avram had resided thus far he would not be able to become a father of children. Apparently, he bases himself on our sages in the Jerusalem Talmud, Taanit: 2,1: that there are three things which are apt to cancel a decree against someone siring children: changing the place of one’s residence, changing one’s name, and observing a fast, praying for children. (Compare also Bereshit Rabbah 44,11) אל הארץ, “to the land;” the definitive article ה, is to remind Avraham that seeing he was descended from Shem, he had a legal claim to this land. This conforms to how Rashi (Verse 6) explains why he was instructed to walk throughout this land (Genesis 13,17) in order to claim it through having set foot in it. G-d Himself guided him.

הולך את חכמים יחכם, ורועה כסילים ירוע, “He who walks with scholars will become wise; he who keeps company with fools will come to grief“ (Proverbs 13,20). King Solomon warns people in this verse to try and move within circles of scholars and at the same time to try and avoid keeping company with fools. The reason he uses the expression הולך, is that a person should always walk behind the scholars, become familiar with them, and consider himself as an adjunct to them. He should make of the scholars leaders for his “head.” Anyone who practices this virtue cannot fail to become wise himself. On the other hand, anyone who habitually mingles with fools will wind up causing harm to his own head, i.e. he will become “broken.” Basically, this verse in Proverbs describes the damage which results from keeping company with fools and the advantage which accrues to a person from the company of scholars. It is a fact that while someone who mingles with the scholars will benefit by such an association, the scholar will not suffer by it at all. This is the reason the Torah has been compared by David to a light (candle), seeing that an unlimited number of people can get light from this candle without the light of the candle becoming dimmed. This is the meaning of Psalms 119, 108 נר לרגלי דברך, ואור לנתיבתי’ “Your word is a lamp at my feet, a light for my path.” Our sages in Yalkut Shimoni (this book was not at the disposal of the author. Ed) comment on this verse in Proverbs that the matter may be compared to someone who enters a perfumery store. His clothing will absorb some of the fragrances in that store although he did not make a purchase of any of the products that are for sale there. In other words, the owner of that store provided a service for the browser without making a sale. Similarly, the mere fact that one is in the presence of scholars results in something rubbing off on those who make a point of being in such company. Solomon describes that the opposite is true when one frequents the haunts of fools. Not only is their presence not beneficial, but it is even harmful to those who are not of their ilk. The expression כסילים which Solomon applies to these fools are people who deliberately choose negative virtues, indulge in physical pleasures as their main purpose in life and who at the same time despise and ridicule people concerned with moral/intellectual pursuits. Such people do not qualify for admonition as they belong to one of the three categories of people who are not to be admonished. They are 1) כסילים, fools, 2) לצים, scoffers, 3) רשעים, wicked people. Concerning category one Solomon said (Proverbs 23,9) “do not speak to a fool; he will disdain your sensible words.” Concerning the scoffer, Solomon said (Proverbs 9,8) “do not admonish the scoffer lest he hate you.” Concerning the wicked, Solomon said (Proverbs 9,7) “rebuking a wicked person one hurts oneself.” Just as the very company of scholars is like an open invitation to serve the Lord, so the company of the other types of people we mentioned is like an invitation to reject the service of the Lord. The Torah writes in Deut. 7,4 “for he will lead astray your son (grandson) from following Me. The Torah spoke about the results of intermarriage of a Jewish girl with a Gentile. Although, technically speaking, the children of such a union will be Jews, the influence of the Gentile father and his family will estrange them to Judasim. For all the above considerations David commenced his Book of Psalms with praise for the people who resist keeping company with the habitual sinners, and who instead make the Torah of G-d the object of their ambition, preoccupying themselves with it both by day ad by night (Psalms 1,1-2). Solomon followed in the footsteps of his father when he commenced the Book of Proverbs (1,8) with the words שמע בני מוסר אביך, “listen to the instruction of your father my son; etc.” He continued immediately by warning that we should not expose ourselves to the seductive words of the wicked (1,10). Our patriarch Avraham made every effort to observe the eventual laws of the Torah and the sacrificial services; our sages illustrated this when they said (Yuma 28) that he even observed such rabbinic ordinances as עירוב תבשילים, ensuring that he had cooked and baked food in the house for the Sabbath which follows on the heels of a festival so that preparation of food on the festival itself would not be viewed as exploiting a day when work is forbidden to prepare for the Sabbath. Avraham faced the dilemma of keeping away from wicked people, people who were the cause of truly free choice of worship having become impossible. Once you have become a true heretic (compare Maimonides Hilchot Teshuvah) you are not given a chance to repent). This is why G-d told him to move away from such people so that he would not become infected by them. G-d sent him away from his land, his birthplace to a land which He was going to show him (once he had set out to leave his home). According to Tanchuma 3 on Lech Lecha, Avraham was not aware of the stench caused by the people amongst whom he lived as his environment was similar to a graveyard which had been sprinkled with a bottle of spikenard oil which neutralized the stench which emanates from there. How did G-d deal with this problem? He took Avraham from place to place and acquainted him with the different smells of the universe. In this manner Avraham was able to appreciate what was wrong in the world, and he would be trained not to become overwhelmed by the stench caused by the lifestyles of his contemporaries. Then came the point when G-d said to Avraham: “remove yourself from them and do not become dirtied by them.” This is the meaning of the words לך לך, i.e. “it is time that you by yourself.” The repetition of the letters לך לך allude to the word לכלך, dirt. G-d did not want him to become dirtied by his surroundings. This was the first of the ten trials Avraham had to undergo; he successfully coped with all of them. The final and greatest trial was when G-d told him to offer up his son Yitzchak on Mount Moriah. At that time G-d again introduced the trial with the words לך לך in order to compare his first trial to his last trial. The commandment of which the Torah speaks here at the beginning of chapter 12 was issued while Avraham was in Charan as this was his country and his birthplace. Concerning that place Avraham said later (23,2 when he instructed Eliezer to get a wife for Yitzchak): “but go only to my country and to my birthplace!” It was certainly a great trial for him to leave his country and the place he had been born and raised in, the place where he had dwelled with his whole family, and to go to an entirely unknown country. Remember that prior to G-d’s communication to Avraham telling him to move away from home, it would have been appropriate for the Torah to tell us something about Avraham’s virtues, just as the Torah had done before it reported that G-d issued commands to Noach before him. We must assume that the reason the Torah did not do so was because it had already hinted previously that Avraham was a person of exceptional qualities when the Torah referred to אור כשדים, as we explained on 11,28.

“And God said to Abram, ‘Go forth, etc.’” What would the verse have been lacking if it had simply said “Go forth to the land that I will show you”? Why did it need to specify these details from your land, from your birthplace, and from your father’s house? Also, the word lecha [for yourself] needs explanation, as it doesn’t mean “go for your benefit.” Furthermore, the Ramban’s interpretation that it’s similar to the phrase I will go for myself to the mountain of myrrh (Song of Songs 4:6) doesn’t seem correct, as both “li” and “lecha” should have a different explanation that’s closer to the simple meaning. It appears to me that the Holy One, Blessed be He, moved him from one matter to another, like how we educate a child, because perhaps it would be difficult for him to accept everything at once. Therefore, He made three divisions and moved him to a fourth matter. Initially, He asked him to leave his land, which was a small request, since a person doesn’t gain more benefit from his own land than from other lands. The only benefit is the fame and imagined honor people give someone in a place where they know him, but beyond this, he has no help or support from all the people of his land who are not related, so it’s easy to be persuaded to leave them. Then, after he removed his whole land from his heart, He addressed the possibility that his soul might be bound to the people of his kin, from whom he had some help and support, as families typically do, where one person bears the burden for his relatives and they don’t allow strangers to dominate them. This offered somewhat more benefit than the first. After he was persuaded of this too, there was concern that his soul might cling to his father’s house, where he had additional benefit beyond all these, namely the benefit of wealth, as house and wealth are inherited from fathers. Beyond these three types of closeness, there is a fourth type of closeness, for a person is closer to their own essence than to all these three types of relatives. Therefore, it says lech lecha [go to yourself] — to your essence, just as it was said to Adam to work the ground from which he was taken. And earlier in the book of Genesis (3:23), I explained that this refers to Mount Moriah, because Adam was created from the place of his atonement, and his origin is from Mount Moriah, as his dust was taken from there. And through the ladder in the lower Temple, which is aligned with the upper Temple, pure souls ascend and descend. Therefore, there lies the essence of the body, and there is the hidden strength of the soul. Thus, a person is closest to their own essence more than all types of relatives mentioned, therefore it says lech lecha. The same expression is used regarding the Binding of Isaac (Genesis 22:2), And go for yourself to the land of Moriah. In both instances, the location was not immediately revealed to him, as here it says which I will show you, and in the Binding it says which I will tell you. This is because the Holy One, Blessed be He, did not want to reveal to Abraham the place of origin of body and soul until His holy spirit would first be poured upon him from above. For it is known (Tanchuma Bo 5) that prophecy does not rest outside the Land of Israel, and therefore as long as he was outside the Land, until he had the spirit of prophecy, he could not know or understand the essence of the soul whose source is from Mount Moriah, and even the nature of physical creation from there, he could not understand. Only upon entering the Holy Land, a place suited for prophecy, did the Holy One, Blessed be He, show him the virtues of that holy place and how it is the place of man’s essence, for there is his home and the source from which the soul is hewn, and the quarry of matter. For this reason, it was proper for him to leave all these and go to cleave to that holy place, for there he would achieve attachment to the Divine Presence. And this is what Rashi explained about journeying toward the Negev — to go to the south of Jerusalem and Mount Moriah. For this reason, the phrase “And God appeared to him” is not mentioned at the beginning of this vision. Rather, it only appears after he entered the land [of Israel], for then he was ready to see divine visions. But before this, while he was still outside the Land [of Israel], he only heard the voice of words, for God had not yet appeared to him until he came to the Land, as will be explained shortly. Therefore, he called that place “Sulama of Tzur” [the ladder of the rock], as it appears in the Yalkut on this portion: “When Abraham reached Sulama of Tzur, he said ‘Let my portion be in this land.’” How did the author of the Midrash know that Abraham reached Sulama of Tzur? Certainly, his intention refers to Mount Moriah, for that is the location of the ladder that Jacob saw standing in Beth El, and through that ladder souls ascend and descend, and there is the rock from which the body is hewn, as it is written Look to the rock from which you were hewn (Isaiah 51:1). For from that rock, which is called the Foundation Stone [Even Shetiyah], the general world was founded, and also man, who is called a small world, was formed from the place of that rock, where the ladder for the soul is also located, as mentioned. And for this reason, the phrase “lech lecha” is used here, and in the story of the Binding [of Isaac], and similarly in the verse I will go for myself to the mountain of myrrh, and the rain is over and gone for itself — it has gone to its source, for mist rises from the earth. And similarly Rise up and cross over the brook for yourselves (Deuteronomy 2:13) — this also refers to the Land of Israel. And likewise I will go for myself to the great ones (Jeremiah 5:5) — for there is the dwelling of the complete ones. And so too, all instances of “li” [for/to me], “lo” [for/to him], “lecha” [for/to you], and “lahem” [for/to them] in Scripture are explained in this way, and Abraham understood from the words lech lecha to go to the land of Canaan, even though he was not told which land to go to.

ויאמר ה' אל אברם לך לך, “The Lord said to Avram: “go forth for yourself, etc.” Rashi interprets the words לך as meaning “for your own benefit, and for your own satisfaction.” Rashi explains this verse in this fashion, although he was aware that our sages considered this verse as introducing one of the ten trials G’d subjected Avraham to. Having to move away from his birthplace was considered one of these trials. Nachmanides does not interpret the word לך as meaning “for your own benefit,” i.e. the repetition of the words לך לך. He feels that the wording לך לך is not at all unusual, and therefore does not call for a special interpretation at this point. He quotes Song of Songs 2,11 הגשם הלך לו, “the rain has ceased,” as well as the preceding words לכי לך, “go forth,” as examples of the pronoun לך appearing without any ulterior meanings having to be looked for. Other similar examples are (Jeremiah 5,5) אלכה לי אל הגדולים, “so I will go to the wealthy, etc.” However, our sages (long before Rashi) have used this kind of syntax in order to derive additional meanings from it. (Deut. 10,1) ועשית לך ארון עץ, “make yourself a wooden ark; or Numbers 10,2 עשה לך שתי חצוצרות כסף “make for yourself two silver trumpets.” The Talmud Yuma 3 explains the word לך to mean that these trumpets were to be Moses’ personal property, and in fact they were hidden after his death so that no one else could make use of them. In view of the above, there is no reason for Nachmanides to criticize Rashi’s interpretation of the word לך in our verse. (seeing that the Tabernacle was not Moses’ personal property, the expression לך used in connection with it would not fit the interpretation Rashi gave it here, whereas the trumpets were specifically not communal property.) מארצך וממולדך ומבית אביך, “from your homeland, your birthplace, and from your father’s house.” The trial became progressively more difficult, as separating from one’s father’s house is more difficult than separating from the land one has been born in. אל הארץ אשר אראך, “to the land which I will show you.” It is an additional hardship to be ordered to undertake a journey the destination of which has not been revealed beforehand. Avraham considered all this as easy, as he was anxious to fulfill G’d’s request out of a feeling of love for Him. Rashi queries that this commandment was not new, seeing that Avraham had already left his homeland a number of years ago when he went to Charan with his father? He therefore explains that we must understand what G’d is reported to have said here to Avraham to make an even more drastic break with his past by leaving his father’s house. Ibn Ezra views the basic commandment as having been formulated by G’d already when G’d said to him לך לך מארצך as well as ממולדך ומבית אביך, at a time when he was still in Ur Casdim. G’d had known that Terach, Avraham’s father, would not go beyond Charan. In fact, Terach died 60 years after Avraham had continued his journey to the land of Canaan. Nachmanides disagrees, writing that if correct, the paragraph describing the move from Ur Casdim should have portrayed Avraham as the principal, instead of describing Terach as having taken the other family members with him. (11,31) Clearly, at that time Avraham followed his father’s instructions, not G’d’s. No mention had been made of G’d having communicated with Avraham as yet. Furthermore, in the verse from Joshua 24,3 G’d is quoted as having said: “I have taken your father (Avraham) from beyond the river Euphrates.” If Ibn Ezra were correct, Joshua should have quoted: “I have taken your father from Ur Casdim, etc.” Still another proof that Ibn Ezra is not correct can be found in the instructions Avraham issued to his trusted servant Eliezer when he sent him to get a wife for Yitzchok. In Genesis 24,3 Avraham instructs Eliezer to take a wife for Yitzchok from ארצי ומולדתי, “my homeland and the place where I was born.” Eliezer proceeded to travel to Aram Naharyim, not to Ur Casdim in order to discharge his master’s mission. Ibn Ezra is wrong when he interprets the words in that verse as meaning ארצי=חרן and מולדתי as Ur Casdim. How could he say here that this directive was given to Avraham while he was still in Ur Casdim? Avraham had a number of countries that he called “his country” at different times, though he had only one birthplace and one father’s house. The fact is that Charan was both his homeland, his birthplace, and the location of his father’s house. אל הארץ אשר אראך, “to the land which I will show you.” He would be wandering until he would eventually get to the land of Canaan. Having arrived in the land of Canaan, G’d told him (verse 7) that He would give that whole land to his (non existent) descendants. When we had been told earlier (11,31) ויצאו אתם מאור כשדים ללכת ארצה כנען, “They departed together from Ur Casdim to go to the land of Canaan,” this was not a journey designed to settle in that land, as Avraham had not yet known at that time that G’d’s commandment had envisaged the land of Canaan as his ultimate destination. We have proof of this from when he explained to Avimelech (Genesis 20,13) that G’d had made him wander without a specific objective through many locations, so that he had adopted the practice of describing Sarai as his sister in all the locations where they had stopped for a period of time. It is possible that Avraham had known that the land of Canaan was G’d’s inheritance on earth, and that therefore he had been heading in that direction. He had understood that the words “to the land which I will show you” were a hint that he should head towards the land of Canaan.

And I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you, and I will make your name great, and you shall be a blessing.

ואעשך לגוי גדול AND I WILL MAKE OF THEE A GREAT NATION —Since travelling is the cause of three things—it decreases (breaks up) family life, it reduces one’s wealth and lessens one’s renown, he therefore needed these three blessings: that God should promise him children, wealth and a great name (Genesis Rabbah 39:11). ואברכך AND I WILL BLESS THEE —with wealth (Genesis Rabbah 39:11). והיה ברכה AND BE THOU A BLESSING — Blessings are entrusted to you; hitherto they were in My power — I blessed Adam and Noah — but from now on you shall bless whomsoever you wish (Genesis Rabbah 39:11) Another explanation is: AND I WILL MAKE THEE A GREAT NATION, this alludes to the fact that we say in our prayer “God of Abraham”; AND I WILL BLESS THEE — that we say, “God of Isaac”; AND I WILL MAKE THY NAME GREAT — that we say, “God of Jacob”. One might think that we should conclude the benediction in which these invocations are recited by mentioning again the names of all the patriarchs — the text therefore states “Be thou a blessing” meaning, with you (i.e. with your name only) shall they conclude the benediction and not with them (their names) (Pesachim 117b). מארצך FROM THY LAND — But had he not already departed from there together with his father and had reached as far as Haran (Genesis 11:31)? But thus God in effect said to him: Go still further away — leave now thy father’s house also. אשר אראך WHICH I WILL SHOW THEE — He did not reveal to him at once which land it was in order that he should hold it in high esteem and in order to reward him for complying with each and every command. Similar is, (Genesis 22:2) “Take thy son — thine only son — whom thou lovest — even Isaac”; similar is (Genesis 22:2) “upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of”; similar is, (Jonah 3:2) “And make unto it the proclamation that I shall tell thee of” (Genesis Rabbah 39:9).

