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Home -> 5754 -> Lech Lecha

Moshe Marcovich
In Lech Lecha, 5754

And you will no longer be named Avram, your name will be Avraham. (17:5)

In Berachos 13a the Talmud states that whoever calls Avraham “Avram” transgresses either a positive commandment or a prohibition.  One may refer, with equanimity however, to Yaakov by his other name, Yisrael. Rabbi Eli Munk z.t.l. explains that Avraham’s situation is different.  With the act of circumcision he was transformed into a totally new being. The bris mila is accompanied by a complete metamorphosis. This transformation signals a distinct severance with the past, socially as well as morally and physically. No room for regression is allowed. The “Avram” of old is gone forever. The new Avraham belongs to an entirely…

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Home -> 5754 -> Lech Lecha

Moshe Marcovich
In Lech Lecha, 5754

And there was a famine in the land. (12:10)

Chazal state that the world will experience ten instances of famine overtime. The first was during Adam’s tenure, followed by one during Lemech’s generation. The third was the one which caused Avraham to move. According to Pirkei D’rabi Eliezer, the last famine will present itself prior to the advent of Moshiach. This famine, however, will be of a different nature. It will be a spiritual famine in which people will literally starve for Torah knowledge. This is consistent with the words of the Navi in Amos 8:11, “Behold the days are coming . . . and I will send a…

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Home -> 5754 -> Lech Lecha

Moshe Marcovich
In Lech Lecha, 5754

And I will bless you and make your name great and you will be a blessing. (12:2)

Rashi cites the Midrash which explains that “And you will be a blessing” refers to the Shemone Esrai blessing which is concluded with Avraham’s name, Magen Avraham, as opposed to Yitzchak and Yaakov. Prior to World War II, Rabbi S. Shkop z.t.l. rendered a homiletic exposition of this pasuk in relationship to contemporary world events.  Eastern European Jewry was greatly affected by the turbulent times. Jewish youth especially were becoming alienated from Torah. Yeshiva enrollment in most areas was rapidly diminishing. It had reached the point that there was fear that the wh The Midrash responds to this suggestion in the negative….

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Home -> 5754 -> Lech Lecha

Moshe Marcovich
In Lech Lecha, 5754

Go out of your land and from your birth place and from your father’s home. (12:1)

In Pirkei Avos, Chazal enumerate the ten nisyonos, trials, to which Avraham was subjected. Some commentators count Avraham’s ordeal in which he was thrown into Nimrod’s fiery furnace as the first test. This is followed by Hashem’s command to leave his birthplace and the ensuing abduction of Sarah.  This order seems enigmatic. One would think that the logical sequence of trials should be from the easy to the difficult to discern Avraham’s progressive degree in faith. It seems clear that if one were to withstand a difficult challenge to his faith by walking into a fiery furnace, the subsequent trial…

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