For the week ending 8 November 2003 / 13 Heshvan 5764
Parshat Lech Lecha
Questions
- What benefits did Hashem promise Avraham if he would leave his home?
- "And all the families of the earth will be blessed through you." What does this mean?
- Who were the souls that Avraham and Sarah "made?"
- What were the Canaanites doing in the Land of Canaan when Avraham arrived?
- Why did Avraham build an altar at Ai?
- What two results did Avraham hope to achieve by saying that Sarah was his sister?
- Why did Avrahams shepherds rebuke Lot's shepherds?
- Who was Amrafel and why was he called that?
- Verse 14:7 states that the four kings "smote all the country of the Amalekites." How is this possible, since Amalek had not yet been born?
- Why did the "palit " tell Avraham of Lots capture?
- Who accompanied Avraham in battle against the four kings?
- Why couldnt Avraham chase the four kings past Dan?
- Why did Avraham give "ma'aser " specifically to Malki-Tzedek?
- Why didnt Avraham accept any money from Sodom's king?
- When did the decree of 400 years of exile begin?
- What did Hashem indicate with His promise that Avraham would "come to his ancestors in peace?"
- How did Hashem fulfill His promise that Avraham would be buried in "a good old age?"
- Why did the Jewish People need to wait until the fourth generation until they returned to Eretz Canaan?
- Who was Hagars father?
- Why did Avraham fall on his face when Hashem appeared to him?
Answers
- 12:1 - He would become a great nation, his excellence would become known to the world, and he would be blessed with wealth.
- 12:3 - A person will say to his child, "You should be like Avraham."
- 12:5 - People they converted to the worship of Hashem.
- 12:6 - They were in the process of conquering the land from the descendants of Shem.
- 12:8 - He foresaw the Jewish People's defeat there in the days of Yehoshua due to Achans sin. He built an altar to pray for them.
- 12:13 - That the Egyptians would not kill him, and would give him presents.
- 13:7 Lots shepherds grazed their flocks in privately owned fields.
- 14:1 - Amrafel was Nimrod. He said (amar ) to Avraham to fall (fel ) into the fiery furnace.
- 14:7 - The Torah uses the name that the place would bear in the future.
- 14:13- He wanted Avraham to die trying to save Lot so that he himself could marry Sarah.
- 14:14 - His servant, Eliezer.
- 4:14 - He saw prophetically that his descendants would make a golden calf there, and as a result his strength failed.
- 14:20 - Because Malki-Tzedek was a kohen.
- 14:23 - Hashem had promised Avraham wealth, and Avraham didn't want Sodom's King to say, "I made Avraham wealthy."
- 15:13 - With the birth of Yitzchak.
- 15:15 - That his father, Terach, would repent and become righteous.
- 15:15 - Avraham lived to see his son Yishmael repent and become righteous, and he died before his grandson Esav became wicked.
- 15:16 - They needed to wait until the Amorites had sinned sufficiently to deserve expulsion.
- 16:1 - Pharaoh.
- 17:3 - Because he was as yet uncircumcised.
All references are to the verses and Rashi's commentary, unless otherwise stated.