AND BE THOU A BLESSING. You will be the blessing by whom people will be blessed, saying, “G-d make thee as Abraham.” To this He added that all families of the earth here. will cite him in blessing, not just the people of his country alone. It may be that the expression, And in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed, here. means that they will all be blessed on his account. Now this portion of Scripture is not completely elucidated. What reason was there that the Holy One, blessed be He, should say to Abraham, “Leave your country, and I will do you good in a completely unprecedented measure,” without first stating that Abraham worshipped G-d or that he was a righteous man, [and] perfect? As was the case with Noah. Or it should state as a reason for his leaving the country that the very journey to another land constituted an act of seeking the nearness of G-d. This may indeed be an illuminating personal remark shedding light on Ramban’s journey, towards the end of his life, to the Land of Israel; the very journey constituted to him a religious experience of “seeking the nearness of G-d.” The custom of Scripture is to state, “Walk before Me, and hearken to My voice, and I will do good unto you,” as is the case with David and Solomon, -14. as well as throughout the Torah: If ye walk in My statute; And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the Eternal thy G-d. And in the case of Isaac, it says, For My servant Abraham’s sake. But there is no reason for G-d to promise [Abraham a reward merely] for his leaving the country. However, the reason [for G-d’s promising Abraham this reward] is that the people of Ur of the Chaldees did him much evil on account of his belief in the Holy One, blessed be He, and he fled from them to go to the land of Canaan, tarrying for a time at Haran, whereupon the Eternal told him to leave these places as well and to fulfill his original intention that his worship be dedicated to Him alone and that he call upon people [for the worhip of] the Name of the Eternal in the Chosen Land. There He would make his name great, and these nations would bless themselves by him, not as they treated him in Ur of the Chaldees, where they abused and cursed him, put him in prison or in the fiery furnace. He further told Abraham that He will bless those who bless him, and if some individual will curse him, he will be cursed in turn. This then is the meaning of this portion of Scripture. The Torah, however, did not want to deal at length with the opinions of idol worshippers and explain the matter between him and the Chaldeans in the subject of faith, just as it dealt briefly with the matter of the generation of Enosh See also above in Seder Noach, Note 280. and their thesis concerning the idol-worship which they instituted.

והיה ברכה, a true blessing by G’d is when G’d rejoices in our deeds and actions. Our sages (Berachot 7) illustrate this when they quote a conversation between the High Priest Rabbi Yishmael ben Elisha who, while offering incense on Yom Kippur, had a vision of the angel Katriel sitting on the throne of G’d. The latter said to him: “Yishmael, My son, bless Me.” He said to him: (in the words attributed as being G’d’s own ‘prayer’) “may it be Your will that Your mercy will subdue Your anger and may Your mercy exile Your justified attribute to punish Your people for their sins, and may Your mercy prevail so that You deal with Your children by applying the attribute of Mercy.” When G’d’s representative, the angel Katriel heard this, he touched the High Priest on the head, which the latter took as a sign that the blessing uttered by an inferior creature for a superior should not be dismissed as worthless.” [I have stuck more closely to the text of the Talmud than did the author here. Ed.] G’d here blessed Avram, with becoming the one who would preach monotheism including awareness of the benevolence of G’d which He extends to all of His creatures.

ואעשך לגוי גדול. I shall make a great nation out of you. Since G'd had given Abraham a threefold commandment, He now promised that fulfilment of these three steps would result in three benefits to Abraham. 1) The promise that Abraham would become a great nation was the reward for leaving his country. 2) The promise to bless Abraham and make him a great name was a reward for his leaving his birthplace. 3) The promise that Abraham himself would become a source of blessing was a reward for his leaving his father's home. These three promises were compensations for things people normally enjoy when they are in familiar surroundings. 1) They have many friends and acquaintances. 2) They enjoy a degree of honour and respect within their family. 3) Inasmuch as they are part of a family their economic needs are taken care of should they fall on hard times. When a person emigrates to a totally strange country, he knows that he gives up the mental and economic stability that he took for granted in his home.

ואעשך לגוי גדול, “I am going to make you into a great nation, etc.” G-d, being aware that Avram’s wife is presently barren, tells him that notwithstanding this fact he will become the founding father of a great nation. We had been told in Genesis 11,30, of Sarah’s inability to have children. A different interpretation of this verse: The Torah does not write: ואשימך לגוי גדול, “I will make you to be a great nation, which could have been misinterpreted.” G-d stressed that He would perform an act that would neutralise any negative decree from which Avram suffered, i.e. changing both his and his wife’s name. People called: Avraham, and: Sarah, had never been decreed to remain childless. According to the Midrash, originally Avram lacked 5 important organs: eyes, ears, as well as the glans. The glans is called “the head of the body,” as sacrificing, i.e. circumcising it is equivalent to offering one’s entire body as an offering to G-d. (Compare Talmud, Nedarim 32.) When G-d added the letter ה to his name, He supplied these missing 5 organs of his body. This is meant when G-d invited him to become תמים, “whole, a perfect specimen. (Genesis 17,1) ואגדלה שמך, “I will make your name great.” This was accomplished by adding a single letter to his name. Through this addition the numerical value of the letters in his name amounted to 248, the total number of limbs in a perfectly formed human (male) specimen. [Incidentally, this is also the total number of positive commandments in the Torah. Ed.] Avraham then had a perfect body and a perfect, whole name. והיה ברכה, “as a result you will become a source of blessing.” We find a parallel to this expression in Isaiah 19,24: ביום ההוא אשים את ישראל ברכה בקרב הארץ, “on that day I will set up Israel as a blessing in the midst of the earth.”

ואעשך לגוי גדול, “and I will make you into a great nation.” Our sages (Bereshit Rabbah 39,15) explain that being a traveler, a nomad, brings in its wake three negative phenomena. It results 1) in a decrease of one’s fertility; 2) a decrease of one’s financial resources; and 3) in a decrease of one’s standing amongst one’s peers. G-d promised Avraham that he would not suffer from these negative phenomena. By saying: “I will make you into a great nation,” G-d told Avraham that his ability to procreate would not only not suffer but would be enhanced. By adding: “I will bless you,” G-d hinted that Avraham would prosper financially. By further adding “I will make your name great,” He countered Avraham’s concern that his standing amongst his peers would decline due to his becoming a nomad. It is noteworthy that G-d did not use the customary expression ואשימך לגוי גדול, “I will let you become a great nation,” but He said ואעשך לגוי גדול, “I will make you into a great nation.” This is equivalent to G-d saying: “I will make you into an entirely new phenomenon.” The expression G-d used is comparable to when the Torah said (1,7) ויעש אלוקים את הרקיע, “G-d made the sky.” The deeper meaning of the words לגוי גדול, “to a great nation,” is a reference to the Jewish nation which is described in Deut. 4,8 as ומי גוי גדול אשר לו חקים ומשפטים צדיקים, “and who else is a great nation which has righteous decrees and ordinances?” The words: “I will make you into a great nation,” are alluded to when we refer to G-d as the G-d of Avraham,” the words “I will bless you,” are alluded to when we refer to G-d as “the G-d of Yitzchak;” the words “and I will make your name great,” are alluded to when we speak of G-d as “the G-d of Yaakov.” The words והיה ברכה “and be a blessing,” prompted our sages when they formulated the first benediction in the principal עמידה prayer to conclude with reference to Avraham only when we say מגן אברהם, “the shield of Avraham” at the conclusion of that benediction. The deeper meaning of these words והיה ברכה, “and be a blessing,” is that G-d had said: ”up until now when I created My universe and it needed My blessing in order to endure I blessed Adam and Chavah as we read (1,28) ‘G-d blessed them.’” This was repeated when Noach and his family required G-d’s blessing after the deluge in order to rebuild mankind. At that point (9,1) the Torah wrote: “G-d blessed Noach and his sons, etc.” From here on is the power to bless was entrusted to Avraham who could use it to bless whomever he saw fit to qualify for a blessing.

“And I will make you into a great nation, etc.” [God] instructed him that even those three perceived benefits that you have from your land, your birthplace, and your father’s house will also be available to you there. For if you leave your birthplace, the place of your family, and you might worry that in times of need you won’t have brothers or people who have mercy on you, regarding this He said “I will make you into a great nation” — for there too, many families will emerge from your loins. And if you are concerned about inheriting wealth, behold, here I will bless you with wealth as well. And if you are worried about the good name you have in your land where people know you, [He says] “I will make your name great” here too. And corresponding to the statement “lech lecha” [go for/to yourself] which refers to your essence, He said, “and you shall be a blessing” — you will be the source of blessings through cleaving to that holy place from which abundance flows to the entire world and which is the source of all blessings, for the waters of blessing flow from the Temple. And by way of seeking out the Holy Land, the Holy One, Blessed be He, seeks out all lands. Thus, through cleaving to the place that is the source of blessings, you too will become a source of all blessings, and through cleaving there to the Divine Presence, your mouth will be like the mouth of the Holy One, Blessed be He, and it will be in Your power to bless whomever you wish. In the Talmudic tractate Pesachim (117b), regarding “I will make you into a great nation” — this refers to what we say [in prayer] “God of Abraham,” etc., because Abraham became a greater nation than all the forefathers, as all that descended from Isaac and Jacob is also attributed to Abraham. Additionally, beyond Isaac and Jacob, Ishmael and the children of Keturah came from him as well. And I will bless you [refers to blessing] with wealth — this is what we say “God of Isaac,” for he was blessed with wealth more than all of them, as it is said, Isaac sowed in that land and found in that year a hundredfold, and God blessed him (Genesis 26:12). And I will make your name great — this is what we say “God of Jacob.” As our Rabbis said (Megillah 18a), And He called him El — the Holy One, Blessed be He, called Jacob “El,” etc. And according to its simple meaning, he was called by the name Israel because you have striven with God and with men. But Abraham was only [called] the father of many nations.

והיה ברכה, “and become a blessing.” You will be the blessing by whom the nations will bless themselves when they quote you as a role model when blessing others and wishing that they should turn out to be like Avraham.

And I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you shall be utterly cursed; and through you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.

ונברכו בך AND IN THEE SHALL BE BLESSED — There are many Agadoth concerning this but the plain sense of the text is as follows: A man says to his son, “Mayest thou become as Abraham”. This, too, is the meaning wherever the phrase ונברכו בך “And in thee shall be blessed” occurs in Scripture, and the following example proves this: (Genesis 48:20) בך יברך “By thee shall Israel bless their children saying, “May God make thee as Ephraim and Manasseh”.

"Those who bless you" (מְבָרְכֶיךָ) is plural, while "he who curses you" (מְקַלֶּלְךָ) is singular.

ואברכה מברכך, I shall bless those who bless you. This additional blessing was to compensate Abraham for G'd's failure to tell him the destination he was headed for. After all, G'd did not even tell Abraham which country to head for! It was a tremendous test for Abraham to just leave his home, etc., without having the slightest idea where he was to make his new home. The fact that Abraham did not query G'd in his mind or by prayer is considered as extremely praiseworthy. As a result of this blind faith in G'd, Abraham encountered success wherever he went. His spiritual stature grew constantly. We are entitled to ask why the wording of the Torah is different in respect to those who bless Abraham from that to those who curse him. In the former case G'd mentions that He will bless such people even before they have actually blessed Abraham. In the case of people who curse Abraham, G'd is not described as cursing such people until after they have actually cursed him. If G'd were to curse the potential curser prior to his cursing Abraham, that person would never become aware of the reason G'd cursed him. On the other hand, G'd does not cause any harm by blessing those who intended to bless Abraham already in anticipation of their good deed. It is also noteworthy that the Torah speaks about the people who will bless Abraham in the plural, whereas the reference to anyone who might curse Abraham is phrased in the singular. Perhaps this is best explained in connection with what the rabbis said to the son of Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai in Moed Katan 9. They wished him: תזרע ולא תחצד, "may you sow and not harvest," and a few more such strange sounding wishes. The Talmud describes how Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai explained to his son that though these wishes sounded like curses they were actually blessings. The reference to sowing and not harvesting was a blessing i.e. that he should father children but not have to bury them. It is not the actual phraseology that matters but the intent. G'd told Abraham that there are some people who clothe their curses in words that sound like blessings. He told him that He would also bless the individual who blessed Abraham in such an unusual manner as did the rabbis who blessed the son of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai. The word מקללך applies both to what preceded it and to what follows it. Accordingly there are two kinds of people who might curse Abraham; the ones who dress up the curse to sound like a blessing, and the ones who curse outright. The first category is alluded to when you read the word ומקללך as if it belonged to the word מברכיך which preceded it. The other kind of curser is the one who curses without provocation and without hypocrisy. When the Torah says of G'd אאר, this refers to both categories of people cursing Abraham. An alternate way of explaining this is based on the statement in Taanit 20: "better the curse of an Achiyah Hashiloni (a prophet, compare Kings I 14,15) than the blessing conferred upon the Jewish people by Bileam." The former used words of a curse to give the Jewish people an incentive to overcome the curse, the latter praised them excessively, hoping to lull them into a kind of spiritual nirvana that would make them easy prey for the evil urge. Concerning the person who bestows the kind of Achiyah Hashiloni's curse on Abraham, G'd says that He will bless a person who curses with such good intentions, whereas concerning the one who does the reverse, G'd will curse him though he couched his curse in words which seemed to convey a blessing. ונברכו בך כל משפחות האדמה, and all the families of the world will receive a blessing thanks to you. This is the difference between people who bless you and those that are indifferent to you, neither blessing Abraham not cursing him. G'd will bless directly anyone who blesses Abraham; the ones who do not bless Abraham will receive only an indirect blessing, i.e. via Abraham.

ואברכה מברכיך, “I will bless those who bless you.” You must never think that there are no people on earth that are psychologically close to you and are potential saviours of you, for I love those who love you and I hate the people who hate you. [in other words I know that there are people who love you. Ed.] ואברכה מברכיך ומקללך אאור, “I will bless those who bless you, and curse those who curse you;” you may question why elsewhere G-d uses the reverse order, i.e. “he who curses you, and I will bless him who blesses you” (Genesis 27,29). The reason for that formulation is that as a general rule, the righteous first experience trials and tribulations in their lives, whereas their relative serenity does not occur until they are well advanced in age.[When Yaakov was well advanced in years and thought the time had come for him to “retire,” according to Rashi in his commentary on Bereshit Rabbah 84,3, he attributes his problem with Joseph to Yaakov expecting worry free life in this world also. Ed.] The answer to the above question is that we must distinguish between who does the blessing and cursing. When the subject is a human being, a righteous person who bestows a blessing, he will commence by mentioning the negative first and the positive as the conclusion (as did Yitzchok when he blessed Yaakov, thinking that Esau was righteous, as in Genesis 27,29) When the subject is G-d Himself, as when G-d blessed Avraham, here, it is more appropriate that He should commence by mentioning the positive aspects first. Furthermore, as generally speaking there are likely to be more people who bless a man such as Avraham, seeing that they are the majority, they are mentioned first, whereas the Torah speaks of מקללך, “he who curses you,” in the singular mode, not “they who curse you,” in the plural mode.ונברכו, a weak conjugation, according to Rash’bam, in the sense of refining through mixing. Through mixing with your descendants many nations will become spiritually uplifted. This is also why the Torah refers here to: משפחות האדמה, “the families on earth.”

.ואברכה מברכיך ומקללך אאור, “and I will bless those who will bless you, and those who curse you I will curse.” This implies that the people of Ur Casdim were cursing Avraham and that had prompted G’d to tell him to move to a land He would show him. There he would become a source of blessing instead of the recipient of curses. G’d would henceforth curse those who cursed Avraham, be they individuals or groups of people. This, at any rate is Nachmanides’ interpretation of our verse. He adds that the Torah did not want to elaborate on the causes why Avraham was so disliked, just as it had not spent many words on describing the religious arguments which went on during the time of Enosh. There is, however, another approach to the meaning of the words “and the one who curses you I shall curse.” It may refer to King Nimrod.” The Torah did not need to write the word ומקללך in the plural as once G’d curses the King of a nation this means that the entire nation will suffer the curse. It appears likely that the people of Ur Casdim engaged in a variety of forms of idolatry, different sections of the populace believing in and worshiping different deities. Some people served the Moloch, believing that if they sacrificed one of their children to that god, he in turn would grant them success in the rest of their endeavours. The Moloch’s priests promised that his adherents would become great nations. Other people, interested less in political success but in economic success, would worship another deity which symbolised such success. Still others believed that by worshiping the right deity they themselves might be appointed by that deity to become its prophet and to enjoy its powers on earth. Considering all these factors, G’d promised Avraham that He would make him into a great nation, that He would bless him, that He would make him a great name, and that he himself would become a source of blessing, all in order to counter the various claims to the contrary which the different followers of different deities promised to their followers. These words were a message that all the claims made by the various priests of the various deities were devoid of content and that they had no power to influence their followers’ fates either positively or negatively. None of the forces of nature considered as primary sources of power by those who worshiped them has the power to cause any changes in the universe except within the parameters set for them by their Creator. They most certainly could not act in a manner which is the opposite of their generally perceived function. It was extremely foolish to expect that a planet such as Mars which is perceived as a harbinger of war and bloodshed should become a source of blessing. This is why G’d added: “and I will bless those who bless you, and those who curse you I shall curse,” to underline that only G’d Himself is the source of both blessings and curses. The only power in the universe which is able to influence events in our lives in either direction is the Creator Himself who has created the other forces to act as His agents. This is what the prophet meant when he said (Jeremiah 10,16) לא כאלה חלק יעקב כי יוצר הכל הוא, “not like this is the portion of Yaakov; for it is He who formed all things.” He meant that both good and evil emanate only from Him. This is also why Isaiah 45,7 said: “I the Lord do all these things.” A homiletical approach (Tanchuma Lech Lecha end of section 4) sees in the words ואברכה מברכיך, “and I will bless those who will bless you,” a reference to the Priests who extend G’d’s blessing to the Israelites seeing that after the Torah commanded the Priests to bless the Israelites, the Torah (Numbers 6,27) concludes with the words ושמו את שמי על בני ישראל ואני אברכם, “let them place My Name upon the children of Israel, and I shall bless them.” This is equivalent to G’d saying: “I will bless this tribe.” G’d said: “in this world the tribe of Levi will bless you, whereas in the world to come I will bless you directly.” This is also more directly alluded to in Jeremiah 31,23 יברכך ה' נוה צדק הר הקדש, “the Lord bless you, abode of righteousness O holy mountain.” ונברכו בך, “and through you will be blessed, etc.” The plain meaning of these words is that in proportion to all the curses that have been heaped upon you at this time, in the future all these nations will be amongst those who bless you. A Midrashic interpretation (Bereshit Rabbah 39,19) of these words: “the dew and the rain [nature’s way of spreading blessing, Ed.] will be due to your merit.” The words ונברכו בך, “through you will be blessed all the nations of the earth,” were first fulfilled when Yaakov blessed Pharaoh (and the famine ended). They were fulfilled when Joseph revealed the meaning of his dream to Pharaoh, enabling him to take measures to insulate his people against the devastating effect of seven years of famine. Similarly, Daniel interpreted Nebuchadnezzar’s dream with beneficial effects for him Whenever the Gentile nations experience troubles they will turn to the Jews for advice and blessings and we will reveal to them what to do. Thus far Bereshit Rabbah. A kabbalistic approach sees in the words ונברכו בך a message that the blessing will filter down from above, seeing that Avraham represents the highest emanation- so that he will be the first one to receive it from G’d- and he will channel it through the lower emanations. The author quotes an unknown text according to which all the blessings the Gentile nations receive will come to them only via Avraham. This is also why David said (Psalms 117,1-2) שבחוהו כל העולם, “praise Him, all you peoples... for great is His steadfast love for us and His faithfulness endures forever.” [The structure of these two verses indicates that the Jews and their relationship to G’d are the only reason that G’d suffers the existence of the other nations at all. Compare Bamidbar Rabbah 1. Ed.]

