In this week’s parsha, Judaism is born. God tells Avram and Sarai, “Lech Lecha,” or “go forth” from the land that they have known all of their lives, to a land that God will show them. If they do so, God will make them into a great nation as numerous as the stars in the sky. They arrive in Canaan, but almost immediately a famine arises, and they go to Egypt for food, and Abrah has to convince the Pharaoh that Sarai is his sister in to save his own life, as the Pharaoh is so entranced by Sarai’s beauty that he wants to marry her. Eventually, the Pharaoh finds out and sends them off with many gifts. A few other wacky adventures occur, and Avram and Sarai end up back in Canaan.
Seemingly in contrast to what God is telling them about the nation that their descendants will become, Avram and Sarai are old, and despite their best attempts, childless. Sarai tells Avram to have a child with her maidservant, Hagar. He does, but Sarai soon becomes jealous, and treats Hagar harshly, so Hagar runs away. When it seems that Hagar is likely to die in the wilderness, God sends an angel to instruct her to return to Avram and Sarai so that her child, who will be named Ishamel, will be born. Hagar does so. The sudden uprooting of the protagonists at the beginning of this parsha is accompanied by a change in their names as well, Avram to Abraham (father of multitudes), and Sarai to Sarah (princess).
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