For the week of October 24, 2026 / 13 Heshvan 5787

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Lech Lecha
Torah: Bereshit/Genesis 12:1–17:27
Haftarah: Isaiah 40:27–41:16

Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” (B’reshit/Genesis 12:1-3)

This week’s reading marks the beginning of my 30th year producing TorahBytes. I featured the events of Avram’s call to “get up and go” to a land he did not know in the very first parsha I commented on, which that year, 1997, was the week of November 8.

Over the years, I have returned repeatedly to the opening verses of this portion—not out of sentimentality, but because God’s unconditional promises to Avram are foundational to all of Scripture. Last year, I grappled with an aspect of these promises that I had never fully highlighted before: God’s warning to those who abuse Avram (later called Avraham) and his descendants isn’t limited to extreme hatred; it applies to anyone who simply dishonors or belittles them.

This year, I feel compelled to address another aspect of God’s warning that has been weighing heavily on my heart. Following the horrendous terrorist attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, and the global explosion of antisemitism—a fancy word for Jew-hatred—since then, keeping quiet is no longer an option. To stay silent would be a severe disservice to believers who may be in great danger without realizing it.

Paul likely had B’reshit/Genesis 12:3 in mind when he warned Gentile believers in Rome:

But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, although a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing root of the olive tree, do not be arrogant toward the branches. If you are, remember it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you (Romans 11:17-18).

Paul’s olive tree illustration confronts an attitude emerging at that time: the idea that God was finished with Israel and that non-Jewish believers had taken their place in His plan.

The Greek word translated as “arrogant” here is katakauchaomai. The prefix kata indicates an arrogance directed intentionally at others—looking down upon, gloating over, or exalting oneself over someone else. This attitude is not always overt or aggressive, however. It is often cold, quiet, and subtle. Yet Paul forcefully dismantles it:

Then you will say, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.” That is true. They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand fast through faith. So do not become proud, but fear. For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you (Romans 11:19–21).

He then delivers a sobering warning:

Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God’s kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off (Romans 11:22).

Non-Jewish Christians who regard their acceptance by God as something over and against the Jewish people place themselves in a most precarious position.

Whether through overt animosity or subtle theological frameworks that replace, supersede, or deem the Jewish people irrelevant, any mindset that exalts itself over the physical descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob incurs God’s severity. To look down upon the Jewish people, the natural branches of Paul’s Romans 11 olive tree, is to court the danger of being cut off yourself.

Now you know.

All scriptures taken from the English Standard Version (ESV)