And I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse. The reason it doesn’t say “and I will curse those who curse you” in the same way it says and I will bless those who bless you, is because to man belong the arrangements of the heart (Proverbs 16:1). Before a person expresses any speech outwardly, he first arranges it in his heart and thoughts. It is known that regarding good deeds, the Holy One combines thought with action, but regarding evil thoughts, the Holy One does not combine them with action, as it is said: Had I seen iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have heard (Psalms 66:18), and it is written: Before they call, I will answer (Isaiah 65:24). Because before a person expresses his request verbally, he has already contemplated it in his heart, therefore the Holy One answers from His holy heavens before he calls. This is different from flesh and blood, where when someone asks something from his fellow, he needs to express it with his lips because no person knows what is in another’s heart. But the Holy One, who examines hearts, fulfills all the desires of one’s heart, as it is written: May He grant you according to your heart (Psalms 20:5), and as it is said: To man belong the arrangements of the heart, but from the Lord comes the answer of the tongue (Proverbs 16:1). He wished to resolve this difficulty with this explanation: If truly the Holy One fulfills one’s request after it has been arranged in a person’s heart, then why did God command prayer with the mouth? To this he says, “from the Lord comes the answer of the tongue” — this is God’s gift that He gave the answer of the tongue to man. As our Sages said (Yevamot 64a), “The Holy One desires the prayers of the righteous.” This is because they are compared to the Holy One as a beloved child to his father — if the child asks something from his father, even though the father knows what the child needs, nevertheless, the father wants the child to express his request verbally because the father delights in the speech of the child’s lips. Similarly, the Holy One says to Israel, “Let me hear your voice, for your voice is sweet to approach Me.” The Holy One does not wish to conduct Himself with us like earthly rulers, who don’t allow much speaking before them and immediately when they understand the requester’s intention, they say “shorten your words” or “finish your speech and leave.” But the Holy One, in His kindness, is not so, as it is written: You have given him his heart’s desire, and the request of his lips You have not withheld, Selah (Psalms 21:3). Because we are in His eyes like a delightful child and precious son. This is what it means: Even though before they call, I will answer, nevertheless, while they are still speaking, I will hear, for I have not withheld from them the expression of their lips. And this is what is meant when it says, If I had perceived iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not hear. And if you might say that this is also true regarding good things [positive thoughts], Scripture teaches us Indeed, God has heard, He has attended to the voice of my prayer. For regarding prayer, this is not the case — rather, He hears the voice of my prayer even though I have not yet uttered the words from my mouth. And if you might ask, “If so, why does God require me to tread His courtyards to pray before Him?” To this it states, Blessed be God, Who has not removed my prayer and His kindness from me. For I give thanks to His blessed Name that in His kindness He has not removed my prayer and desires the utterance of my lips, as stated. Therefore it says And I will bless those who bless you, because one who blesses you first thinks it in their heart before bringing forth the blessing from their mouth, and a good thought is considered like an action. Therefore, I bless them even before the blessing comes forth from their mouth. However, regarding those who curse, this is not the case. Rather, and the one who curses you — only after they have brought forth the curse from their mouth, then I will curse them but not before they have brought it forth from their mouth, because the Holy One, Blessed be He, does not combine an evil thought with action. Another reason for this matter: It is not comparable — one who pours from a full and overflowing vessel to one who pours from a lacking vessel, as we find regarding the Priestly Blessing (Numbers 6:23) So shall you bless the children of Israel, say to them. For the prayer leader first says to the kohen “May God bless you,” because the prayer leader is an intermediary between the Holy One, Blessed be He, and the kohanim. He first says to the kohen “May God bless you” and brings down the divine abundance through the spiritual channels so that the kohen becomes a vessel full of God’s blessing. Only afterwards does the kohen pour from his full vessel onto Israel, for then the blessing takes greater effect when the one bestowing the blessing first has the blessing within himself essentially and first. For how can one bless if he himself is not blessed? Therefore it says I will bless those who bless you — meaning that before they bless You, I will first bless them so that they will be vessels full of God’s blessing and will pour onto You from a full and overflowing vessel. However, regarding curse this concept does not apply at all, therefore it says and the one who curses You I will curse — afterwards and not before. And as for why it says those who bless you in plural form but the one who curses you in singular form — this indicates that many will bless him, but those who curse will not be many, rather isolated and inferior individuals like Nimrod and his associates, whose opinions are nullified compared to all [other] people. “And those who curse you I will curse.” The text should have said “and those who curse you I will curse” [using the same Hebrew root] or “and those who damn you I will damn.” This variation is also difficult to understand in the verse for those who honor Me I will honor, and those who scorn Me will be made light of (First Samuel 2:30), as it should have said “and those who scorn Me will be scorned.” It appears that these three expressions — scorn [bizayon], curse [klalah], and damn [arur] — each is more severe than the other, in ascending order. Scorn is the lightest of all, being passive — the scorner simply doesn’t show respect to the scorned one, as it is written for he has scorned the word of God (Numbers 15:31). Our Sages explained this refers to one who leaves a Torah scroll and walks away. The term “curse” [klalah] can also mean scorn, as Rashi explained on the verse for a curse of God is hanging (Deuteronomy 21:23), but it can also mean an actual potent curse, close to the meaning of “damn” [arur]. However, regarding “arur,” our Sages said it includes excommunication, ban, and curse — all these meanings are contained within it. It is known that everything depends on who is doing the shaming and who is being shamed. For if a lowly, worthless person scorns or curses an elder of high standing, it is not sufficient for that person to merely receive scorn or curse in return, as the damage is not equivalent to the distress — the lowly person doesn’t care about being shamed and treats it as a joke. Therefore, regarding God, it couldn’t say “those who scorn Me will be scorned,” as this wouldn’t be equivalent to the damage done to the King, Lord of Hosts, when a person who is already holding onto contempt and is thoroughly despised scorns the words of the supreme and exalted King God. Therefore, God will add curse and shame upon his honor and curse him severely according to the measure of the one who scorns. Similarly with Abraham, who was the father of many nations and all those in his generation were as nothing compared to him, therefore it is not sufficient for those who curse him to receive a mere curse in return. Rather, those who curse you I will damn — I will add damnation to them according to their measure. However, regarding those who bless and honor, the measure is equal — to bless those who bless and honor those who honor. And regarding what is stated here “and the one who curses you” while concerning the Holy One, Blessed be He, it states “and those who scorn Me” — this is because the language of curse is not applicable toward the Divine, for what can it give or add? Rather, the language of scorn is more appropriate for one who does not conduct himself with proper respect toward God’s word. A flesh and blood person should be among those who are insulted but do not take offense, yet regarding a curse it is appropriate to be particular. And concerning what is written here I will bless those who bless you while later it states for those who honor Me I will honor — these two blessings are not similar to each other. For blessing given to a person means an addition of abundance and increase, and this is not applicable toward the Divine, for what can one give Him through his blessing? Rather, their meaning is a blessing of thanksgiving. If so, how are these blessings related to each other that it would say “I will bless those who bless Me”? And concerning a person, it’s not appropriate to say “I will honor those who honor you,” because there is no comparison between the honor that one person gives to another and the honor that the wise inherit from God. However, the blessings are similar to each other, because certainly it is not within a person’s power to give blessings directly from his own hand, rather he blesses by saying “may God do good with you,” and with that same blessing that he blesses, God will also bless the one who gives the blessing.

ואברכה מברכיך, “I will bless those who will bless you.” The plural ending in the word מברכיך is a hint that there will be more people blessing you than people cursing you. Some commentators say that the verse is a prophecy concerning the priests who will be descended from Avraham and whose task it will be to bless the people. ונברכו בך כל משפחות האדמה, “and all the families on earth will be blessed through you.” Not only Avraham’s direct descendants will be blessed through him, but far wider circles, all the families on earth. Some commentators derive the expression from the causative form of the root ברך, meaning to refine through genetic improvement, מבריך. The term is applied especially to improving the qualities of certain grapes and the wine they produce. In our case it would mean that all the families of the earth would be improved through intermarriage with descendants of Avraham. Avraham having married Hagar, of Egyptian descent and siring a son from her would be a case in point. Later on, he married Keturah who was of the descendants of Yaphet and sired 6 sons from her.

And Abram went, as Hashem had spoken with him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.

וילך אברם, Abram went, etc. In view of verse 5 which describes Abraham's journey in detail, this entire verse seems superfluous. The Torah wants to show Abraham's love for G'd. He set out immediately without waiting for G'd to elaborate on His original instructions. The letter כ at the beginning of the word כאשר, describes the time, i.e. how Abraham acted immediately G'd finished speaking to him, how he left his father and his birthplace without further ado. The Torah adds that though Lot was so closely attached to Abraham that he insisted on accompanying Abraham, he did not do so for the same reason, i.e. a divine command. Abraham had tried to leave Lot behind in an elegant way but had not succeeded. [Had Lot joined Abraham as a religious gesture, the Torah would have described this by writing עמו instead of אתו. Ed.] The Torah writes the verse for yet another reason. Inasmuch as G'd had promised Abraham a number of rewards if he would fulfil His command, the average reader might assume that Abraham was primarily motivated by the promises G'd had made to him. The Torah wants us to know that the reason Abraham left his home and his father was because G'd had said so to him, not because of any secondary considerations such as the promise of becoming a man of great prominence. The Torah chose the words כאשר דבר, as G'd had told him firmly, not כאשר אמר, which would have corresponded to the opening statement of our פרשה where it said: ויאמר השם. When G'd uses the word דבר, this always implies that it is not easy to comply with G'd's command; when G'd uses the word אמר the implication is that it is relatively easy to comply. Another message we are to derive from this verse is that though Abraham did not yet know which country G'd wanted him to go to, he had already set out without using the excuse of waiting for further instructions before leaving his home. In verse 5 the Torah lists all those who accompanied Abraham to show that the test did not consist of who went with him but it consisted of Abraham not knowing where he was supposed to head for.

וילך אתו לוט, “Lot (his nephew) went with him.” Seeing that the death of Lot’s father Haran was indirectly due to Avraham who had been saved from Nimrod’s furnace a deed Haran emulated, but only after having seen Avraham being saved Avraham did not feel he could reject him at this stage. He adopted him as if he had been his own son. ואברם בן חמש ושבעים שנה, “and Avram was 75 years old;” the Torah told us how old Avram was at the time in order to show that he followed G-d’s instructions and abandoned the house of his father, an aged man still alive. בצאתו מחרן, “when he left Charan.” The Torah repeats this, as already pointed out in Seder Olam, an ancient historical text deemed reliable by the sages. According to that text, Avram had first returned to Charan and five years later departed from there once more.

ואברם בן חמש שנים ושבעים שנה בצאתו מחרן, “Avraham was 75 years of age when he emigrated from Charan.” The reason why the Torah recorded Avraham’s age at this stage was to show that he left his father in order to obey G’d’s instructions. According to the ancient historical text known as סדר עולם, Avraham undertook two emigrations, this being his second. He had gone to the land of Canaan the first time at the age of 70 where G’d had made the promises to him that are recorded in chapter 15. This is based on the Torah saying in Exodus 12,40 that the total period the Israelites spent in Egypt amounted to 430 years. Seeing that in chapter 15 G’d spoke about a period of 400 years during which his descendants were to be either strangers or strangers and slaves in a foreign country, it follows that until the birth of Yitzchok when Avraham was 100 years of age the fulfillment of that prophecy could not have commenced. Seeing that Avraham was in the land of Canaan for a brief period at that time, the countdown for the realization of this prophecy could begin from that time on. Furthermore, at the time when Avraham defeated the kings who had taken Lot prisoner he was 74 years of age. This is arrived at by the fact that he was 48 years old at the time when these city-kingdoms were founded and populated. For 12 years the political situation had remained stable with the kings of these cities paying annual taxes to Kedorleomer. Thus Avraham was 60 years old at the time when the city-kingdoms rebelled and refused to continue paying their taxes. 14 years later the four kings, including Kedorleomer, mounted the punitive expedition as a result of which Lot was taken prisoner. This means that Avraham was 74 years at the time. As the Torah reports him as 75 years of age at the time of his emigration in our chapter, he must have been in the land of Canaan previously, a time when G’d made the covenant between the pieces with him, as described in detail in chapter 15. In other words, Avraham departed from Charan twice. The difficulty with all this is that we read in the same סדר עולם that during the 5 years preceding his emigration from Charan Avraham had been in Charan. If so, he had been in Charan at the time when the war broke out, not as described in 14,13 in Eloney Mamre (Kiryat Arba nowadays). One can possibly answer this apparent contradiction by justifying the text in סדר עולם that Avraham spent those five years in Charan, and that the words והוא שוכן באלוני ממרא האמורי “he was living at Eloney Mamre,” in 14,13 refer to the פליט, the escapee who had brought him the news that his nephew had been taken prisoner. In order to make this plausible, consider why the Torah bothered to add that in Eloney Mamre there were in addition to Mamre also his brother Aner and Eshkol, all of whom had a mutual defense treaty with Avraham. Surely, the reason is to explain why the escapee brought the news to the three brothers in Eloney Mamre of whom he knew that they were allies of Avraham. These brothers in turn would relay to Avraham what they had heard about the fate of his nephew. In fact, the escapee may have chosen refuge in Eloney Mamre believing that Kedorleomer would not dare harm allies of Avraham. The weakness with this supposed scenario is that the author of סדר עולם lists as the year when Avraham left Charan permanently the same year in which these wars had been fought. If that were so, what difference would it make if Avraham was 70 years of age the first time he left Charan or not. Who needs to know? [furthermore, a more serious flaw in the sequence listed in סדר עולם is the question of when Lot took up residence in Sodom, and when did the falling out with Avraham which led to his being taken captive? Ed.] If, as stipulated, Avraham was only 70 years old at the covenant between the pieces which was reported in chapter 15, there is no alternative but to conclude that the Torah’s reports are not chronologically sequential. Another difficulty is found in the opening words of chapter 15: אחר הדברים האלה, “after these events.” If the events in this chapter occurred prior to the events related in either chapter 12 or chapter 14 what do these opening words mean? G’d reassures Avraham, (if we assume that the events of chapter 15 occurred subsequent to the events related in chapter 14) that in spite of his victory over the four kings, a victory due to G’d’s manifest assistance, his merits had not been used up so that he had reason to worry about G’d protecting him in the future.) We would have to say that the words אחר הדברים, האלה, refer to the entire sequence previously related and that only the short paragraph concluding with והאמין בה' ויחשביה לו צדקה (15,6) are related out of chronological order. That particular conversation between G’d and Avraham had taken place prior to the conquest of Sodom by the four kings.

And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot the son of his brother, and all their possessions that they had acquired, and the persons they had brought under the Torah in Haran; and they set out to go to the land of Canaan, and they came to the land of Canaan.

אשר עשו בחרן [THE SOULS] THAT THEY HAD GOTTEN (literally, made) IN HARAN — The souls which he had brought beneath the sheltering wings of the Shechinah. Abraham converted the men and Sarah converted the women and Scripture accounts it unto them as if they had made them (Genesis Rabbah 39:14). However, the real sense of the text is that it refers to the men-servants and to the maidservants whom they had acquired for themselves. The word “עשה” is used here as (in Genesis 31:1), “he has acquired (עשה) all this wealth”, and (Numbers 24:8), “And Israel acquires (עושה) wealth” — an expression for acquiring and amassing.

"Their property" (רְכוּשָׁם) means livestock, as likewise: "for their property was great" (Gen. 13:6). "And the persons" — slaves born in the household. Or "they made" (עָשׂוּ) has the same sense as "they acquired" (קָנוּ), as in: "who made this wealth for me" (Deut. 8:17). And some say: the souls whom they had guided to the truth to serve Hashem. The meaning of "and they went forth to go" is: to the place that Hashem had spoken of.

ויצאו ללכת ארצה כנען, a land of which they had heard that it was singularly suited for people of their religious beliefs, a land in which the true G’d could be worshipped without hindrance. ויבאו ארצה כנען, as opposed to Terach, who had also set out originally to go to the land of Canaan but had stopped at Charan, these people with Avram at their head made good on their intention.

