Lech Lecha
Genesis 12:1 – 17:27
God calls Abram to leave his homeland and journey to a land that God will show him, promising to make him a great nation. Abram travels through Canaan, sojourns in Egypt during a famine, parts ways with his nephew Lot, and rescues Lot from captivity by four kings. God makes a covenant with Abram — the Covenant Between the Parts — foretelling the Egyptian bondage and redemption. The parasha concludes with the institution of circumcision as the sign of the covenant, and with Abram and Sarai receiving their new names, Abraham and Sarah.
Key figures
- Abram/Abraham — Called by God to leave Haran, patriarch of the covenant
- Sarai/Sarah — Abram's wife, taken to Pharaoh's house, later promised a son
- Lot — Abram's nephew, separates from him and settles near Sodom
- Hagar — Sarai's Egyptian handmaid, bears Ishmael to Abram
- Ishmael — Son of Abram and Hagar, circumcised at age thirteen
- Melchizedek — King of Salem and priest of God Most High, blesses Abram
Famous verses
- 12:1 Now Hashem said to Abram: "Go forth from your land, and from your kindred, and from your father's house, to the land that I will show you.
- 15:6 And he believed in Hashem, and He reckoned it to him as merit.
- 17:7 And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your seed after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God to you and to your seed after you.
Haftarah: {'ref': 'Isaiah 40:27-41:16', 'connection': "Isaiah reassures Israel not to fear, recalling Abraham who trusted God's call, just as Abram had faith when God called him to journey to an unknown land."}
Total gematria 432,163 is a prime number.