Lech Lecha – לך לך : “Go out”
Torah : Genesis 12:1–17:27
Haftarah : Isaiah 40:27–41:16
Gospel : Matthew 5–7

Thought for the Week:

There was a king who desired to build and lay foundations. He dug constantly deeper but found only a swamp. At last he dug and found petra [bedrock]. He said, “On this spot I shall build and lay foundations.” So too the Holy One, blessed be He, desired to create the world, but sitting and meditating upon the generations of Enoch and of the Flood, He said, “How shall I create the world, seeing that those wicked men will only provoke Me?” But as soon as God perceived that there would arise an Abraham, He said, “Behold, I have found a petra [bedrock] upon which to build and to lay foundations of the world.” Therefore he called Abraham ‘Rock.’ (Yalkut Shimoni)

Commentary:

Why did God choose Abram? We do not know. But we do know that although the world was filled with millions of men and women, God chose one man. And by rabbinic reckoning, God chose Abraham before the creation of the world. Yalkut Shimoni, a medieval collection of Jewish legend, tells a parable (see above) about God’s quest for a single righteous man for whom He could justify creating the world. As God looked into the future, scanning over the generations of human beings to come, His eyes at last fell upon the righteous Abraham. On Abraham’s merit, He chose to create the world.