ואת לוט בן אחיו, “and Lot, the son of his brother.” Lot was a brother of Sarai, as we had been told in Genesis 11,31. The Torah had also stated that Haran was the father of Milkah and Yiskah in verse 29 there. Our sages in Megillah 14 state that “Yiskah” is identical with “Sarah.” ואת הנפש עשו בחרן “and the proselyte (to monotheism) they had made in Charan.” Our sages Avodah Zarah 9, claim that this is the first stage of Matan Torah, the giving (revealing) of the Torah. The manner in which Targum Onkelos renders this phrase is further evidence of this. [He speaks of Avraham communicating, i.e. converting to Torah. Ed.]

ואת הנפש אשר עשו בחרן, “and the souls they had made in Charan.”The plain meaning of these words is that they refer to the slaves and maids they had acquired while in Charan. The word עשו appears as describing acquisitions in Deut 8,17 כחי ועוצם ידי עשו לי את החיל הזה, “my strength and the might of my hand made me all this wealth.” (Compare commentary of Rabbi Avrham Ibn Ezra and Rabbi David Kimchi on that verse.) A Midrashic approach to the word עשו is found in Bereshit Rabbah 39,14 where it is understood as applying to the converts Avraham and Sarah managed to make in Charan and whom they took with them to the land of Canaan. Avraham converted the males, Sarah the females. This is why the Torah speaks of that phenomenon in the plural, i.e. “they had made, each one separately.” If only Avraham had been busy proselytising the Torah should have written אשר עשה “whom he had made.” We also find that Yaakov did the same as his grandfather Avraham as the Torah speaks of his sojourn in the land of Canaan in these words (Genesis 37,1) וישב יעקב בארץ מגורי אביו, “and Yaakov settled in the land in which his (grand)father had had succeeded in making converts” (Bereshit Rabbah 84,4). From this you learn that Yaakov was also making converts.

And Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his nephew. Earlier (Genesis 11:31) it states And Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran, his grandson, and Sarai his daughter-in-law. This is because before Abram was promised that he would have children, he kept his distance from Sarah due to her being barren, since all those relations would not result in procreation. Therefore it states And Sarai was barren, she had no child. And immediately following this, And Terah took Abram etc. Because she was barren, he placed Lot between them. However, after He was told I will make you into a great nation and was promised children, it writes And Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot, because the language of “took” indicates that it was as if he married her a second time, after having previously separated from her, similar to what is said A man of the house of Levi went and took a daughter of Levi (Exodus 2:1). And what is written And Abram went as God had spoken to him and Lot went with him means that Lot went with him of his own accord, but Abram did not bring him close, and on the contrary distanced him, and [instead] took Sarai etc. Another explanation: Terah would prioritize his closest relatives, therefore he first took Abram his son, and then took Lot his grandson [because grandchildren are like children], and afterward took his daughter-in-law Sarai. But Abram first took Sarai his wife because a wife is like one’s own body, and only afterward took Lot who was not like his own body.

And Abram passed through the land as far as the place of Shechem, as far as the plain of Moreh. And the Canaanite was then in the land.

ויעבר אברם בארץ AND ABRAHAM PASSED THROUGH THE LAND —he entered it. עד מקום שכם UNTO THE PLACE OF SHECHEM — In order to pray on behalf of Jacob’s sons, anticipating the time when they would come to fight against Shechem. אלון מורה THE PLAIN OF MOREH — This is Shechem (Sotah 32a). He showed him Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal where Israel took upon themselves the oath to observe the Torah (cf. Deuteronomy 11:29 and Deuteronomy 111:30). והכנעני אז בארץ AND THE CANAANITE WAS THEN IN THE LAND — They (the Canaanites) were gradually conquering the land of Israel from the descendants of Shem, for it had fallen to the share of Shem when Noah apportioned the earth amongst his sons, for it is said (Genesis 14:18) “And Melchizedek) king of Salem (Jerusalem)”. For this reason the Lord said to Abram (Genesis 12:7) “to thy seed will I give this land” — “I will in some future time return it to thy children who are descendants of Shem”.

AND ABRAM PASSED THROUGH THE LAND. I will tell you a principle by which you will understand all the coming portions of Scripture concerning Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It is indeed a great matter which our Rabbis mentioned briefly, saying: “Whatever has happened to the patriarchs is a sign to the children.” It is for this reason that the verses narrate at great length the account of the journeys of the patriarchs, the digging of the wells, and other events. Now someone may consider them unnecessary and of no useful purpose, but in truth they all serve as a lesson for the future: when an event happens to any one of the three patriarchs, that which is decreed to happen to his children can be understood. Concerning all decisions of “the guardians [angels],” know that when they proceed from a potential decree to a symbolic act, the decree will in any case be effected. It is for this reason that the prophets often perform some act in conjunction with the prophecies, just as Jeremiah commanded Baruch his disciple, And it shall be, when thou hast made an end of reading this book, that thou shalt bind a stone to it, and cast it into the midst of the Euphrates, and thou shalt say: Thus shall Babylon sink. Likewise is the matter of Elisha when he put his arm on the bow [held by Joash, King of Israel]: And Elisha said, Shoot. And he shot. And he said, The Eternal’s arrow of victory, even the arrow of victory against Aram. And it is further stated there, And the man of G-d was wroth with him, and said, Thou shouldst have smitten five or six times; then hadst thou smitten Aram till thou hadst consumed it whereas now thou shalt smite Aram but thrice. It is for this reason that the Holy One, blessed be He, caused Abraham to take possession of the Land and symbolically did to him all that was destined to happen in the future to his children. Understand this principle. Now, with the help of G-d, I will begin to explain in detail the subject matter of the verses. And Abram passed through the land unto the place of Shechem. This is the city of Shechem for such was the name of this place, and Shechem the son of Hamor was called by the name of his city. Now Rashi wrote, “He entered it unto the place of Shechem in order to pray on behalf of Jacob’s sons when they would come grieved from the field.” In our text of Rashi: “when they would come to fight against Shechem.” This is correct. And I add that Abraham took possession of this place at the very beginning, even before the land was given to him. His taking possession of Shechem is stated in the preceding Verse 6. It was thus hinted to him that his children would first conquer this place See further, 34:25. before they would merit it and before the guilt of the dwellers of the land was full to warrant their exile therefrom. It is for this reason that the verse here states, And the Canaanite was then in the land. (Tur.) And when the Holy One, blessed be He, gave him the land by His Word, Abraham journeyed from there and pitched his tent between Beth-el and Ai for this was the place that Joshua captured first. (Joshua 8:1-24.) The capture of Jericho earlier was effected by a miracle. It is possible that Scripture mentions, And the Canaanite was then in the land, to teach us concerning the substance of this chapter, i.e., to state that Abram came into the land of Canaan, but G-d did not show him the land He had promised him. He passed to the place of Shechem while the Canaanite, that bitter and impetuous nation, was yet in the land, and Abram feared him. Therefore he did not build an altar to G-d. But when he came to the vicinity of Shechem at the oak of Moreh, G-d appeared to him and gave him the land, and as a result his fear departed from him for he was already assured in the land that I will show thee, and then he built an altar to G-d in order to worship Him openly. Now eilon Moreh (the oak of Moreh) is in the vicinity of Shechem and is also called eilonei Moreh, as it is written over against Gilgal, beside ‘eilonei Moreh.’ There in Shechem, near the Jordan, are Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal, where the Israelites arrived at the beginning of their entrance into the land. ” Eilonei Mamre,49“The oaks of Mamre.” (Genesis, 18:1.) however, is a place in the land of Hebron, (Ibid., 35:27.) far from the Jordan. Know that wherever Scripture states, eilonei Mamre, the name Mamre is on account of an Amorite by that name to whom the place belonged, just as it says, And he dwelt at the oaks of Mamre the Amorite, brother of Eshkol and brother of Aner, and wherever it says, eilon moreh or eilonei moreh, the places were so called on account of a man by the name of Moreh, but he was a Canaanite from the land of the Canaanites, who abide in the plains. The end of this verse reads: beside the oaks of Moreh. From this Ramban derives the fact that Moreh was a Canaanite, unlike Mamre who was an Amorite. When Scripture mentions Mamre alone, it means the name of a city, just as it is said: And Jacob came unto Isaac his father unto Mamre, the city of Arba, which is Hebron; Before Mamre which is Hebron. The man to whom the oaks belonged was called after the name of the city. A similar case is that of Shechem the son of Hamor, who was called Shechem after the name of the city Shechem. In Bereshith Rabbah 2:14. it is said, “In the opinion of Rabbi Yehudah, Mamre is the name of a place, and in the opinion of Rabbi Nechemyah, it is the name of a person.”

Even this place, "Shechem" — Moses called it by that name, for Shechem did not exist in the days of Abraham. "Elon" (אַלּוֹן) is like "elah" (אֵלָה) (Isa. 6:13) — referring to trees. Some say it means a field, like "Ayil Paran" (Gen. 14:6). "Moreh" — some say this is Mamre, the ally of Abram (Gen. 14:13); but it is possible he was someone else entirely, and "Elon Moreh" is simply the name of the place. "And the Canaanite was then in the land" — it is possible that Canaan seized the land of Canaan from another people; if that is not the case, there is a mystery in it, and the discerning will be silent.

ויעבר אברם בארץ, Avram did not stop anywhere in his journey south through the land of Canaan until G’d appeared to him as He had said: “to the land which I will show you.” (verse 1).

ויעבר אברם בארץ. Abram traversed the land. The Torah informs us that Abraham kept moving from one location to another without any of the local inhabitants challenging him. This in spite of the fact that the Canaanites ruled in the land at the time. The verse also hints that Abraham behaved like an itinerant traveller, not pretending to be a man of stature. This characteristic of Abraham came to the fore later when others refer to him as אברם העברי, Abram the transient. The reason that the Torah mentions the presence of the Caaanite in the land only in this verse, and not in verse 5 where we would have expected it, is to indicate exactly when the land of Israel passed into the hands of the Canaanites (having previously belonged to the descendants of Shem). The fact that the expression ארצה כנען is used already in verse 5 means only that the Torah refers to the name the country would be known by subsequently. Possibly the word כנען which has a numerical value of 190 is an allusion to Abraham and Sarah being 100 and 90 years old respectively when Isaac was born. The idea that this land would eventually be transferred to the Israelites therefore is already part of its very name. The latter became potential owners once Isaac was born. Another lesson from the mention of the Canaanite "then being in the land," is that the Torah reminds us that Canaan was a slave, having been cursed by Noach who decreed that he should be עבד עבדים, "a slave to slaves (Genesis 9,25)." Slaves do not possess property rights. The Canaanite taking over the land from the Semites eventually opened the way for the Israelites to dispossess, them. The Semites, who had come by the land legally, would have presented G'd with a legal problem He had to solve before He could have disposessed them. Our sages have said that inasmuch as Abraham was a Semite, expelling the Canaanites and having the Israelites take over the land was only a return of the land to its rightful owners. Accordingly, the Torah phrases its description of the Canaanite presence in the land in such a way that the world understands that such a presence was never legal (compare Rashi and Nedarim 32). Another reason the Torah mentions the presence of the Canaanites as conquerors in the land is to contrast this with G'd's promise to give the land to Abraham's descendants. Had the Torah not informed us of the fact that the descendants of Shem already lost most or all of the land to the Canaanites, we would not have considered G'd's promise as something special, seeing that Abraham was a descendant of Shem and as such already had a legal claim on that country.

.עד מקום שכם, as far as the location of Sh’chem (in Moses’ time). During Avraham’s time the city of Sh’chem did not exist yet עד אלון מורה, “as far as the terebinth at Moreh;” according to Rashi, this is a reference to the mountains of Gerizim and Eyvol, which G-d showed Avraham on this occasion as a location where the Israelites would confirm their loyalty to the Torah. The Torah refers to this location again in Deuteronomy 11,30. According to our author, Elon Moreh and Elon mamre are the same location. והכנעני אז בארץ, “and the Canaanite was at that time in the process of conquering the Holy Land from the descendants of Shem. (according to Rashi) The justification appears to have been that Cham his father was senior to his brother Shem by two years. Rashi explains further that originally that land had been bequeathed by Noach to his son Shem. This is why G-d told Avraham that in due course, He would give that land back to Avraham’s descendants, as he was a descendant of Shem. In Numbers 13,22 as well as in Deuteronomy 11,10 Rashi states that Cham had built the city of Chevron for his son Canaan. According to this it would appear that the land of Canaan (Holy Land) had been given by Noach to his son Cham. We must therefore understand what Rashi wrote here as referring not to Shem personally, but as to one of Shem’s descendants. Perhaps he referred only to part, the northern section of Eretz Yisrael. His section included Jerusalem. The major section of the land of Canaan spread southwards in the direction of Egypt. Chevron was already part of the southern section. However, if we look at the wording in the Talmud in Ketuvot 112, where the Talmud challenges the underlying assumption that Cham built a city for his younger son Canaan before he built a city for his older son Mitzrayim, this sounds peculiar. According to the Torah in Numbers 13,22 Chevron was built seven years before Tzoan of Egypt. Clearly then the Torah had not spoken of Cham having built these cities, but of Noach. We may assume that the interpretation of the passage we quoted from the Talmud is to be understood as a question, i.e. “surely this is unbelievable?” [This is the way it appears in our versions of the Talmud. Ed.] Noach built Chevron for his younger son Shem, and subsequently he built Tzoan for his son who was 2 years older than Shem. The Torah, according to the Talmud, wished to state that the city of Chevron was seven times more successful than the city Tzoan. [The word שנים, usually meaning “years,” may also be used instead of פעמים, “repeated times.” Ed.] If we accept this interpretation, the line that the Canaanites were at that time trying to wrest the land of Shem from him, i.e. to conquer Chevron and Jerusalem, makes much better sense. והכנעני אז בארץ, the word: אז, “then,” (in the past) indicates that the Torah did not speak about the political situation at the time when the Jewish people were in possession, but about the political situation at the time when Avraham first wandered through that land.

עד מקום שכם,“as far as a place called Shechem. This traversing of the land by Avraham and his moving away towards a mountain of which the Torah (verse 8) speaks as well as the fact that he established his tent (residence) between a place called Ai and a place known as Bet El are all references to matters and places which acquire significance for the Jewish people later on in their history. At this time, these places had not been known by the names reported here in the Torah. This is what the sages (Tanchuma Lech Lecha, 9) had in mind when they said מעשי אבות סימן לבנים, “experiences in which the patriarchs were involved him served as a preview of things that would occur in the lives of their descendants.” והכנעני אז בארץ, “and the Canaanite was in the land at that time.” The plain meaning of these words is that the Canaanite, a powerful people, dominated that land at that time. Avraham was afraid of them and this is why we did not hear of his building an altar, i.e. preaching his religion, at that time until G’d appeared to him at Shechem and promised him that his descendants would inherit the land of Canaan. Then Avraham was no longer afraid and it became clear to him that this was the land that G’d had promised him and this is why the Torah says in verse 7: “he built an altar to the G’d who had appeared to him.” This was a way of thanking G’d for this assurance (compare Bereshit Rabbah 39,16) that his descendants would inherit the land. The reason the Torah writes the word אז instead of writing והכנעני היה מאז בארץ, is that the Canaanite had already lived in that land since the days of Noach. This made it easy for G’d to dispossess them in due course; they were after all a nation cursed to be slaves and as slaves had no legal claim to any property. Another reason for the word אז is that the word is an acrostic composed of 'אקלים ז, the seventh climate. [This is a hyperbole for the central region, the words “middle climate” referring to a region devoid of extremes. Ed.] It may also be referred to as the land of the fourth, i.e. the central “climate”. Concerning this central “climate,” Solomon wrote in Proverbs 3124, וחגור נתנה לכנעני, “she gave the belt to the Canaanite.” As is well known, a belt is worn around a person’s middle. What Solomon meant was that this central piece of the earth was given to the Canaanites on a temporary basis until its true owner, the Jewish people, would be awarded it by G’d on a permanent basis. Another meaning of the word אז in our verse may be connected to the Torah’s failure to describe the Canaanite as יושב בארץ, “dwelling permanently in the land.” The Torah only referred to the Canaanites as being present in the land. This is in contrast to Genesis 13,7 where the Torah did use the term יושב, “was dwelling,” when describing the tenure of the Canaanite and the Perizite in that land. The reason is that in that verse the Torah did not refer to a people which had its inheritance in that land but only to two tribes which had control of it at that time. The reason the Torah referred to the Canaanite with the ה הידיעה, the letter ה which indicates that the noun referred to is one that we are familiar with [the definitive article], is that it represents a celestial force known as “Canaanite.” This is a force from which the 70 nations derive their power on earth as we know from Joshua who said to the Israelites (Joshua 24,15) [at the time when the Israelites on the East Bank of the Jordan had built a public altar, something that aroused suspicions of their national and religious secession — Ed.] בחרו לכם היום את מי תעבדון אם את אלוהים אשר עבדו אבותיכם אשר בעבר הנהר ואם את אלוהי האמור אשר אתם יושבים בארצם ואנכי וביתי נעבוד את ה'. “Choose this day which ones you are going to serve, the gods that your forefathers served beyond the Euphrates or those of the Emorites in whole lands you are settled; but I and my household will serve the Lord.” We find that the celestial representative of the Egyptian nation is called מצרים by the Torah when we read in Exodus 14,10 והנה מצרים נוסע אחריהם, “and here Egypt (instead of the Egyptians) was traveling behind them.” Had the Torah referred to Egyptian nationals, human beings, the word for “traveling” should have been נוסעים instead of the singular נוסע. These are concepts which we are familiar with through our study of Kabbalah. Even the scientists of our day agree with these concepts. We also find that the spiritual force of Israel is referred to as ישראל. This is the meaning of Psalms 24,6 מבקשי פניך יעקב סלה, “Yaakov who seek Your Presence Selah.” The psalmist refers to the spiritual concept “Israel” who are distinguished by the virtue of seeking out G’d.” Our sages always in Bereshit Rabbah 74,8 also interpret Psalms 118,2 יאמר נא ישראל כי לעולם חסדו, “Let Israel declare, “His steadfast love lasts forever,” in the same spirit. They interpret the word “Israel” as “ישראל סבא, the traditional description of the spiritual concept “Israel.” Such verses only prove that the “glue” is named in accordance with the object that it sticks to, and vice-versa i.e. the object that the glue sticks to is named in accordance with the glue which enables it to stick to it. Once we understand this principle a number of subjects in the Torah which appeared problematical can be understood. The fact that a prophet or angel has a special name should not be something that surprises you; neither should the fact that the site of the Holy Temple has a special name. This is what the sages in Bava Batra 75 had in mind when they explained that the verse in Jeremiah 23 6 וזה שמו אשר יקראו ה' צדקנו, “and this is the name he shall be named: “‘The Lord is our Vindicator.” You see that even a human being may carry the name of the Lord. Similarly, the city of Jerusalem bears the name of G’d as we see from the very last verse in the Book of Ezekiel 48,35 ושם העיר מיום, ה' שמה and the name of the city from that day onwards “the Lord is there”. The Talmud suggests to change the vowels under the word “Shemah” (its name), to “shammah.” (there). Similarly, it is nor surprising to find unusual sounding names for angels, i.e. G’d’s agents.

