Parashat Lech Lecha - Insights and Questions on Promise and Waiting

Abram reaches the land God promised to show him, only to have to leave it because of famine. This tension runs through Parashat Lech Lecha: the promises are great, but reality is slow to catch up.

The parsha in brief

At seventy-five, Abram leaves Haran with Sarai and Lot. Famine takes them to Egypt, where Sarai is taken into Pharaoh’s house after being presented as Abram’s sister. When plagues strike Pharaoh and his household, he returns her and sends Abram away with everything he owns. Back in Canaan, Abram separates from Lot to prevent conflict. Later, he goes to war to rescue him from captivity, bringing back the other captives and the property as well. Genesis 12:4-20; 13:5-12; 14:14-16.

God promises Abram a son of his own and many descendants. In the covenant between the pieces, the land is promised to him, but he also learns that his descendants will live as strangers, be enslaved and suffer oppression before returning to it. Sarai, who has not borne a child, gives him her servant Hagar as a wife. After becoming pregnant, Hagar looks down on Sarai; Sarai mistreats her, and Hagar flees. In the wilderness, an angel of God tells her to return and announces the birth of her son and the multiplication of her descendants. Ishmael is subsequently born. Genesis 15-16.

At the end, their names become Abraham and Sarah, circumcision is commanded, and the birth of Isaac, with whom the covenant will be established, is promised. Ishmael too receives a blessing. Abraham, Ishmael and all the males of his household are circumcised that very day. The parsha ends before the son promised to Sarah is born. Genesis 17.

Separating, yet remaining brothers

Before separating from Lot, Abram says:
ki anashim achim anachnu.
Translation: For we are brothers.
Genesis 13:8
When he hears of Lot’s captivity, the language of brotherhood returns:
ki nishbah achiv
Translation: That his brother had been taken captive.
Genesis 14:14\

Lot is Abram’s nephew, yet at both moments the text speaks of them as brothers. On the plain level of the story, the separation is meant to prevent conflict, and later Abram sets out to rescue him. A literary reading can see the repeated language of brotherhood as a connection between these acts: they stop living together, but Abram continues to regard himself as responsible for his relative. Distance does not become indifference.

Abram gives up his share and protects the others’ share

After the victory, Abram refuses to take property from the king of Sodom, so that the king cannot claim credit for his wealth. But he makes an exception for the share of his allies, Aner, Eshkol and Mamre:
hem yikchu chelkam.
Translation: Let them take their share.
Genesis 14:24\

That qualification is explicit in the verse. It allows us to distinguish a personal choice from a decision made for others: Abram undertakes to forgo his share without assuming that his partners must pay the price of his choice. At the very end of his firm declaration, he makes sure to mention those who went with him.

Ramban does not spare Sarai and Abram criticism

The verses tell us that Sarai mistreated Hagar, who then fled. Ramban states that Sarai sinned in mistreating her, and that Abram also sinned by allowing it. He even connects this mistreatment with the suffering Hagar’s descendants would later inflict on the descendants of Abraham and Sarah. This is Ramban’s interpretation, not an explicit causal explanation in the verses. Ramban on Genesis 16:6.

The force of this commentary deserves attention. Abram’s election and the promises made to him do not lead Ramban to justify everything that happens in his home. He also reads the parsha through the suffering of the fleeing servant.

Who receives an opportunity during the years of waiting?

In the covenant between the pieces, we read:

vedor revi’i yashuvu henah ki lo shalem avon ha’Emori ad henah.

Translation: And the fourth generation will return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.

Genesis 15:16

It is natural to understand this as the fourth generation of Abram’s descendants. That is indeed Rashi’s interpretation. But Rashbam understands the four generations as those of the Amorites: after four of their generations, the Israelites will return to the land. In his reading, the wait gives the children an opportunity to repent, even though their fathers sinned. Rashi on Genesis 15:16; Rashbam on the same verse.

This is a surprising shift in perspective. We read with Abram’s expectation of receiving the land in mind, while Rashbam turns our attention to the generations growing up among its inhabitants in the meantime. Their possibility of change also counts.

Following his reading, we might suggest this thought: within the time one person experiences as waiting for a promise to be fulfilled, someone else is still being given an opportunity to change. This thought grows out of the commentary; it is not a general explanation for every delay or instance of suffering.

Twenty-four years within a single parsha

Abram is seventy-five when he leaves Haran; Abraham is ninety-nine at his circumcision. Twenty-four years pass between these moments, and at their end Isaac’s birth still lies ahead. Genesis 12:4; 17:21-24.

During those years, Abram becomes wealthy, wins a war and has a son with Hagar, but Sarah has still not borne a child. The repeated promises in the parsha therefore sound different when we remember how much time passes between them. In a few minutes, we read a story its characters live through for years.

At the beginning of the parsha, Abram sets out at seventy-five. At its end, at ninety-nine, he is circumcised, and Sarah has still not given birth. Twenty-four years have passed, and this time the promise also has a date: the following year. We finish reading the parsha; Abraham and Sarah remain waiting for a son.

25 questions on Parashat Lech Lecha

1. What do we actually know about Abram when God chooses him? Why does the Torah describe Noah’s righteousness before the Flood, while Lech Lecha opens with a command to Abram without a similar explanation?

