Parshas Lech Lecha opens as G-d tells Abraham to leave Charan, his homeland, and travel to the land of Canaan (the future land of Israel) where he will establish the Jewish people. Abraham, his wife Sarah and his nephew Lot, travel to Israel. Upon arriving there they encounter a terrible famine and find temporary refuge in Egypt. The beautiful Sarah is spotted by Egyptian soldiers and taken to the royal palace to be the king’s wife. G-d afflicts the royal palace with a debilitating illness and forces the king to free Sarah. The three return to the Land of Israel. In time, Lot parts ways with Abraham and settles in the corrupt city of Sodom.

G-d reveals Himself to Abraham and forges an eternal covenant with him. "Your descendents will be as numerous as the stars in the sky," G-d says. "They will be given the Land of Israel as an eternal inheritance, but they will first be subjected to a difficult enslavement in a foreign land."

Abraham and Sarah are childless. Sarah gives Abraham her servant Hagar as a concubine and Yishmael(the forefather of the modern day Moslem world) is born. The portion concludes as G-d teaches Abraham the mitzvah of Milah (circumcision). At the age of 99 years, Abraham circumcises himself, Yishmael, and the other male members of his household. G-d also instructs Abraham that all his male descendents be circumcised on the eighth day of their lives as a covenant between G-d and the Jewish Nation. Called “Bris Milah,” this has served as an everlasting sign of the enduring bond between G-d and the Jewish People through our three thousand year history.