“Until the place of Shechem, until Elon Moreh”: [God] showed him [Abraham] the [future] acceptance of the Torah and the oath that would take place at Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal. He showed him the acceptance of the Torah to indicate that it was in the merit of accepting the Torah that he earned the promise, To your descendants I will give this land, as it is written: He gave them the lands of nations, and they inherited the toil of peoples, in order that they would keep His statutes and observe His laws (Psalms 105:44). And regarding what was stated above and I will curse those who curse you, He indicated that this would be [applicable only] until Elon Moreh but not including it, because all the blessings and curses [pronounced] at Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal would be with the Almighty’s consent, and He would not curse those who pronounce these curses, as their cursing serves a purpose and is considered a blessing.

ויעבר אברם בארץ עד מקום שכם, “Avram traversed the country (traveling in a southerly direction) as far as the site of the town of Shechem.” The location is mentioned to tell us that he offered a prayer there concerning the sons of Yaakov, who he foresaw, would encounter many problems associated with that location and who would engage in a war there in order to free their sister Dinah who had been captured and raped. This in spite of the fact that when he had described himself as ערירי, unable to sire offspring, G’d had assured him that he would not only have children but that he would found a great nation. He was concerned that perhaps due to a sin on his part, this promise would be long delayed in being fulfilled. Nachmanides writes that all the journeys of Avraham which are recorded here, as well as those of Yitzchok and Yaakov after him, are recorded to serve as illustrations of the principle מעשה אבות סימן לבנים, that the affairs of the patriarchs foreshadow experiences which occurred in the lives of their offspring during the history of the Jews as a people. The decrees announced by the prophets (the “wakeful ones,” according to Daniel 4,14) were based on their interpreting events in the lives of the patriarchs as foreshadowing the fate of their children and children’s children. When the prophets engaged in what appear to be merely symbolic actions [such as Jeremiah 51,63-64 giving instructions to Baruch, his disciple, to tie a stone to the book of Jeremiah after he has finished reading it, and to throw it into the river Euphrates and to say at that moment: “thus shall Babylon sink and never rise again, because of the disaster that I will bring upon it.”] Baruch was instructed to perform this act so as to make G’d’s decree more than just a potential judgment on the Babylonians. By performing a tangible, visible act, the decree was transformed from something merely potential to something actual, though the time for realization had not yet been determined. In a similar manner, all the stories related in detail about the patriarchs serve as the catalyst for eventual repetition in the lives of the Jewish people. We find a similar example in the days of Elisha (Kings II 13,15) who instructed King Joash to get a bow and arrows and to shoot out the window. Having shot an arrow, Elisha proclaimed this gesture to have been a symbol of victory for the people of Israel. He then instructed the king to pick up the arrows he had shot. The King complied. He was then instructed to strike the ground. The King struck the ground three times and stopped. (without having been told to stop) Elisha was very angry at the King and told him that if only he had continued another five or six times, he would have annihilated Aram. As it were, he would defeat the armies of Aram only three times. [Elisha was already sick at the time, close to death, and therefore especially frustrated by the King’s action. Ed.] The Bible does not tell us stories like this merely to embellish the study of our history. These symbolic actions are extremely important in helping certain decrees of G’d which were in the realm of the potential only, to become translated into reality. G’d provided the patriarchs with opportunities to perform such symbolic gestures, which in the course of Jewish history would prove to have been the trigger setting in motion important historic developments. This is the meaning of מעשה אבות סימן לבנים. The Torah stated והכנעני אז בארץ, that “the Canaanite was then in control of the land of Canaan,” a banal statement, for why else would the land be described as the land of the Canaanites? There is a far deeper meaning to this statement. Among other meanings, the Torah is on record that Jews had already moved around unopposed in the land of Canaan at a time when the time was not yet ripe for this people to be expelled from that land on account of what the Torah described as עון האמורי, “the sin of the Emorite.” (Genesis 15,16) It is also possible that the reason why the Torah saw fit to write the line והכנעני אז בארץ, is to explain why it took Avraham such a long time before he built the first altar dedicated to monotheism. He had been afraid, as the land was owned by the Canaanite and he could not expect that they would take kindly to a stranger publicly challenging their religious convictions. It was only after G’d had appeared to him and given him assurances that he was no longer afraid to do what he had in mind to do already previously. The promise that his children in due course would inherit this land, a promise given in verse 7, encouraged him to become an evangelist on behalf of his G’d. Elon (Moreh) (verse 6) is none other than Shechem. (Nablus in our time) The addition of the word מורה appears in connection with this location which is also defined as being opposite Gilgal and Mount Gerizim elsewhere. (compare Deut. 11,30) The meaning of the words ה-אל הנראה אליו, appears to imply that G’d instructed Avraham to build the altar at that location The word מורה, from הוראה, ”instruction,” was appended to the name of the place Elon to remind us that Avraham had received Divine instructions there. The very word אליו “directly to him,” is indicative of the fact that this revelation was of a more advanced nature than any previous communication by G’d to Avraham. There are some commentators who feel that the words והכנעני אז בארץ, were meant to stress the loving kindness of G’d towards Avraham in that He protected Avraham every step of the way in spite of the fact that the land was owned by a hostile nation [which had already succeeded in driving the Semites out of most of that land. Ed.] Avraham traversed this land with substantial herds, as if the whole land belonged to him. He was not challenged and not molested.

And Hashem was revealed to Abram and said: To your descendants I will give this land. And he built there an altar before Hashem, who had been revealed to him.

ויבן שם מזבח AND HE BUILDED THERE AN ALTAR — in thanksgiving for the good tidings that he would have children, and for the good tidings that they would possess the land of Israel.

The sense of the expression, And there he built an altar unto the Eternal, who appeared unto him, here. is that he gave praise to the Glorious Name and offered unto Him a sacrifice of thanksgiving for His having appeared to him. Until now G-d had not appeared to him neither in a mar’eh nor in a machzeh. See Ramban further, 15:1. See also Moreh Nebuchim, II, 41-5, for full discussion of these terms and other prophetic experiences. Rather, the command, Get thee out of thy country, was said to him in a nocturnal dream or through Ruach Hakodesh. ” See ibid., Chapter 45, beginning: “second degree of prophecy.” It is possible that the expression, Who appeared unto him, alludes to the mystery of the sacrifice. The one enlightened [in the mysteries of the Torah] will understand.

"And Hashem appeared" — by way of prophecy. The word is of the nif'al (passive) conjugation; the silent nun, which is concealed between the yod and the resh, stands in place of the dagesh that would normally belong to the resh, since the nun of the nif'al is assimilated. "Who appeared to him" (הַנִּרְאֶה אֵלָיו) is an adjectival form of the same conjugation; comparable to it is: "and what had been done" (Neh. 5:18).

וירא ה׳ אל אברם. G'd appeared to Abram. The Torah wishes to compliment Abraham on his great love for his Creator. G'd appeared to Abraham and promised him not only children but that his descendants would inherit the land he was on. Abraham considered the mere fact that G'd appeared to him as sufficient reason to build an altar for G'd. The feeling that G'd had deemed him worthy to appear to him was so overpowering that Abraham considered the promise of children and of the land as secondary. This is why the Torah stresses that he built the altar "to the G'd who appeared to him." This is what David said in Psalms 16,11: "In Your presence is perfect joy." Perhaps we find an echo of these sentiments when Ben Azzai declined to marry, saying that he was so in love with Torah that he could not do justice to the demands made upon him by marriage (Yevamot 63).

“And the Lord appeared to Abram.” The reason why God did not appear to him immediately when He said Go forth from your land was because at that time he was still outside the Land of Israel, like Ibn Ezra’s opinion, and outside the Land of Israel, His Divine Presence does not reveal itself, as evidenced from [the story of] Jonah (Mekhilta Bo 12:4). Therefore, the name of God was not revealed to him in a vision; rather he only heard the voice of words, and consequently he did not build an altar there, only [later] to the Lord who appeared to him. But while He had not yet appeared to him, he did not want to build an altar in a place where the Divine Presence does not dwell. And this is what was said regarding Moses (Exodus 4:1): for they will say, “The Lord has not appeared to you,” because it is not His way to appear outside the Land of Israel, and through this they would deny [Moses] saying, “You didn’t even hear a voice.”

And he moved on from there to the mountain east of Bethel, and he pitched his tent with Bethel to the west and Ai to the east; and he built there an altar before Hashem, and he prayed in the name of Hashem.

ויעתק משם AND HE REMOVED FROM THERE — supply the word אהלו “his tent”. מקדם לבית אל means ON THE EAST OF BETHEL. Consequently Bethel lay to his west, and that is what it states בית אל מים BETHEL ON THE WEST. אהלה HIS TENT — This word is written with a ה suffixed instead of the usual ו so that it may read אָהֳלָהּ “her tent” to intimate that first he pitched a tent for his wife and afterwards one for himself (Genesis Rabbah 39:15). ויבן שם מזבח AND HE BUILDED THERE AN ALTAR — He perceived by the gift of prophecy that his descendants would once stumble (fall into sin) there through Achan’s transgression (see, Joshua 7): therefore he prayed there for them (Genesis Rabbah 39:15).

AND HE CALLED UPON THE NAME OF THE ETERNAL. Onkelos explained it as meaning that he prayed there, just as in the verse, I called upon Thy name, O Eternal, out of the lowest dungeon. The correct interpretation is that Abraham loudly proclaimed the name of the Eternal there before the altar, informing people of Him and of His Divine essence. In Ur of the Chaldees he taught people but they refused to listen. Now, however, that he had come to the land concerning which he had been promised, And I will bless them that bless thee, here. he became accustomed to teach and to proclaim the Deity. Scripture likewise tells of Isaac — when he went to the valley of Gerar where he was promised, Fear not, for I am with thee — that he built an altar there and invoked the name of the Eternal since he had come to a new place where they had not heard of His fame or seen His glory, and he proclaimed His glory among these nations. Now a similar statement is not made concerning Jacob, [i.e., that he proclaimed the name of the Eternal before the peoples of the land of Canaan], for since he begot many children — all of whom were worshippers of G-d — and he had a great community, which was called “the congregation of Israel,”, et al. it was through them that the Faith was proclaimed and became known to all people. Besides, the Faith had been proclaimed throughout the entire land of Canaan since the days of his ancestors. In Bereshith Rabbah 9:24. the Rabbis similarly say, “And he called upon the name of the Eternal. This teaches us that he caused the name of the Holy One, blessed be He, to be in the mouth of all people.”

"And he moved" (וַיַּעְתֵּק) is of the heavy-intensive conjugation and is a transitive verb, whereas "and the rock is moved from its place" (Job 18:4) is intransitive. The object is his tent, and likewise "he stretched" (וַיֵּט) has its object implied. The meaning of "and he moved" is: and he journeyed. The silent nun after the yod in וַיֵּט stands in place of the nun that is the first root-letter (pe ha-po'al); similarly "and their lifeblood sprinkled" (Isa. 63:3) — both are transitive verbs. The meaning of "seaward" (יָמָּה) is westward, for to the west of the Land of Israel lies the great Sephardic Sea. This is not the ocean, since the land in question is far from the ocean. Thus he traveled from the east of Beth-El westward, until Ai was east of his camp. The meaning of "and he called in the name of Hashem" is either prayer, or calling upon people to serve Hashem.

בית אל מים והעי מקדם, between two large cities, in order to attract large crowds who could hear him preach.

ויעתק משם ההרה. He moved on from there to the hills. Seeing that the word ויעתק is transitive, the object seems to be missing in this verse. Rashi says that the object is Abraham's tent. This seems inadequate. Perhaps we have an allusion here that Abraham moved a rock [simile for G'd] from the place where G'd had appeared to him. This would correspond to something the sages said in Berachot 5 about the verse in Job 18,4: "Will earth's order be disrupted for your sake? Will a Rock be dislodged from His place?" The lesson here would be that whenever Israel moves from a place it has offered prayers to G'd, G'd moves with Israel. This concept was introduced by Abraham and Israel draws on Abraham's merit to this day in this respect. The message in this verse may also be that whenever Abraham put up his tent henceforth, he first dismantled the altar he had built and rebuilt it at the site he would erect his tent.

ויעתק משם, “he moved on from there;” we find the same expression having a similar meaning in Job 9,5, i.e. המעתיק הרים, “He Who moves mountains.” מקדם לבית אל, “from the eastern side of Bet El, westward.”

ויעתק משם ההרה, “he moved on from there to ‘the’ Mountain, etc.” He moved from the site where he had built the altar and came to Mount Moriah where he built another altar. This was a sign that in the future the Jewish people would offer burnt-offerings and peace-offerings on that Mountain in the Holy Temple. He prayed there i.e. (“he called there in the name of the Lord”) This too was a preview of the times when the Holy Temple would be called “a house of prayer for all nations” (Isaiah 56,7). The choice of the word ויעתק, with the vowel segol under the letter ת instead of the vowel patach, or at least the vowel segol under the letter ע, needs explaining. The word is transitive and means that in his thoughts Avraham moved the mountain. The “thoughts” are the highest emanation הר which the mountain of Moriah represents. You will find a similar expression in connection with Moses when the Torah writes (Exodus 24,15) ויעל משה אל ההר, “Moses ascended the mountain.” You know that Onkelos translates the words על ההר in that instance as לטורא “to the mountain,” not “on the mountain.” This is also what is meant when the Torah says in Exodus 19,3 ויעל משה אל האלוקים “Moses ascended to G’d.” This “move” of Avraham away from Bet El near there is not to be interpreted as an attempt by Avraham to separate from Bet El spiritually or to re-evaluate anything in his philosophy G’d forbid, but to “unify” the concept of Moriah with other basic concepts of Judaism. His ascent to the emanation הר is a logical continuation of his return to his spiritual origin which was מקדם, i.e. from a philosophical concept recognizing that G’d is the prime Cause of all things This is why the word מקדם follows the word ההרה in our verse. Immediately afterwards, the Torah writes לבית אל, “to Bet El.” In that instance “Bet El” symbolizes the emanation חכמה. The word or letter “Bet” in the expression “Bet El” is a reference to the letter “Bet” with which the Book of Bereshit (the Torah) commences. G’d recognized Moses’ philosophical and theological development when He praised him by saying בכל ביתי נאמן הוא, “he is thoroughly at home in all aspects of “My letter Bet” and what it stands for.”(Numbers 12,7) This is also what the prophet Micah had in mind (Micah 4,2) when he said לכו ונעלה אל הר ה' ואל בית אלוקי יעקב, “go-let us ascend to the “Bet” of the G’d of Yaakov.” The expression בית אלוקי יעקב in that verse is a reference to Moriah, the concept of the highest emanation which is termed 'הר ה. When the Torah continues with the words ויט אהלה, “he pitched his tent,” this is a reference to the emanation בינה, insight. This is why the word אהלה does not conclude with the customary masculine ending ו for “his,” but ends with the letter ה. This letter represents the first letter ה in the four-lettered Ineffable Name. The world was created by means of the power and energy which reposes in that letter. It represents the “King” who built the palace (the universe) employing His “architect” (the angel alluded to in the ה of the word בהבראם) “He created them using the letter ה.” (compare Genesis 2,4, as well as page 161 in this translation). The letter ה of that word represented the last letter ה in the Ineffable Name. The word ויעתק which can be read transitively as we explained, as well as intransitively, may refer to the עתיק יומין, (Daniel 7,9) “The G’d of pre-historic times,” a reference to the emanation כתר. Kabbalists will understand all this. ויקרא בשם ה, The plain meaning of these words is that Avraham preached his brand of religion. We find the word קרא used in this sense in Proverbs 20,6 רב אדם יקרא איש חסדו, “he proclaims most people as his true friend.” Another verse in which the root קרא appears as meaning “to proclaim publicly, to preach,” is in Psalms 116,17 ובשם ה' אקרא. “I will publicly proclaim the name of the Lord.” When we are told of Joseph’s triumphal ride through Egypt after he had been appointed viceroy (Genesis 41,43), the Torah writes ויקראו לפניו אברך, “they called out before him אברך.” The generally accept translation of this word is: “on your knee!” However, I believe we may understand it as a proclamation of Joseph’s faith in the G’d of the heaven which he made public at this time. The word ויקרא also has a connotation of תפלה, prayer, as we know beyond doubt from Psalms 30,9 אליך ה' אקרא ואל א-דני אתחנן “I call to You, O Lord; to my Lord I made appeal.” Prayer, תפלה, is addressed to the attribute of Mercy, whereas תחנה, pleading is addressed to the attribute of Justice. Onkelos also translates this word in the same spirit when he wrote וצלי בשמא דה’, “he prayed in the name of the merciful G’d.” A Midrashic approach to our verse understands the word ויקרא as if it were written with the letter ה at the end, such as Psalms 104,3 המקרה במים עליותיו, “Who provides a roof for His upper spheres, much like a human being who provides a roof to protect himself against dangers from above. In a similar manner Avram tried to provide his contemporaries with a faith which would act as a shield for them against negative experiences in life. He did so by assuring them that there is life after their physical death.