2. Why does the command to leave follow this order: land, birthplace, father’s house? Someone setting out normally leaves home first and the country afterward.

3. God promises to show Abram a land, yet Canaan is named as the destination when he sets out. What does Abram still not know about this journey?

4. Who are the people Abram and Sarai “made” in Haran? What does this unusual expression mean in its plain sense, and what did the midrashim add to it?

5. Why does a famine drive Abram from the land immediately after the promise to give it to his descendants? Is the descent to Egypt a sound decision, a failure or a test?

6. When Abram tells Sarai that he knows she is beautiful, is he discovering something new, or seeing a familiar fact through a new fear?

7. How can Pharaoh be the one who rebukes Abram? Why does the Torah record his rebuke without describing Abram’s reply, and how might we understand this silence in the narrative?

8. The famine in the land is described as “heavy,” and later Abram is described as “heavy” in livestock, silver and gold. Does the repetition of the same Hebrew word illuminate the story?

9. Why does the great wealth of Abram and Lot make living together impossible? What in the story prevents us from reading wealth as a straightforward blessing?

10. The person promised the land would seem to have reason to choose first. Why does Abram let Lot choose?

11. Lot lifts his eyes and chooses the Jordan plain; immediately after their separation, God tells Abram to lift his eyes. What emerges when we read these two acts of looking side by side?

12. Why is the place Lot chooses compared both to God’s garden and to Egypt? What does this combination tell the reader that Lot may not be considering?

13. Lot is Abram’s nephew. Why does the Torah use the language of brotherhood precisely in the stories of their separation and Lot’s rescue?

14. Why is Abram called “the Hebrew” precisely when a fugitive arrives to tell him of the captivity? What does the designation mean in its plain sense, and how different is that from the familiar midrashic interpretation?

15. In the plain sense of the verse, Abram takes 318 of his trained men to war; the midrash quoted by Rashi says it was Eliezer alone. How does the midrash move from a number of people to one man’s name, and what is it trying to illuminate?

16. Who is Melchizedek, and how does a king who is also a priest of God Most High suddenly appear in the story? What can we know about him from the verses, and what comes from later traditions?

17. Why does Abram accept property from Pharaoh but refuse property from the king of Sodom? What changes between the two encounters?

18. Abram gives up his share of the property but insists that his partners receive theirs. What does this qualification teach us about the limits of his renunciation?

19. After the military victory, God tells Abram not to fear. What might a returning victor fear, and what different answers do the commentators offer?

20. Who credits whom with righteousness in the verse describing Abram’s faith? Does God count Abram’s faith as merit, or does Abram attribute righteousness to God in making the promise?

21. How can Abram’s faith in the promise of descendants stand alongside his question about how he will know he is to inherit the land? Is he asking for proof, reassurance or something else?

22. Why does Abram fall asleep during the covenant between the pieces, while a smoking furnace and a flaming torch pass between them? What is the meaning of a covenant in which Abram is not described as passing through himself?

23. Whose generations are counted in the covenant between the pieces? How does the meaning of the wait change if, following Rashbam, we count the Amorite generations, after which the Israelites will return to the land?

24. What emerges when we compare the oppression of Abram’s descendants foretold in the covenant with Hagar’s mistreatment in his home? Do the commentators connect the suffering Abram hears about with the suffering he permits?

25. Why does Hagar, the fleeing servant, receive a promise of descendants too numerous to count, much like Abram? And what is the significance of her also giving a name to the God who speaks to her?

Daily Aliyot

Aliyah 1 of 7 October 18, 2026

Parashat Lech Lecha - First Aliyah

Abram sets out with a promise of blessing, then faces famine and fear. Ramban and Rashi on leaving home, the people of Haran and the descent to Egypt.

Aliyah 2 of 7 October 19, 2026

Parashat Lech Lecha - Second Aliyah

Sarai is rescued from Pharaoh's house and Abram returns to the altar. Or HaChaim, Ramban and Radak on the truth revealed, the gifts from Egypt and returning to a place of prayer.

Aliyah 3 of 7 October 20, 2026

Parashat Lech Lecha - Third Aliyah

Abram and Lot part ways so that the quarrel will not reach their own bond. Or HaChaim, Ramban and Rashi on the dispute, the choice of the Jordan plain and the promise after the separation.

Aliyah 4 of 7 October 21, 2026

Parashat Lech Lecha - Fourth Aliyah

Abram sets out to rescue Lot from captivity. Rabbeinu Bahya, Sforno and Radak on kinship after separation, the battle plan, and bread and wine afterward.

Aliyah 5 of 7 October 22, 2026

Parashat Lech Lecha - Fifth Aliyah

Abram refuses property for himself but insists on his allies' share. Rashi, Radak and Ramban on the lack of an heir and confidence in the promise of a son.

Aliyah 6 of 7 October 23, 2026

Parashat Lech Lecha - Sixth Aliyah

The covenant with Abram, Hagar’s suffering and the name Abraham: Rashi, Radak and Sforno on the promise and those living alongside it.

Aliyah 7 of 7 October 23, 2026

Parashat Lech Lecha - Seventh Aliyah

Ramban on Abraham’s laughter and concern for Ishmael, and Rabbeinu Bahya on circumcision that same day. Isaac in the promise, Ishmael beside his father.