פָּרָשַׁת לֶךְ־לְךָ

Parshat Lech-Lecha tells us how Hashem chose Avram and made His covenant with him. Hashem tells Avram to leave his land and his father's house for a land He will show him, and promises to make him a great nation and a blessing to all the families of the earth. Avram, 75 years old, goes with Sarai and Lot to the land of Kenaan, where Hashem promises the land to his descendants. A famine takes them down to Mitzrayim (Egypt), where Sarai is taken to Pharaoh's house and returned after Hashem strikes Pharaoh with plagues. Back in the land, Avram and Lot separate; Lot chooses the rich plain of the Yarden and settles near wicked Sedom, and Hashem promises Avram all the land he can see.

When four kings from the east capture Lot in war, Avram pursues them with 318 men and brings back Lot and all the captives, refuses any reward from the king of Sedom, and is blessed by Malki-Tzedek. At the Brit bein HaBetarim, the Covenant between the Parts, Hashem promises Avram descendants as many as the stars and the land of the ten nations, and tells him that his children will be strangers and slaves in a foreign land for four hundred years before they return. Sarai, still childless, gives Avram her maidservant Hagar, who bears Yishmael. When Avram is 99, Hashem gives him the covenant of brit milah, changes his name to Avraham and Sarai's to Sarah, and promises that Sarah herself will bear a son, Yitzchak, at this time next year. Avraham circumcises himself, Yishmael and all his household that day. In this parsha the family of Avraham becomes the people of the covenant.