Parsha Q&A - Lech Lecha

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Parsha Q&A

Parshas Lech Lecha

For the week ending 11 Cheshvan 5756; 3 & 4 November 1995


Contents:
  • Parsha Questions
  • Bonus Question
  • I Did Not Know That!
  • Recommended Reading List
  • Answers to Parsha Questions
  • Answer to Bonus Question
  • Subscription Information
  • Ohr Somayach Home Page

  • Parsha Questions

    Answers | Contents
    1. What benefits did Hashem promise Avram if he would leave his home?
    2. Where was Avram living in the beginning of the Parsha?
    3. What were the Canaanites doing in the land of Canaan when Avram came there?
    4. Why did Avram build an altar at Ai?
    5. Avram hid Sarai in a chest when he went into Egypt. Who discovered her?
    6. How did Lot become wealthy?
    7. Why did Avram's shepherds rebuke Lot's shepherds?
    8. The name of one of the five kings is not mentioned. Which one?
    9. In verse, 14:7, the Torah states that the four kings "smote all the country of the Amalekites." How is this possible since Amalek had not yet been born?
    10. Which of the five kings had a miracle happen to him?
    11. Who told Avram that Lot had been captured by the four kings?
    12. Who accompanied Avram into battle against the four kings?
    13. Why was Avram unable to pursue the four kings past Dan?
    14. Who was Malki-Tzedek, King of Shalem?
    15. Why was Avram anxious after he defeated the four kings?
    16. When did the decree of four hundred years of exile begin?
    17. What did Hashem indicate with his promise to Avram that he would "come to his ancestors in peace?" (15:15)
    18. How did Hashem fulfill his promise to Avram, that he would be buried in "a good old age?" (15:15)
    19. Why did Avraham die five years before his allotted time?
    20. How many generations were the Jewish People in Egypt?
    21. Why was Avram told that only in the fourth generation the Jewish People would return to Eretz Canaan?
    22. The territory of how many nations was Avram promised?
    23. Who was Hagar's father?
    24. How old was Yishmael when he was circumcised?
    25. Why did Avram fall on his face when Hashem appeared to him?


    Bonus Question

    Answer | Contents

    "And Avram took Sarai, his wife... and the souls that they had made in Charan (12:5)."
    Rashi explains that these are the people that Avram converted to monotheism.
    What happened to them?

    I Did Not Know That!

    Avraham minted his own coins. On one side there was a picture of an old man and an old woman. On the other side there was a picture of a young man and a young woman.
    Bava Kama 97b


    Recommended Reading List

    Ramban
    12:6
    A Sign for the Children
    12:8
    Proclaiming the Name of Hashem
    12:10
    The Sin of Avram
    13:7
    The Quarrel of the Shepherds
    14:1
    The Four Kings
    15:12
    The Dreadful Vision
    16:12
    Yishmael

    Sforno
    12:17
    Pharaoh's Plague
    16:12
    Yishmael
    17:1
    Attaining Perfection

    Answers to this Week's Questions

    Questions | Contents

    All references are to the verses and Rashi's commentary, unless otherwise stated

    1. 12:1 - He would become a great nation, and his excellence would become known to the world.
    2. 12:2 - Charan.
    3. 12:6 - They were in the process of conquering the land from the descendants of Shem.
    4. 12:8 - He foresaw that in the days of Yehoshua the Jewish People would be defeated at Ai due to the sin of Achan (Yehoshua, ch. 7). He built an altar there to pray on their behalf.
    5. 12:14 - The customs officials.
    6. 13:5 - Through his association with Avram.
    7. 13:7 - Lot's shepherds grazed their flocks in privately owned fields.
    8. 14:2 - The king of Bela.
    9. 14:7 - The Torah is using the name that the place would bear in the future.
    10. 14:10 - The king of Sodom. He survived falling into the bitumen pit.
    11. 14:13 - Og.
    12. 14:14 - His servant, Eliezer.
    13. 14:14 - He saw prophetically that his descendants would erect a golden calf there. As a result his strength failed.
    14. 14:18 - Malki-Tzedek is also known as Shem ben Noach.
    15. 15:1 - He was afraid that the victory was Hashem's reward for his good deeds.
    16. 15:13 - With the birth of Yitzchak.
    17. 15:15 - That his father, Terach, repented and became righteous.
    18. 15:15 - Avram lived to see his son, Yishmael, repent and become righteous, and he died before his grandson, Esau, became wicked.
    19. 15:15 - So that he would not see his grandson, Esau, begin his pursuit of a life of evil.
    20. 15:16 - Three.
    21. 15:16 - The Jewish People needed to wait until the Amorites had sinned sufficiently to deserve expulsion from Eretz Canaan.
    22. 15:19 - Ten.
    23. 16:1 - Pharaoh.
    24. 16:16 - Thirteen.
    25. 17:3 - Because he was as yet uncircumcised.


    Answer to Bonus Question

    Question | Contents

    Avram attracted many followers through his kindness and hospitality. When Avraham died, Yitzchak took over. His path of service to Hashem was through selfless obedience and fear of Hashem. Those followers who came to monotheism as followers of Avram, couldn't adjust to the path of Yitzchak. They refused to follow him and eventually backslid into paganism.
    Rav Chaim Chanoch of Aleksander


    Written and Compiled by Rabbi Eliyahu Kane
    General Editor: Rabbi Moshe Newman
    Production Design: Lev Seltzer

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