Who is it who tells Avraham, “Lech Lecha”? I don’t mean that as it might seem – after all, the Torah tells us: “And Hashem said to Avraham, “Go, you…” Rather, what I mean is this name, Shad-dai (one of the seven holy names; thus I don’t write it completely even in English), regarding which Hashem later said to Moshe, “I was revealed to Avraham, Yitzchak and Ya’acov as E-l Shad-dai, but My name, Hashem, I was not known to them”. What aspect of Hashem’s ever-unfolding-to-us Being was revealed to Avraham through that Name? And: Why is understanding this divine name so important to understanding Avraham’s spiritual consciousness and mission? To be sure, our parashah is peppered with a variety of divine names. But our commentators tell us that it is precisely as/with the Name, Shad-dai, that Hashem makes a covenant with Avraham. So, let’s examine the critical verse: Toward the end of our parashah, after all the episodes which take Avraham to Egypt, to Dan in t...
Thoughts and insights on the weekly Parashah, Daff Yomi, and whatever else I may be learning or brooding about, ranging from pedantic grammatical observations to sweeping generalizations of dubious provenance. Enjoy!