Parshat Lech Lecha - 5760

"And Count the Stars if you can; Such will be Your Seed"

In this week's Parshah, "Lech Lecha," the spotlight of the Chumash is cast upon Avraham, the first of the Avot of the Jewish People, a spiritual giant, who introduced the idea of monotheism to the world. Because of his great faith, Avraham is promised by G-d that his descendants will be as innumerable as the stars. (Bereshit 15:5)

Yet there is something very puzzling about this promise. For the Chumash itself testifies that G-d's "yearning for and selection of the Jewish People is not based upon your great numbers, for indeed you are the smallest of the nations." 

That this historical fact has not changed substantially is made clear when Jewish population figures are compared and mainly contrasted with those of China. It is estimated that in Biblical times, the population of that nation was approximately equal to that of the Jewish People; namely, about twelve million. During the millennia of relatively isolated and tranquil existence that it enjoyed in the Far East, China's population has grown to more than a billion. Jewish population, on the other hand, due to persecution by and assimilation into more nations than we can count, has remained basically stationary, at the level of twelve to thirteen million.

A possible resolution of the conflict described above is to say that the promise of multitudes for the descendants of Avraham was fulfilled by the two monotheistic world religions Christianity and Islam, whose adherents, almost as numberless as the stars, trace their lineage also to Avraham.

Yishmael and Esav are indeed worthy opponents of the Jewish People. Each showed great spiritual strengths. "On the very same day, Avraham and his son Yishmael, were circumcised." (Bereshit 17:26) Yishmael could be excused for thinking that he was the legitimate spiritual heir of Avraham. And Avraham himself would have been satisfied had Yishmael been his only heir, "Let Yishmael live before You." (Bereshit 17:18)

Esav too, a son of Yitzchak, showed strong spiritual qualities. His specialty was honoring his father, and his father loved him for it. Although he had sold his birthright (Bereshit 25:33), his father's blessing meant a great deal to him. When Esav learned that he had lost that blessing to Yaakov, he let out a "great and bitter cry." (Bereshit 27:34) That cry had to be paid for by Mordechai, as we read "And he went into the city, and he cried out a great and bitter cry," (Esther 4:1) when his People were threatened by Haman, a descendant of Amalek and Esav.

But both Yishmael and Esav had tragic flaws. Yishmael is described by an angel of G-d before his birth, "And he shall be a wild man; his hand against everyone, and everyone's hand against him; and over all his brothers shall he dwell." (Bereshit 16:12) David HaMelech in prophecy foretold the difficulties of dealing with him. "Woe unto me, for I have dwelt in Meshech; I have dwelt with those who inhabit the tents of Kedar. Long has my soul dwelt with those who hate peace. I am for peace - but when I speak, they are for war!" ("Tehilim"/Psalms 120)

Yishmael is motivated to self-sacrifice, as we have seen tragically in Eretz Yisrael, by violent rage and jealousy. Yitzchak is motivated to self-sacrifice, as we saw in the Akeidah and throughout the centuries of Jewish History, by "Yirat Shamayim," Fear and Awe of his Heavenly Father, and respect and reverence for his earthly father.


Esav's father prophesied as to his son's future. He said to Esav, "You shall live by the sword!" (Bereshit 27:40) And this has been tragically borne out by centuries of persecution by the ancient Romans, the Early Church, the Medieval Church during the Crusades and the expulsions from England, Spain and Portugal. And further borne out by pogroms and massacres in Poland and Russia, climaxed in our century by the Holocaust, to name but a short list.

Neither Yishmael nor Esav was capable, according to the Midrash (Sifri 343), of accepting the Torah. Only "Yitzchak," the "child of laughter," is the true heir of Avraham. It is None Other than Hashem Who says to Avraham "For it is through Yitzchak that your seed shall be called." (Bereshit 21:12)

And it is Yaakov Avinu, Jacob our father, who is considered the "chosen one of the Avot" because he produced no Yishmael and no Esav, whose children were the Twelve Tribes of Israel, the "Shivtei Kah," Tribes of Hashem.

Rabbi Pinchas Frankel
Rabbi Frankel is an Educational Coordinator at the OU

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