ויקרא בשם ה', “He proclaimed his belief in the Lord of heaven.” Onkelos translates this as Avraham simply offering a prayer there to his G’d. According to the plain meaning of the words Avraham did much more than that. He proclaimed his faith loudly for all the people to hear. We find that his son Yitzchok did something similar (Genesis 21,33). It is noteworthy that we do not find a reference in the Torah to Yaakov doing something similar. The reason is that Yaakov had many sons and that his family itself was a constant reminder to the people around them of their belief in the only G’d, the G’d in heaven, the Creator of mankind.

And Abram journeyed on, traveling and journeying toward the south.

הלוך ונסוע GOING ON MORE AND MORE TOWARDS THE NEGEB — by stages: he stayed here a month or more, then travelled on and pitched his tent in another place. Yet all his journeys were towards the Negeb to proceed to the South of the land of Israel which is the direction where Jerusalem is — which is in the territory of Judah who had their portion in the South of the land of Israel — to Mount Moriah which is his (Judah’s) possession (cf. Genesis Rabbah 39:16).

TOWARDS THE SOUTH. Rabbeinu Shlomo [Rashi] wrote, “To go to the southern part of the land of Israel, which is in the territory of the sons of Judah who took their portion in the south of the land of Israel.” This was also to happen to Abraham’s offspring in the future, as it is said, Judah shall go up first.

"Toward the Negev" (הַנֶּגְבָּה) — the southern quarter; it is so named based on the Aramaic: "negibo maya" (Targum Onkelos on Gen. 8:13), meaning dried-up waters, for the southern side is hot, and from the great heat it dries out. Similarly in meaning: "for a land of the Negev you have given me" (Josh. 15:19).

הלוך ונסוע הנגבה, when he journeyed, as is the custom of shepherds, he did not move to the east and to the west alternately, but kept moving in a southerly direction. He did this in order not to deviate from moving between one of the two towns he had been between when he first stopped between Bet El and Ai. Members of those cities had begun to trail him planning to join him.

ויסע אברם הלוך ונסוע הנגבה, “Avram kept journeying steadily in a southerly direction.” The point of all his travels was to make camp in a great number of locations. He confined himself to the area which would later on form part of the territory of Yehudah which is located in the southern part of Eretz Yisrael. This area includes Mount Moriah. This is the plain meaning of our verse. We may include a further meaning in the wording of the text, namely that each move by Avram represented a spiritual ascent to ever higher levels, keeping his spirit on the move while providing quiet and calm for the body. The Torah reported that “he pitched his tent,” to indicate his physical state; only then did it refer to constant motion, i.e. Avram’s ongoing spiritual ascent to higher levels. We read about Avram making camp in a variety of expressions such as ויאהל, ויבא, וישב, “he put up a tent, he arrived, he settled.” All of these journeys had as their purpose that he should qualify for the gift of prophecy on the level of communication with the attribute of G-d known as שדי. This is an attribute of the א-ד-נ-י level of G-d. It is alluded to in the word הנגבה (southward), whose numerical value 65 equals that of the name א-ד-נ-י. This is also the reason this name of G-d appears again and again when Avram addresses G-d such as in 15,2 when he asked: א-דני אלוקים מה תתן לי, “Lord O G-d what can you give me?”, Or a few lines later (15,8) א-דני אלוקים במה אדע כי אירשנה? “Lord, O G-d how will I know that I will inherit it (the land of Canaan)?”

And he journeyed, going on still toward the south. Perhaps he wanted to become wise in divine matters, since one who wishes to become wise should turn southward (Bava Batra 25b). However, he did not seek wealth, as evidenced by his statement I will not take from a thread to a shoe strap. And those gifts that he received through Sarah — he was compelled to accept them so that they would not kill him, for they all gave them to him as flattery, hoping perhaps he would be persuaded to give them his sister as a wife. Had he not accepted them, they would have thought he was unwilling to give her to them and would have killed him. Nevertheless, he did not want to benefit from these gifts and gave them to the sons of the concubines, as it is said But unto the sons of the concubines… Abraham gave gifts (Genesis 25:6). These were the same gifts that he had already received from the Egyptians; he gave them to the sons of the concubines, namely the children of Keturah, who was Hagar the Egyptian as Rashi explains, for from the Egyptians he took the gifts and returned them to their origin by giving them to the sons of Hagar the Egyptian.

הנגבה, “in a southerly direction.” According to Rashi, he was traveling in the southern part of the country, the area which later on formed the territory of the tribe of Yehudah. Later on, when it came to taking possession of the land, the tribe of Yehudah was also the first to take possession of these areas.

And there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was severe in the land.

רעב בארץ A FAMINE IN THE LAND — in that land only to test him whether he would take exception to God’s commands in that He had bidden him to go to the land of Canaan and now forced him to leave it (Pirkei D'Rabbi Eliezer 26).

AND THERE WAS A FAMINE IN THE LAND. Now Abraham went down to Egypt on account of the famine to dwell there in order to keep himself alive in the days of the drought, but the Egyptians oppressed him for no reason [and attempted] to take his wife. The Holy One, blessed be He, avenged their cause with great plagues, and brought him forth from there with cattle, with silver, and with gold, and Pharaoh even commanded his men to escort them from the land. here. He thereby alluded to Abraham that his children would go down to Egypt on account of the famine to dwell there in the land, and the Egyptians would do them evil and take the women See also following note. from them, just as Pharaoh said, And every daughter ye shall save alive, They were to be saved alive for unchaste purposes. but the Holy One, blessed be He, would avenge their cause with great plagues until He would bring them forth with silver and gold, sheep and oxen, very rich in cattle, with the Egyptians pressuring to send them out of the land. Nothing was lacking in all the events that happened to the patriarch that would not occur to the children. The Rabbis have explained this subject in Bereshith Rabbah:8. “Rabbi Pinchas said in the name of Rabbi Oshaya that the Holy One, blessed be He, said to Abraham, ‘Go forth and tread out a path for your children!’ Thus you find that whatever is written concerning Abraham is also written concerning his children. In connection with Abraham it is written, And there was a famine in the land; in connection with Israel, it is written For these two years hath the famine been in the land.” Know that Abraham our father unintentionally committed a great sin by bringing his righteous wife to a stumbling-block of sin on account of his fear for his life. He should have trusted that G-d would save him and his wife and all his belongings for G-d surely has the power to help and to save. His leaving the Land, concerning which he had been commanded from the beginning, on account of the famine, was also a sin he committed, for in famine G-d would redeem him from death. It was because of this deed that the exile in the land of Egypt at the hand of Pharaoh was decreed for his children. 79-80, for sources and differing opinions on the view of Ramban expressed in this paragraph. In the place of justice, there is wickedness and sin.

"And there was a famine in the land" — in the land of Canaan.

לגור שם, not to settle there permanently.

ויהי רעב בארץ וירד אברם, “there was a famine in the land and Avram descended, etc.” Our sages (Tanchuma Lech Lecha 9) told us that what happened to the patriarchs and is reported in the Torah serves as a preview of what would happen to their descendants in the future. Everything which happened in this passage foreshadowed what happened to the Israelites in Egypt during their exile hundreds of years later. The Egyptians took Avram’s wife from him and G-d punished them with great plagues and He allowed Avram to leave the land of Egypt with both livestock and silver and gold in great quantities. Pharaoh even ordered a guard of honour to accompany Avram out of his country. History repeated itself during the exile and subsequent Exodus of the Jewish people. This is what we read in Bereshit Rabbah 40,8 “whatever happened to Avraham happened to the Israelites. In connection with Avram, the Torah says: ‘there was a famine in the land, whereas we find in Genesis 45,6 that Joseph speaks to his brothers about two years of famine which had already passed at that time. We read in connection with Avram: “the woman was taken to the house of Pharaoh,” whereas in connection with the Israelites in Egypt the decree to kill the male babies meant that the women were taken as slaves by the Egyptians (practical meaning of Exodus 1,22 ‘let every daughter live.’) In connection with Avram we read (12,17) “G-d brought great plagues on the house of Pharaoh and his servants on account of Sarai, Avram’s wife.” In connection with the Israelites in Egypt the Torah writes: “I will bring one more plague on Pharaoh (Exodus 11,1). We read in connection with Avram that he was called in to Pharaoh (12,18-19) and told “take your wife and leave!” In connection with the Israelites, (Exodus 12,31) Moses and Aaron were called in to Pharaoh and told to leave the country with all their belongings. There are several more quotations in that Midrash showing the similarity of what Avram and the Israelites experienced in Egypt.

ויהי רעב בארץ וירד אברם מצרימה, ”when there was a famine in the land, Avram descended to Egypt.” This too was an example of the principle of מעשה אבות סימן לבנים, that the activities of the patriarchs foreshadowed the activities of their offspring, their descendants. The family of Yaakov also moved to Egypt, and their move too had been triggered by a long famine involving also the land of Canaan. In both instances the motivation was simply survival. When the Egyptians eventually mistreated the Jews, they had not had any excuse to do so, just as Avraham had not given the Egyptians any excuse to abduct his wife. G’d, eventually, avenged the Egyptians’ abuse of the Jewish people just as He had punished Pharaoh for abducting Sarai and forcing her to be his slave [wives did not have civil rights in those days. Ed.] Just as Avraham was showered with silver and gold while in Egypt, his descendants, when leaving Egypt, took with them most of Egypt’s silver and gold. The Jewish experience in Egypt paralleled that of Avraham in even more details when the Egyptians who decreed the death of male Jewish babies also encouraged the survival of the female babies, clearly in order to make slaves of them in one way or another, just as they tried to do with Sarai. Just as Pharaoh expedited the departure from Egypt of Avraham after he had been chastised by G’d, so Pharaoh expelled the Jewish nation at the time of the Exodus. Nachmanides writes that Avraham sinned greatly when he moved to Egypt, seeing that he unintentionally subjected his wife to great danger. He should have had trust in G’d that He would save him from the famine. As a result of this lack of faith demonstrated by their forefather, his descendants were enslaved in Egypt at the hands of Pharaoh according to the principle that the penalty is administered at the site where the sin has been committed. (compare Kohelet 3,16) Avraham is not considered as having sinned when he described his wife as his sister; on the contrary, this was a meritorious act on his part, as it proves that he was loath to rely on miracles as long as he had not done what was humanly possible to save G’d from having to intervene by upsetting the laws of nature. The reputation of the Egyptians had been such that he had every reason to fear for his life if he had described Sarai as his wife.

And it came to pass, when he was about to enter Egypt, that he said to Sarai his wife: Behold now, I know that you are a woman of beautiful appearance.

הנה נא ידעתי BEHOLD NOW I KNOW — The Midrashic explanation is: Until now he had not perceived her beauty owing to the extreme modesty of both of them; now, however, through this event, he became cognisant of it (Midrash Tanchuma, Lech Lecha 5). Another explanation: Usually, because of the exertion of travelling a person becomes uncomely, but she had retained her beauty (Genesis Rabbah 40:4). Still, the real sense of the text is this: Behold, now the time has come when I am anxious because of thy beauty. I have long known that thou art fair of appearance: but now we are travelling among black and repulsive people, brethren of the Ethiopians (Kushim), who have never been accustomed to see a beautiful woman. A similar example is, (Genesis 19:2) “Behold, now, my lords, turn aside I pray you.”).

BEHOLD NOW, I KNOW, ETC. 13. SAY, I PRAY, THOU ART MY SISTER. I do not know why Abraham was more fearful for her now than before. And if we say, as Rashi explains, that it was because the Egyptians were black and repulsive, now, to Abimelech, king of the Philistines, he also said so, he as well as Isaac, who lived in that land by command of G-d. Perhaps the Canaanites in that generation were steeped in idolatry but restrained from unchastity more than the Egyptians and the Philistines. But this is not correct. It is possible that Abraham and Sarah had no fear until they came into a royal city for it was their custom to bring the king a very beautiful woman and to slay her husband through some charge they would contrive against him. It appears to me correct that such was their procedure from the time they left Haran. At every place he would say, “She is my sister,” for so Abraham said, And it came to pass, when G-d caused me to wander from my father’s house, etc. Scripture, however, mentions it only concerning those places where something happened to them on account of it. Thus Abraham now alerted Sarah as he had charged her from the beginning. Isaac, on the other hand, was not afraid in his country and in his city. Only when he came to the land of the Philistines did he adopt his father’s way. He [Abraham] said, That it may be well with me for thy sake, and that my soul live because of thee, meaning “as long as we are strangers in this land, until the famine will pass,” for Abraham came to live in the land of Egypt on account of the famine. When the famine passes, he would return to the land concerning which he had been commanded and which G-d had given to him and his children. He thus thought that they [he and his wife] would live through the famine and that relief and succor will come to them from G-d enabling them to return, or that it may be possible for them to flee to the land of Canaan when they83“They” are the Egyptians. They will no longer guard them for they will consider them permanent settlers in the land. Then they (Abraham and Sarah) will be able to flee the country and return to the land of Canaan. will give them up. Now Rashi wrote, “ ‘Hinei na’ (Behold now), I know. A Midrash Agada: See Buber’s edition of this Midrash, p. 27. Until now he had not perceived her beauty on account of her ” The Midrash Agada ascribes the modesty to Abraham. modesty. Now, however, [he became cognizant of it] through an event. (Midrash Agada.) Another interpretation is that because of the exertion of travelling a person usually becomes uncomely, but she [Sarah] has retained her beauty. Still the plain sense of the text is this: ‘Behold, now the time has come to be anxious because of your beauty. I have long known that you are a woman of beautiful appearance, but now we are travelling among black people, brethren of the Ethiopians, who have never been accustomed to see a beautiful woman.’ A similar example [where the Hebrew word na does not denote a request, as it usually does, but means “now”] is found in the verse, Behold ‘na’ (now), my lords, turn aside, I pray you.” The Hebrew reads, hinei na adonai suru na. Now since the request is covered by the second na (suru na — turn aside, I pray you), the first na (at the beginning of the expression) can no longer mean a request; rather it means “now.” All this is the language of the Rabbi [Rashi]. This Midrash concerning the modesty between Abraham and Sarah is traditional and it has been adjoined to the verse, but there is no need for all these matters. The word na [hinei na — behold now] does not indicate only a newly arisen matter; it may be used with reference to anything which is presently in existence for it is a statement alluding to the present state of things. Behold now I know — from then until now — that thou art a woman of beautiful appearance. Of similar meaning is the verse, Behold ‘na’ (now), the Eternal hath restrained me from having children, meaning from my youth until this day. Likewise is the verse, Behold ‘na’ (now), I have two daughters, for they were not born to him now. All [verses containing this expression] are to be interpreted in like manner. It would seem from the simple meaning of the verses that Sarah did not obligate herself to say so, [i.e., that she is Abraham’s sister], but when the Egyptians, who were wicked and sinners exceedingly, saw her and they praised her to Pharaoh, here. she was taken to his house. They did not ask them at all whether she is his wife or his sister, and she remained silent and did not tell them that she is his wife. It was Abraham himself who told them that she is his sister, and therefore they did well by him for her sake. This is the intent of the verse quoting Pharaoh, which says, What is this that thou hadst done unto me? Why didst thou not tell me that she was thy wife? He [Pharaoh] accused him for when he saw the princes of Pharaoh taking her, he should have told Pharaoh that she is his wife. Again, he accused him for saying afterwards to the princes and the household of Pharaoh that she is his sister. But he did not at all accuse the woman for it is not proper that she contradict her husband, the suitable thing being for her to remain silent.

The meaning of "Behold now I know" is: that in Sarai's homeland there were women of comparable beauty to hers — she was not uniquely outstanding there — but in Egypt and the land of the Negev there was none like her, for physical appearance changes with the climate.

כאשר הקריב, close to the time when it became necessary to take such precautions, so that he would not forget. לבא מצרימה, a country which was equivalent to a giant brothel. This is mentioned even more forcefully in Ezekiel 23,20 where the prophet describes the carnal attitudes of the Egyptians as אשר בשר חמורים בשרם, וזרמת סוסים זרמתם, “those whose flesh is the flesh of donkeys, and whose sperm is the sperm of horses.”

ויהי כאשר הקריב לבא מצרימה, It happened as he came closer to Egypt, etc. Our sages (Baba Batra 16) use this verse to demonstrate how chaste Abraham was, that he had not even seen Sarah's beauty up until now. We need to understand why Abraham spoke to Sarah about her beauty. If it was merely because he planned to have her describe him as her brother instead of as her husband, this would not diminish the danger they found themselves in. Sarah would be in danger of being killed if she resisted rape, or else would have to submit voluntarily to someone who fancied her. Abraham wanted to forestall Sarah's argument that he should never have brought her to Egypt in the first place and have endangered them both. While it is true that righteous people have to place their trust in G'd, this rule applies when one does not deliberately place oneself in a dangerous situation. No one has the right to make his survival depend on a miracle. We know this from the prophet Samuel who took along an animal to sacrifice when he set out to anoint David as king. He did this even though G'd Himself told him to go on that mission. When he remonstrated with G'd that the mission could be fatal for him if Saul would hear about it, G'd Himself told Samuel to camouflage it (Samuel I 16,1-5). Abraham therefore told Sarah that had he but known earlier how beautiful she was he would indeed not have undertaken such a dangerous journey. He would have taken her elsewhere. Now that they had already come close to Egypt he had found out more about the Egyptians' lack of sexual mores and the fact that they had ugly faces (or were black-skinned). He therefore had reason to fear for his life if he were to be known as Sarah's husband. He examined Sarah's beauty critically in order to understand the degree of danger that this could pose for him. Abraham did not describe Sarah as merely יפת מראה; he described her as אשה יפת מראה. There is a subtle difference here. He realised that her beauty was unique. Her beauty was bound to arouse the carnal instincts of the Egyptians. We must not question how Abraham could take a chance and take Sarah to the land of the Philistines after his experience in Egypt. Whereas the Egyptians had ugly faces, this did not apply to the Philistines. Sarah's beauty therefore did not represent such a contrast to what the Philistines were used to. This is why Abraham never ordered Sarah herself to say that he was her brother. He contented himself with describing Sarah as his sister (20,2).

