This Week’s Reading

Parashat Lech Lecha — Genesis 12:1–17:27

• Parasha: Lech Lecha, Genesis 12:1–17:27
• Maftir: Genesis 17:24–27
• Haftarah: Isaiah 40:27–41:16, “Lamah tomar Yaakov.” Sephardim and Ashkenazim read the same haftarah this week. It mentions “who stirred up one from the east” (41:2), which Rashi reads as Avraham.
• No special Shabbat this week.

Teen summary: Hashem tells Avram: leave your land, your birthplace, and your father’s house, and go “to the land I will show you.” No map, no address. He goes. A famine sends him and Sarai down to Egypt, where Pharaoh takes Sarai and gets hit with plagues until he gives her back. Avram and his nephew Lot split up (Lot picks Sodom, not a great real-estate call). Four kings beat five kings and capture Lot, so Avram takes 318 men, wins, and then refuses to keep even “a thread or a shoelace” of Sodom’s loot (14:23). Hashem shows him the stars and promises children beyond counting, then makes the Brit bein HaBetarim, the covenant between the pieces, including a warning that his descendants will be strangers in a foreign land for 400 years. Hagar has Yishmael. At 99, Avram becomes Avraham, Sarai becomes Sarah, and Avraham does the brit milah.

Parasha Stories

Three midrashim for teens

1. “The big idol did it”

Before any of this, Avram’s father Terach sold idols. Bereshit Rabbah 38:13 says that one day Terach left young Avram in charge of the store. A customer walks in. Avram asks, “How old are you?” “Fifty, sixty.” “Wow. A sixty-year-old bowing to something made yesterday?” The customer leaves, embarrassed. Then a woman brings a plate of flour as an offering. Avram grabs a stick, smashes every idol, and puts the stick in the hand of the biggest one.

Terach comes back: “WHO did this?” Avram: “A lady brought flour, they all fought over who eats first, and the big one got up and smashed the rest.” Terach: “Are you mocking me? They can’t do anything!” Avram: “Do your ears hear what your mouth is saying?”

Terach hands him over to King Nimrod, who says, “Bow to fire.” Avram: “Why not water? It puts out fire.” “Fine, water.” “Why not clouds? They carry water.” “Fine.” “Why not wind? It scatters clouds.” “Fine.” “Why not people? They stand up to wind.” Nimrod loses patience and throws him into a fiery furnace. Avram walks out. His brother Haran had been waiting to see who wins before choosing a side. When he finally says “I’m with Avram,” he’s thrown in too, and he doesn’t survive.

Teen take: logic beats a crowd. And waiting to see which side is winning before you stand for something isn’t really standing for anything.

2. The box at customs

When Avram enters Egypt, the Torah says “the Egyptians saw the woman,” but it only mentions Avram arriving. So where was Sarai? Bereshit Rabbah 40:5: he locked her in a chest. At the border, the customs officers say, “Pay the duty.” “Sure, I’ll pay.” “Clothes in there?” “I’ll pay for clothes.” “Gold?” “I’ll pay for gold.” “Silk?” “I’ll pay for silk.” “Gems?” “I’ll pay for gems.” Naturally, now they’re sure something is up, and they insist on opening it. When they do, the Midrash says, all of Egypt lit up from Sarai’s beauty.

Teen take: sometimes the person working hardest to look chill is the most suspicious one in the room. And Avram really did try everything to protect his family.

3. The “helpful” giant

After Lot is captured, “the refugee came and told Avram” (14:13). Who was this escapee? Bereshit Rabbah 42:8 says it was Og, the giant (yes, the same Og that Moshe fights centuries later). His plan wasn’t to help. He figured Avram was a zealot who would rush into battle, get killed, and then Og could take Sarai. Hashem’s response: you’ll get a reward for the steps you walked to deliver the news, so you’ll live a very long time. But because you wanted that tzaddik dead, you’ll live to see his countless descendants, and in the end you’ll fall into their hands.

Teen take: doing the right thing for the wrong reason still counts a little, but Hashem sees the whole motive. Be the friend who actually wants good things for people.

Practical Halacha · Sephardi / Shulchan Aruch / Yalkut Yosef

This Shabbat’s checklist

1. Candles, beracha first: the Shulchan Aruch says to make the beracha “l’hadlik ner shel Shabbat” when lighting (OC 263:5), and Sephardi practice, as Yalkut Yosef rules, is to say the beracha and then light. The “light first, cover your eyes, then bless” method is the Rema’s Ashkenazi custom in the same se’if. Candles this week: 5:45 PM.
2. Kiddush where you eat: “Ein Kiddush ela b’makom se’udah,” Kiddush only counts where you eat the meal (OC 273:1). Moving from one corner of the same room to another is fine. Don’t make Kiddush in the living room and then go eat at a friend’s house.
3. Lechem mishneh: hold two whole loaves and cut the bottom one (OC 274:1). Whole means whole, so no pre-sliced challah standing in for loaf #2.
4. Seudah shlishit: be very careful to eat the third meal. Even if you’re full, a kebeitzah (about an egg’s worth) of bread does it. The Shulchan Aruch adds a line that sounds like it was written for Shabbat lunch: a wise person doesn’t stuff himself at the morning meal, so there’s room for the third (OC 291:1).
5. Shnayim mikra v’echad targum: even though you hear the whole parasha in shul, you review it yourself, twice in Hebrew and once in Targum, “even Atarot v’Divon,” meaning even the list-of-places pesukim (OC 285:1). Lech Lecha has a whole war chapter full of names, so: even Kedorlaomer.
6. Havdalah, sitting: the Shulchan Aruch says Havdalah is said sitting (OC 296:6). The Rema notes the Ashkenazi custom to stand. Shabbat ends at 6:52 PM (50 min).

Teen reference only, not personal psak. Ask a rav for your household.

Zmanim · Bronx NY 10471 · ET

Full Shabbat times

Times from Hebcal for Bronx 10471 (America/New_York). Havdalah at 50 minutes per household practice. Confirm with your community custom.

Illustration

Count the stars

Closing Comic

Meanwhile, at Egyptian customs