Summary of parashat Lej Lejá
God speaks to Abram, saying, "Leave your land, your birthplace, and your father's house, and go to the land I will show you." There, God says, He will make Abram into a great nation. Abram and his wife Sarai, accompanied by his nephew Lot, travel to the Land of Canaan, where Abram builds an altar and continues to spread God's message.
Famine forces the first Jew to travel to Egypt, where the beautiful Sarai is taken to Pharaoh's palace; Avram escapes death because they present themselves as brother and sister. A plague prevents the Egyptian king from touching Sarai, and she convinces him that he must return her to Avram and compensate him with gold, silver, and livestock.
Back in the Land of Canaan, Lot separates from Abram and settles in the wicked city of Sodom, where he is captured when the army of Chedarlaomer and his three allies conquer the five cities of the Valley of Sodom. Abram sets out with a small band to rescue his nephew, defeats the four kings, and is blessed by Malki-Tzedek, the king of Salem (Jerusalem).
God seals the Covenant Between the Parties with Abram, where the exile and persecution (Galut) of the Jewish people are reported to him and the Holy Land is assigned to them as their eternal inheritance.
Still childless ten years after his arrival on Earth, Sarai tells Avram to marry her servant Hagar. Hagar conceives, becomes insolent toward her mistress, and runs away when Sarai treats her harshly; an angel convinces her to return and tells her that her son will be the father of a numerous nation. Ishmael is born in the 86th year of Avram's life.
Thirteen years later, God changes Abram's name to Abraham ("father of multitudes") and Sarai's name to Sarah ("princess"), and promises that they will have a son; from this son, whom they are to name Isaac ("he will laugh"), will arise the great nation with which God will establish His special covenant. Abraham is commanded to circumcise himself and his descendants as "a sign of the covenant between you and Me.".