כאשר הקריב, “as he brought his camp closer.” We find a sample of a similar construction, [instead of כאשר קרב “as he approached,” as we would have expected. Ed.] in Exodus 14,10: ופרעה הקריב, “and Pharaoh brought his army closer to the camp of the Israelites.” הנה נא ידעתי, see Rashi’s commentary on this formulation, and similar examples of it in Genesis 19,2, where Lot greets the angels. [Our author refers to the part of Rashi’s commentary in which Avraham states that Sarai’s physical beauty has for the first time become something critically important. [Similarly, he compares it to Lot, who at this juncture realised for the first time how critically important an offer of hospitality to these angels may become. Ed.] He also understands the word נא in this context not as a plea, but as a reference to time being of the essence in making a decision. כי אשה יפת מראה את, “for you are an extraordinarily beautiful woman.” This comment is an introduction to the verse following in which Avram suggests how to neutralise the danger to him that Sarai’s beauty now poses.

הנה נא ידעתי כי אשה יפת מראה את, “here now, I am well aware that you are a woman of beautiful appearance, etc.” The word הנה usually appears as an introduction to something new as in Genesis 19,20 where Lot introduces his request to spare the town of Tzoar by saying הנה נא העיר הזאת קרובה “here, after all, is this city which is nearby.” Another example of a new subject being introduced with the word הנה appears in Genesis 22,6 when Yitzchak prefaces his inquiry about where the lamb for the sacrifice is with the word הנה. On the other hand, the word נא is usually an expression introducing a request which appeals to the goodwill of the other party as that particular request cannot be justified legally. The person making the request uses the word נא to put his opposite number in a forgiving mood, a state of mind in which it is easier to grant the request about to be made of him. When Avram wanted to get Sarai’s approval to tell a white lie he prefaced his request by complimenting her on her beauty. No doubt Sarai was not unaware of her physical attractiveness. According to Bereshit Rabbah 40,4 what Avram meant was that although under normal circumstances travel and the strains experienced on a journey detract from a woman’s beauty, at least temporarily, he found that Sarai’s beauty had not only not been diminished but appeared to have been enhanced further by that experience. This proved to be an unexpected source of danger to his life; hence he made this request that she should tell a white lie. However, Tanchuma on Lech Lecha 5 claims that Avraham had never looked at Sarai in a way that made him notice her beauty as he had made a promise to his eyes not to use them in a manner which would arouse his desire for physical gratification. We find a reference to such conduct in Job 31,1 ברית כרתי לעיני, “I have covenanted with my eyes not to gaze at a maiden.” It is not unusual to find that the righteous enter into such “covenants” with a number of their organs in order to ensure that these organs would not cause them any harm. This is similar to someone making a treaty with a former enemy that he would not harm him. The Torah urges us (Exodus 23,32) “do not make a treaty with them or their gods “ (the Gentile nations resident in the land of Canaan). Our sages in Baba Batra 16 commented on this that there is no enemy who causes as much harm to another person as do his own deeds. Furthermore, our sages on that same folio comment עפרא לפומיה, “earth in his mouth.” They ridiculed what appeared to be Job’s superior piety by saying: “granted Job had undertaken not to look at other maidens but he had not denied himself the pleasure of admiring the beauty of his own wife.” Avram, however, had not even looked at the beauty of his own wife prior to his arrival at the border of Egypt.

And it shall come to pass that when the Egyptians see you, they will say, 'This is his wife,' and they will kill me, but you they will let live.

The meaning of "and they will let you live" is: they will provide you with all your needs, for those were days of famine.

והרגו אותי, because they do not expect me to agree to give you to them.

והיה כי יראו אותך המצרים, It will be that as soon as the Egyptians will set eyes on you, etc. Abraham explained the reason he was going to engage in deception before he asked Sarah to lie. He wanted Sarah to speak about her brother Abraham not merely in response to questions about their status. He wanted her to make it plain even before they entered the land of Egypt that they were travelling together as brother and sister. In the event that Sarah would object to telling lies when none had as yet been called for, he told her that if they merely awaited developments it would be too late. The Egyptians would automatically assume that Abraham was Sarah's husband and they would get rid of him. They would not even bother to ask about her status.

והיה כי יראו אותך המצרים והרגו אותי ואותך יחיו, “assoon as they will see me (your husband), they will kill me and let you live;” The Egyptian laws respected the inviolability of a man’s wife. If they wanted to get hold of his wife, their only legal way was to kill the husband on some charge. [One of the perverted concepts of Egyptian morality was that sleeping with another man’s wife is a sin which they are guilty of each time they do so, whereas killing her former husband is a sin that they would commit only a single time. Source: one of the Tossaphists. Ed.] An alternate explanation: Avram feared that he would be killed before he had a chance to appeal to the Egyptian king for justice.

והרגו אותי ואותך יחיו, “they will kill me while allowing you to live.” They will let you live thanks to your physical beauty. As a result they will feel that they have to kill me. As to why they would rather kill Avraham instead of simply sleeping with Sarai while her husband was alive, even though all of mankind had been warned not to commit murder, no less a sin than to commit adultery with someone else’s wife, the reason is psychological. Murder is committed only once on the same person, while illegal sexual intercourse and the desire to perform it is an ongoing temptation, one that will recur again and again. It was therefore easier for them to live with the knowledge of having killed than to live with the knowledge that every time they slept with someone’s wife they committed a mortal sin. Furthermore, if they were to rape Sarai while her husband was alive, they might have to face the King after Avraham had complained about his wife being violated. Once Avraham was dead, who would complain? Nachmanides writes that he does not understand what Avraham was afraid at this point more than at any time in his life previously. If it was that the Egyptians were black-skinned and more immoral than other tribes, we know that even at Avimelech’s court there was no respect for someone else’s wife if the King desired her sexually. In spite of such fears being reasonable, G’d had commanded Yitzchok not to leave the land of Israel and to proceed to the land (province) of the Philistines to wait out the end of the famine! Perhaps Avraham and Yitzchok were afraid only when they took up residence in a city, as the inhabitants of those cities were in the habit of offering any especially attractive woman to their King. They would kill that woman’s husband so that their King would not be guilty of an adulterous relationship with such a woman. This approach would be supported by what Avraham explained to Avimelech in Genesis 20,13 “when G’d caused me to wander from my father’s house, I said to her, (Sarai) ‘do me this favour: at every place we come to, say about me: ’he is my brother.’” The Torah had not mentioned this stratagem previously, except when for some reason they had to fall back on an agreement which had been practiced already repeatedly. As long as that agreement forestalled any problems, there had been no need to mention it. Yitzchok had not been afraid in his own country and had resorted to a similar stratagem only when forced to move to the land of the Philistines. When Avraham explained the planned deception as designed to benefit him personally, i.e. as potentially saving his life, (verse 13) he had in mind the entire period of the famine when he and Sarai would be forced to be strangers in a land unknown to them. He thought that this would be the way by which G’d would enable them to survive the famine which raged at that time, until a time when they could return to the land of Canaan or to flee that region altogether. It appears that the plain meaning of the text is that Sarai did not agree to the deception Avraham demanded of her. However, the Egyptians were so depraved that before even giving Sarai a chance to explain her relationship to Avraham they already abducted her, having praised her beauty to their King. They never bothered to enquire how Avraham was related to her. This is what enabled the King to exclaim afterwards: “how come you have not even told me that this woman is your wife? Why did you say “she is my sister?” The King accused Avraham of having misled both his men and himself by not revealing that Sarai was his wife. He accused Avraham of treacherous conduct after Sarai had already been abducted to his palace. According to Pharaoh, Avraham should have protested Sarai’s abduction from the very first moment instead of describing her as his sister. It was most unseemly for her to deny that he was her husband.

Say now that you are my sister, so that it may go well with me on your account, and my life will be spared through your words.

למען ייטב לי בעבורך THAT IT MAY BE WELL WITH ME FOR THY SAKE — they may give me presents.

The word אֲחֹתִי ("my sister") carries the accent on the first syllable (mil'el), because the stress of the following word falls on its first letter; similarly "he called night" (Gen. 1:5) — this is the rule of the language. The dagesh in the tav of אַתְּ ("you") is due to the assimilation of the nun, for "attah" (אַתָּה) derives from the root of "ani" (אֲנִי). The words בִּגְלָלֵךְ and בַּעֲבוּרֵךְ can only come with the prefix bet; the officer who removes that bet has removed its meaning. The sense of "it will go well with me" is gifts and presents, as it is indeed written: "and he dealt well with Abram for her sake" (Gen. 12:16).

למען ייטב לי, so that when you will say that you are my sister, each one will entertain the hope that I will agree to your marrying them. Therefore, none of them will have any reason to kill me. Rather, he will seek my approval by offering me a dowry for you. It was the custom in those days that the father of the bride would be bribed with money or its equivalent to agree to let his daughter marry someone. This also explains why the Torah speaks of מהר ימהרנה in Exodus 22,15-16, i.e. “he (the seducer) shall pay a heavy dowry,” and why the option to refuse such a marriage is not so much the girl’s but her father’s, as we see from the verse following.

למען ייטב לי בעבורך. In order that I will receive benefit on your account. Abraham explained why he asked Sarah to describe him as her brother and not as some more distant relative or a total stranger. If Abraham's status were anything less than Sarah's brother the Egyptians would not have any interest in securing his goodwill. Abraham may have had yet another motivation for insisting that Sarah describe their relationship to each other instead of he himself. His own words would not convince the Egyptians as they might construe them as a stratagem to be wooed with gifts. The plain reason is no doubt that he was afraid that if he were to say he was her brother and she would say nothing, sooner or later Sarah might make a comment which would reveal that there was a husband-wife relationship between her and Abraham. When Abraham added that וחיתה נפשי, that his soul would remain alive due to the stratagem of Sarah describing him as her brother, he did not have in mind his mere physical survival. If that had been his intention he would have said ואחיה, "so that I will survive." The word וחיתה נפשי is an allusion to Sarah's remaining spiritually uncontaminated. We have a tradition (Proverbs 13,25) that צדיק אוכל לשובע נפשו, that the reason a righteous person consumes physical food is not to indulge his senses but to satisfy the needs of his soul to carry on his task in life. Abraham was motivated by similar considerations. The reason Abraham appears to repeat himself when he said 1) בעבורך, and 2) בגללך, is that he hoped he would exprience physical wellbeing as well as spiritual wellbeing due to Sarah's describing herself as his sister. Our sages (Berachot 31) explain Samuel I 1,11 אם ראה תראה בעני אמתך, to mean that if ראה, G'd would see Channah (pay attention to her prayer) and would grant her a child, all well and good; if not תראה, she would place herself in a compromising situation which would force her husband to treat her as a סוטה, a woman suspected of marital infidelity. Once she would drink the waters prescribed for such a woman (Numbers 5,24) her innocence would be established and G'd would have to grant her a child as per verse 28 in that chapter. Abraham hoped that as a result of Sarah's chastity under circumstances resembling the compromising situation a סוטה finds herself in, he and she would have a child thus assuring Abraham of his future, וחיתה נפשי, "my soul will live on." There are numerous instances where our sages have explained the word בגלל as having metaphysical significance, such as in Deuteronomy 15,10 where G'd promises that blessings will devolve upon people already if they merely promise to do charity, דבר (Tossephta Peah 4). The letter ו in וחיתה also has a special significance. Abraham did not mean that the fact that his soul would remain alive would be part of the benefit he would experience through Sarah's lie. Whereas the survival of his body would be an extension of ייטב לי, the direct benefit he would derive from Sarah's lie, the spiritual dimension, i.e. the survival of his soul would be an independent benefit, something that he would achieve later on when Sarah would be alone in the palace of Avimelech, the king of the Philistines. On that occasion he did not face expulsion from the land of the Philistines on account of having been found out as a liar (20,15). It is even possible that the fact that Sarah twice found herself in the position of a סוטה, a woman unjustly suspected of marital infidelity, once in the palace of Pharaoh, and then again in the palace of Avimelech, resulted in her ability to conceive and bear a child. Rabbi Yitzchok, (a teacher of Rashi?) suggests that when the Torah appears to repeat itself in Numbers 5,28, i.e. "if the woman has not become defiled and has remained pure," this refers to her neither having been unfaithful with the man with whom she is suspected to have been unfaithful now, nor with any other man. In such a case she will be unharmed by the waters she has drunk and able to retain seed. Accordingly, Sarah became pregnant and bore Isaac to prove that she had been faithful to her husband each time she found herself in the situation of a סוטה. The expression חיתה נפשי would refer to Abraham having children due to the chaste conduct of Sarah.

אמרי נא אחותי את, “please say that you are my sister.” Avraham reasoned that if the Egyptians were to ask him if Sarai was a married woman, he would respond by claiming that her husband had abandoned her. The Egyptians would therefore have no reason to kill him on account of her absent husband, and they would leave her alone.

אמרי נא אחותי את, “please say that you are my sister, etc.” This was an inadvertent sin committed by Avram; it caused the eventual exile in Egypt of his descendants. It was certainly a grave sin to cause his wife to sin on account of his own fear of being killed. He should have demonstrated faith in G-d that He would save him as well as his wife. He committed another sin when he left the land of Canaan on account of the famine. He should have demonstrated faith in G-d that He would make sure he would not die from hunger. On account of this sin his descendants were enslaved by Pharaoh. This, at least, is the view of Nachmanides. Our sages (Nedarim 32) claim that the exile in Egypt was due to Avram asking G-d in 15,8 “how will I be sure that I (my descendants) will inherit the land?” This is also what we find in Pirke d'Rabbi Eliezer 48 where G-d is quoted as having told Avram of this exile in reply to his question. [I suppose the version in Pirke d'Rabbi Eliezer is older than the version in Nedarim. Ed.] At any rate, it is clear that Avram’s query in that chapter was considered sinful. The common denominator of the views expressed by our sages is that the sin consisted of thoughts which Avram articulated The result was 430 years of exile of varying degrees of severity. Seeing that the exile was due to a sin it was divided into three stages. The sin consisted of three parts. 1) sinful thought; 2) sinful speech; 3) sinful action. This is why the intelligent reader ought to reflect that the present exile is likely to last three times as if the exile in Egypt lasted 430 years and it was due merely to Avram’s inadvertently sinful utterance, it stands to reason that the present exile will last three times as long. After all, the sin which led to the 430 years of exile in Egypt was confined to an utterance by Avram which G-d considered sinful. The sin which led to the destruction of the first Temple, idolatry, (Yuma 9) was certainly much worse and not committed inadvertently and only by an ancestor to whom the Torah had not yet been given. At the time when the First Temple was destroyed most of the people had been guilty of sinning in thought, in speech, as well as in deed. G-d had therefore decreed three times 430 years of exile on the Jewish people. This must have been the basis of Daniel’s calculation. When you examine the final verses in Daniel 12,11 in which he mentions 1290 years, and 12,12 אשרי המחכה ויגיע לימים אלף שלש מאות שלשים וחמשה in which he speaks about the redemption at the end of 1335 years (years), this number is made up of three times the number 430. [Our author misquotes the two verses in Daniel by referring only to the number 1290, ignoring the next number in the verse following. Many attempts have been made to reconcile these numbers. Seeing the commentators who labored over these verses lived before the time alluded to had elapsed, their efforts at the time were very relevant. Now that many hundreds of years have elapsed since the expiry of these 1290 or 1335 years respectively, this editor sees little point in referring to such efforts. Ed.] This may also have been what the prophet Micah 7,20 alluded to when he said: תתן אמת ליעקב חסד לאברהם,”You will keep faith with Yaakov, and maintain your love for Avraham.” (The word אמת is understood as an acrostic of אלף מתים תשעים) This was a prayer for G-d to hasten the redemption. He appealed to G-d who had sworn that He would invoke the attribute of חסד when it comes to the redemption of Israel as we know from Deut. 32,40 where G-d swore an oath to avenge Israel from its enemies. The words there כי אשא אל שמים ידי, “I raise My hand to heaven (in an oath)” are paraphrased by Daniel 12,7 וישבע בחי העולם, “He swore an oath in the name of the Eternal.”

אמרי נא אחותי את, “Please say that you are my sister.” The word נא is an expression of an entreaty. Avraham justified the use of the white lie as he saw himself in immediate danger of being murdered. He realized that by lying he would become the beneficiary of that lie also financially. למען ייטב לי בעבורך, “in order that I will benefit on your account (and survive).” Seeing that you have to say that you are not my wife, do it in a way that will confer benefits upon me as a direct result of your situation. By saying that you are my sister they will heap gifts upon me to secure my acquiescence.

And it came to pass, when Abram entered Egypt, that the Egyptians saw the woman, that she was very beautiful.

ויהי כבא אברם מצרימה AND IT CAME TO PASS WHEN ABRAM WAS COME INTO EGYPT —It should have said, “when they were come into Egypt”; but the use of the singular teaches us that he hid her in a chest, and when they demanded the custom dues they opened it and discovered her (Genesis Rabbah 40:5).

ויראו המצרים, all of them, when looking at Sarai, entertained the very thoughts Avraham had anticipated.

ויהי כבוא אברם מצרימה, As soon as Avram came to Egypt, etc.;” according to the plain meaning of the text, it sounds as if all the people in the entourage are considered as merely as an appendage to Avram, his fate dominating what would happen to all the people who had traveled to Egypt with him. Further confirmation of this approach to the text is what we read in verse 10 where Avram is described as descending to Egypt in the singular, i.e. וירד אברם מצרימה, which sounds as if he alone had traveled to Egypt, although we know that Lot was with him.

And the officers of Pharaoh saw her, and they praised her to Pharaoh; and the woman was taken into the house of Pharaoh.

