| And G-d said to Avram: go, leave your land, your birthplace, the home of your father, and go to the land which I will show you. | Vayomer ado-shem el Avram: lech lecha me-artzecha u-mimoladetcha u-mibeit avicha el ha-aretz asher arecha. | וַיֹּאמֶר יְהֹוָה אֶל־אַבְרָם לֶךְ־לְךָ מֵאַרְצְךָ וּמִמּוֹלַדְתְּךָ וּמִבֵּית אָבִיךָ אֶל־הָאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר אַרְאֶךָּ׃ |
Stars in the Sky
OK, I wanted to get star fruit, but the stores were all out. Yes, these are just sliced grapes.
For this snack, if you (like me) cannot find star fruit, slice grapes in half, or even slivers. Let them arrange them in constellations, pretend they are looking up at the sky.
If you can add in a sliced star fruit, all the better!
Torah Thoughts
Translation is, by necessity, interpretation. “Lecha” can mean “leave,” but it can also mean “for you.” I have seen the beginning of this parsha interpreted as having this word used deliberately in order to incorporate both meanings. As such, Avram (as he was then called) was told to leave, for his own sake; for his progeny and legacy. For, though at the time he had no children, his descendants would be “as numerous as the stars in the sky.”