Lech-Lecha: Introduction/Summary
Lech-Lecha / לֶךְ-לְךָ is the first distinctive word of this Torah Portion.
Lech-Lecha, Lekh-Lekha, or Lech-L'cha (לֶךְ-לְךָ leḵ-ləḵā — Hebrew for "go!" or "leave!", literally "go for you" — the fifth and sixth words in the parashah) is the third weekly Torah portion (פָּרָשָׁה, parashah) in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading. It constitutes Genesis 12:1–17:27. The parashah tells the stories of God's calling of Abram (who would become Abraham), Abram's passing off his wife Sarai as his sister, Abram's dividing the land with his nephew Lot, the war between the four kings and the five, the covenant between the pieces, Sarai's tensions with her maid Hagar and Hagar's son Ishmael, and the covenant of circumcision (brit milah).
The text is Bereshit (Genesis) 12:1–17:27.
Lech Lecha: Text
English Language Translations
- Oremus.org (NRSV)
- Sefaria.org (JPS 1985)
- ReformJudaism.org: Translation from The Torah: A Modern Commentary
- Modernized TANAKH (via Sefaria.org)
- BlueLetterBible.org (NASB and other translations)
Hebrew Texts
Commentaries
Historic Jewish Commentaries
Modern Commentaries
- Interdenominational Jewish Perspectives
- Humanistic Jewish Perspectives
- Reform Jewish Perspectives
- Reconstructionist Jewish Perspectives
- Conservative Jewish Perspectives
- Orthodox Jewish Perspectives
- Non-Jewish Perspectives
- CCEL.org (includes commentaries by John Calvin, Matthew Henry, et. al)
- BlueletterBible.org: Commentaries
- Bailey, Wilma Ann "Hagar: A Model for an Anabaptist Feminist" Mennonite Quarterly Review (available via ATLAS or directly from MQR.)
- "Hagar in Islam" Wikipedia
Trivia
From Wikipedia Bereshit:
The parashah is made up of 6,336 Hebrew letters, 1,686 Hebrew words, 126 verses, and 208 lines in a Torah Scroll (Sefer Torah).
Jews traditionally read it on the third Sabbath after Simchat Torah, in October or November.
Liturgical Resources
Jewish
Lech Lecha: Shabbat Dates (in the disaspora, as listed by Hebcal)
- 9 Nov 2019
- 31 Oct 2020
- 16 Oct 2021
- 5 Nov 2022
- 28 Oct 2023
- 9 Nov 2024
- 1 Nov 2025
- 24 Oct 2026
- 13 Nov 2027
- 28 Oct 2028
- 20 Oct 2029
- 9 Nov 2030
- 25 Oct 2031
- 16 Oct 2032
- 5 Nov 2033
- 21 Oct 2034
- 10 Nov 2035
- 1 Nov 2036
- 17 Oct 2037
- 6 Nov 2038