Bereshit

Avraham's "elaborate" and prolonged give-and-take to acquire Chevron has important eternal and practical messages, especially for the many New-Yorkers recently considering buying homes in Israel!

Many don't notice that our parsha explicitly pits Avraham Avinu as the ANTI-THESIS of Avimelech. After the Akeidah, Avraham is described: "now I know that you have YIRAT ELOKIM" (22, 12) as opposed to when he answers Avimelech's question, "what did I do wrong by 'accidentally' taking your wife?": Avraham precisely answers: "it's just that there is NO Yirat Elokim in this place". What exactly is that "Awe of G-d" that should typify our actions and get us to even initiate "Hineni", and conversely avoid the common search for excuses & alibis so prevalent in the western world?

For someone who grew up in NYC with some 30 years of obviously Jewish mayors like Abe Beame, Ed Koch and Michael Bloomberg, the possibility of a proudly Islamic & anti-Israel Mamdani (who vows to arrest Israel's Prime Minister if he steps into NY), filling their shoes is a nightmarish reality. This is directly connected with last week's parshat Noach, this week's Lech L'cha, and the beginning of asking for rain in Eretz Yisrael.