ויהללו אותה אל פרעה AND THEY PRAISED HER TO PHARAOH — They praised her among themselves saying, “This woman is worthy of the king (i. e. they praised her as being suitable אל פרעה for Pharaoh).

AND THE PRINCES OF PHARAOH SAW HER. The purport Why does it say here again, And the princes of Pharaoh saw her? thereof is that when the Egyptians saw her they said, “This one is worthy of the great princes,” and so they brought her before them. But they were also afraid of touching her for due to her great beauty, they knew that the king would desire her exceedingly. “And they praised her among themselves saying, ‘This one is worthy of the king.’” Thus the language of Rashi. This is in accordance with the opinion of Onkelos who says, “And they praised her for Pharaoh.” Or it may be that they praised her to the king himself, and he sent for her and took her.

"And they praised" (וַיְהַלְלוּ) — the first lamed is without dagesh, to ease pronunciation, though it ought to be doubled. Comparable is "and I prayed" (וָאֶתְפַּלְלָה) in Daniel. "And the woman was taken" (וַתֻּקַּח) is of the heavy-intensive conjugation; even if an exact parallel is not found, its analogue is "and you were cast" (וַתֻּשְׁלְכִי) (Ezek. 16:5).

ויראו אותה שרי פרעה, they quickly quashed any hopes the commoners had entertained relating to marrying this woman.

ויראו אותה שרי פרעה, “When the ministers of Pharaoh saw her, etc.” When the local Egyptians saw this beautiful woman they said that she is suitable for highly placed ministers, etc. But even when they brought her to such ministers they were afraid to touch her themselves, preferring to bring her to the King, having decided that she was suitable only for the King himself.

And he treated Abram well on her account, and he came to have sheep and oxen and donkeys, and male servants and female servants, and female donkeys and camels.

ולאברם הטיב בעבורה AND TO ABRAM HE DEALT WELL — he means Pharaoh — בעבורה FOR HER SAKE.

ותקח האשה ולאברם היטיב, the members of Pharaoh’s household did not even waste time to seduce Sarai but abducted her forcefully. They thought that seeing that it was a compliment for Sarai to be desired by the king himself, she would automatically consent to such an elevation of her status. Seeing that she had described herself only as Avram’s sister and not his wife, they had no reason to believe that there was a legal obstacle to such a union. Pharaoh himself said “I took her as a wife for myself,” not a concubine, not a mistress. In verse 19 he explains that he had taken Sarai as a wife, feeling certain that she was not legally linked to any other man.

ולאבדם היטיב בעבורה, “and he had done Avram favours on her account.” Rashi quotes the verse without offering any commentary on it.

ויהי לו צאן ובקר, “he retained sheep and cattle.” The word ויהי in this instance does not mean that he now acquired them, but that he retained the flocks and herds he had owned previously. He did not purchase them in Egypt and made profit there. After all, Avram had only asked that his life be spared.

ולאברם היטיב בעבורה, “He conferred benefits on Avram on her account.” Even though Avraham did not want to accept gifts from the King of Sodom (later on), here he was forced to accept the gifts or they would have realized that he was Sarai’s husband.

And Hashem brought great plagues upon Pharaoh and upon the people of his household, on account of Sarai, the wife of Abram.

'וינגע ה' וגו AND THE LORD PLAGUED PHARAOH etc. — He was smitten with the disease of Raathon for which marital relations are harmful. ואת ביתו AND HIS HOUSE — Take it as the Targum has it: “and the people of his house”. A Midrashic explanation is: the word את is used here to imply that included in the curse were also its walls, pillars and its utensils (Midrash Tanchuma, Lech Lecha 5). The whole of this explanation of ואת ביתו is given in an old text of Rashi. על דבר שרי BECAUSE OF SARAI (literally, by the word of Sarai) — at her orders: she said to the angel “Smite” and he smote (Midrash Tanchuma, Lech Lecha 5).

BECAUSE OF SARAI ABRAM’s WIFE. This means that because of the wrong done to Sarah, as well as to Abraham, and the merit of both of them, these great plagues came upon Pharaoh and his house.

"And Hashem struck Pharaoh on account of (עַל דְּבַר) Sarai" — this means "because of" (בַּעֲבוּר). The meaning is: on account of this matter.

וינגע ה' את פרעה נגעים גדולים, only Pharaoh was struck with “great” afflictions, whereas his household suffered lesser afflictions. This was arranged by G’d so that the Egyptians, when they saw that only Sarai had remained completely immune to these afflictions, would conclude that the afflictions were on account of her and her fate.

וינגע ה׳ את פרעה. G'd brought plagues on Pharaoh. The word וינגע is related to נגע, touched. When Pharaoh was about to touch Sarah, G'd revealed to him that she was married to Abraham.

וינגע ה' את פרעה, “Hashem afflicted Pharaoh with a painful plague;” the reason why the Torah offers no further details about the nature of this plague, as opposed to when Avimelech was struck with impotence and the women in his country were afflicted in their birth canals, is because shortly after the episode with Avimelech the Torah reported that Sarah conceived and became pregnant (Genesis 21,1). Had the Torah not spelled out that Avimelech had become totally impotent, people might have attributed Sarah’s pregnancy to her having stayed in Avimelech’s Palace. The episode with Pharaoh had occurred perhaps a s long as 20 years earlier, so that no one could have fabricated such a story. To the question why Pharaoh was punished, seeing that Avram had deceived him by saying that she was his sister, as we know from the Torah quoting him, Sarai had described herself as Avram’s wife even if he had not said so. This is the meaning of the words: על דבר שרי אשת ברם “on account of what Sarai, Avram’s wife had said.” Pharaoh had ignored her. Gentiles do not have to be warned not to violate the commandments they have accepted to observe, as we pointed out in connection with Genesis 20,5. (The second Avimelech and Rivkah) וינגע ה׳ את פרעה, “Hashem afflicted Pharaoh.” According to Rashi, He afflicted him with a kind of gonorrhea, thus making the punishment fit the crime. The same occurred with Sarai and Avimelech. G-d interfered with all the women in the land of the Philistines being unable to give birth to fetuses that were ready to be born. (Bereshit Rabbah end of chapter 52.) According to a dissenting view, Pharaoh had become afflicted with tzoraat, a skin eczema resulting in the afflicted persons being ostracized.

וינגע ה' את פרעה, “G’d smote Pharaoh with plagues, etc.” Most commentators believe that this statement is to be interpreted literally, i.e. that Pharaoh was personally smitten with afflictions. They interpret Genesis 20,18 as meaning that the vaginal openings of the women and the penises of the men in Avimelech’s household were blocked by divine action (Baba Kama 92). This is also based on Chronicles I 16,21 לא הניח לאיש לעשקם ויוכח עליהם מלכים, “He allowed no one to oppress them; He reproved kings on their account.” On the other hand, Rabbi Saadyah Gaon understands our verse as a threat by G’d to afflict Pharaoh. His reasoning is that if G’d had afflicted Pharaoh prematurely this would not have been fair justice as Sarai had been brought to Pharaoh’s palace by others (without his having ordered this) and he personally had not yet laid a hand on Sarai. Seeing that he had not yet committed a sin why would G’d punish him as a preventive measure? Rabbi Saadyah Gaon applies the same reasoning to what happened later at the court of Avimelech (chapter 20). As to Genesis 20,17 where the Torah expressly reports that G’d healed Avimelech and his household in response to Avraham’s prayer, Rabbi Saadyah understands this verse not so much as a healing after an affliction but as a preventive medicine G’d provided against Avimelech and his household suffering such afflictions in the future. This would be a demonstration of the verse in Exodus 15,26 כי אני ה' רופאך, “for I the Lord am your Healer.” In that passage the Torah had also spoken about afflictions which were not going to be visited upon the Jewish people, and G’d describes this as a result of His acting as Israel’s Healer. As to the verse we quoted from Chronicles, Rabbi Saadyah understands this as referring to verbal warnings not to actual occurrences. Our sages clearly did not understand matters in this way and believed that seeing that these two kings both had evil intentions G’d countered their evil intentions by forestalling the harm they were about to do and effectively smiting them by disabling the respective organs with which they were going to commit their sin. The sages of the Talmud understand our verses literally.

“About the matter of Sarai, Abram’s wife.” [The Kli Yakar asks:] Don’t we already know that Sarai was Abram’s wife? Furthermore, what was Pharaoh’s transgression, since he believed she was his sister? Also, regarding Rashi’s interpretation that [the phrase “about the matter [davar, which can also mean word] of Sarai”] means she commanded the angel “Strike!” and he struck — the word “strike” isn’t mentioned in the verse. Therefore, it seems to me that although before the general public Sarah said “I am his sister,” nevertheless, to Pharaoh she revealed the truth that she was Abram’s wife, thinking that a king who sits on the throne of justice would not commit wrongdoing. However, Pharaoh ignored her words, saying “I believe your first statement [that you’re his sister].” Therefore, God afflicted him about the davar of Sarai — because of Sarai’s statement. And what was her statement? Wife of Abram — for she had told him “I am Abram’s wife.” And [this is why] Pharaoh [later] said to Abram, Why did you say “She is my sister”? Because I would have believed you rather than her, as I thought perhaps she was saying this just to avoid relations without marriage. Another explanation for about the matter of Sarai, Abram’s wife: Because she was a married woman, therefore these plagues came upon him.

וינגע ה' את פרעה, “The Lord smote Pharaoh with plagues, etc.” It is difficult to understand why G’d punished Pharaoh for a crime committed inadvertently. He had not been warned not to take Sarai as a wife, as had been the case with Avimelech. Some commentators are of the opinion that Pharaoh did indeed sin intentionally as G’d had informed him that Sarai was Avram’s wife. The fact that Pharaoh reacted by saying to Avraham: “here is your wife, take her and leave,” is proof that someone had informed him. Clearly, this had been G’d, although He may not have spelled it out in these words. According to Nachmanides when these plagues struck Pharaoh and his household suddenly, he wondered what G’d had done to him and why; he asked Sarai if she could account for this and she told him the reason. Thereupon Pharaoh called in Avraham and accused him without being specific, as he was not sure that the plagues were indeed related to this matter. Alternatively, as our sages explained this, the plague consisted of Pharaoh suddenly becoming impotent so that it dawned on him that this could be related to the fact that the woman in question was someone’s wife. He accused Avraham only tentatively, questioning him, afraid to accuse him explicitly. Had Avraham said: “she is my sister,” he would not have said to him: take your wife and go.” Avraham remained silent throughout, as he was far too afraid. Pharaoh interpreted his silence as an admission, this is why he added: “take tour wife and depart!”

And Pharaoh called for Abram and said: What is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she is your wife?

AND PHARAOH CALLED ABRAM. It is possible that when the plagues suddenly came upon him and his house at the very time Sarah was taken to his house, he thought to himself, What is this that G-d hath done unto us? And so he asked her, and she told him that she is Abraham’s wife. For this reason he called Abraham and accused him. Or it may be, as our Rabbis say, It is also mentioned in Rashi. that Pharaoh was smitten with a certain skin disease which is aggravated by intimacy with a woman. Therefore he suspected that perhaps she is Abraham’s wife, and so he said to him with uncertainty, What is this that thou hast done unto me?, in order to draw the truth from him. Were she his sister, he would say, “Indeed, she is my sister.” And Pharaoh further said to him, Now therefore behold thy wife, take her, and go thy way. He said this in order to see what he would say, and now he would answer his reproof. But Abraham remained silent and did not answer him a word out of his great fear. Then Pharaoh understood that she is his wife as he had suspected, and then Pharaoh commanded his men to send him away.

The word הִגַּדְתָּ ("you told") belongs to the class of verbs whose root-nun is dropped.

למה לא הגדת לי, even if you had reason to suspect the ordinary citizens would harm you on account of her, surely you could have told me, the king, the truth, seeing that it is my task to rule with justice.

ויקרא פרעה לאברם. Pharaoh called in Abram. Why does the Torah quote Pharaoh as saying למה, why, twice in succession? Perhaps he wanted to give expressions to two levels of his astonishment at Abraham's conduct. First he accused Abraham of entrapping him by withholding the information that Sarah was married, a fact which could cause Pharaoh to commit a sin. Secondly, Pharaoh could not understand that Abraham had not only withheld relevant information but had deliberately misinformed him when he described Sarah as his sister. One reason why Pharaoh and Avimelech reacted differently to Abraham's deception may have to do with the ugliness of the Egyptians. Pharaoh expelled Abraham (12,20), whereas Avimelech put the whole country at his disposal (20,15). Pharaoh could not be sure that some other member of his people would not rape Sarah even after he had released her since Sarah's beauty was in such contrast to that of his own people and his people were steeped in sexual permissiveness. Avimelech had no such concerns. This is why he asked Abraham: "what did you see, etc?" He meant "why did you have reason to be worried?" Pharaoh understood very well that Abraham would never feel safe once the people knew Sarah was his wife. He had to be given safe conduct out of the country. The Torah tells us of the hypocrisy of Pharaoh by adding his second question. Pharaoh was entitled to the first question. He could claim that Abraham should have told him at least privately that Sarah was his wife. He claimed to have been insulted by Abraham's lie since he would have provided Abraham with security once he knew that he was Sarah's husband. Abraham had made it plain by his lie that he even suspected Pharaoh himself of being unable to restrain his lust. He wanted Abraham to believe that either a) he would have provided him with a security escort, or b) he would have sent him out of the country immediately. We might well ask why every husband who comes to a foreign country has to identify his entourage and point out to the king who is his wife. Pharaoh asked why Abraham told a lie though normally there had not been a need for him to say anything regarding this woman. Nonetheless Sarah's extraordinary beauty should have prompted him to come forward and tell the truth in order to ensure his and her safety. The moment Abraham misrepresented the facts, he only had himself to blame if Pharaoh decided to take Sarah for himself. Abraham could not answer Pharaoh without insulting him further by telling him that he placed no trust in his assurances, that he thought Pharaoh perfectly capable of doing what he did even had he known that Sarah was married to him. Pharaoh may well have got the hint; this may be why he hastened to expel Abraham and entourage from Egypt.

Why did you say, 'She is my sister,' so that I took her to be my wife? And now, here is your wife — take her and go.

קח ולך TAKE HER AND GO AWAY — Not as Abimelech who said to him (Genesis 20:15) “Behold, my land is before thee; dwell wherever it seemeth proper to thee”: but he (Pharaoh) said to him, “Go and do not stay here,” for the Egyptians are greatly addicted to lewd-living, as it is said. (Ezekiel 23:20). “And whose issue is like the issue of horses” (Midrash Tanchuma, Lech Lecha 5). (The passage deals with the immoral practices of the Egyptians).

SO THAT I TOOK HER TO BE MY WIFE. The meaning thereof is that it was Pharaoh’s intention that she be his regal wife, not just his concubine. Pharaoh mentioned this to Abraham so that he should confess to him if she is his sister, as I have explained.

The meaning of "and I took her for myself as a wife" is that he took her intending her to be his wife and to lie with her — but Hashem brought plagues upon him so that he could not touch her. The plagues were sent by Hashem to protect the wife of His beloved, and they were so severe that he was unable to touch her. This is comparable to: "and you desire her and take her as your wife," followed by: "and you bring her into your house, and she shaves her head... and afterward you may go in to her and be her husband" (Deut. 21:10–13). The vav of וָלֵךְ is voweled with kamatz because the sense — the subject being well understood — is clearly apparent, similarly to "bread and wine" (לֶחֶם וָיָיִן) (Gen. 14:18).

?למה אמרת אחותי היא, even after she had already been brought to my palace? ואקח אותה לי לאשה, so that I took her to be my wife, not my concubine. I though that seeing that she is your sister you would surely approve of this union!

למה אמרת אחותי היא, “why did you say: “she is my sister,” whereas she never said that you are her brother. This is distinctly different from when Sarah had been kidnapped by Avimelech, and the latter had subsequently accused her in his dream of having said that Avraham was her brother. (Genesis 20,5) [It was part of his plea that he was totally innocent. Ed. Our author ascribes Sarah’s conduct vis a vis Pharaoh as due to her relative youth and naivety, whereas by the time she was kidnapped by Avimelech she had become more familiar with the real world.

הנה אשתך קח ולך, “here is your wife, take her and go!” Avram did not bother to make a response to Pharaoh although he did make a response to Avimelech in chapter twenty. In the latter case he excused his conduct by saying he had feared for his life if he would have declared that Sarai was his wife. The obvious question is that seeing that both kings had asked him about his relationship to Sarai, why did Avram see fit to explain his conduct to Avimelech whereas he did not do so vis-a-vis Pharaoh? We must conclude that the manner in which Pharaoh restored his wife to him by saying only the minimum words required “take and go,” indicated to Avram that he was not interested in listening to explanations.

ואקח אותה לי לאשה, “so that I took her to be my wife.” He meant that Sarai was intended to be his queen, as opposed to her being merely a concubine. He used this phraseology in order to induce Avraham to reveal whether she was indeed his wife or not. הנה אשתך קח ולך, “here is your wife, take her and leave” They did not part on cordial terms as in the case of Avimelech, who allowed Avraham to settle anywhere he chose in his country. (Genesis 20,15) The Egyptians knew no sexual restraints and Pharaoh was afraid if Avraham stayed there he might be exposed to further dangers on account of his wife.

And Pharaoh gave men charge over him, and they escorted him and his wife and all that was his.

ויצו עליו AND PHARAOH GAVE COMMAND CONCERNING HIM— עליו means for his sake — to escort him and to protect him. וישלחו AND THEY ACCOMPANIED HIM — as the Targum has it: they gave him an escort.)

"And they escorted him" — in the manner of an honorable escort; similarly: "and Abraham walked with them to send them off" (Gen. 18:16). What seems most correct to me is that "and he commanded concerning him" means: the command rested upon others — he issued a proclamation that no man should touch him or his wife.

וישלחו אותו ואת אשתו ואת כל אשר לו, “they escorted him and his wife and all his belongings.” Even though Avraham had treated them badly they did not take back the gifts they had given to him.”