shalom rav, 1] In Parashah lekh lekha chapter 17 verse 6 torah used the word הפרתי אתך במאד מאד..regarding increase in number or fruitfullness Avraham avinu..but in the same chapter in verse 20 the Torah used the word והפריתי regarding Ishmael .. why is there an extra י regarding Ishmael .. is there any significance Rav..? 2]1) In the parasha lekh lekha chapter 15 verse 1 has- hem says to Avraham avinu אל תירא אברם אנכי מגן לך...why is a feminine aspect לך is used here..? 3] In parasha lekh lekha chapter 17 verse 22 it says ויכל לדבר אתו ויעל אל-קים מעל אברהם.. What does that mean that g-d went up..? thank you so much for your valuable and precious time in replying to our questions..

Shalom! 1. Most commentators don’t usually deal with why sometimes words are written “chasser” (without those extra vowels) and sometimes “malleh” (with those extra vowels), and don’t attribute significance to this common phenomenon. The Minchat Shai and R. Yehuda HaChassid are the ones who deal with this issue more than others, but here they don’t explain why. One direction of explanation is connected with the “hidden codes” or words, found by skipping a particular number of letters several times, which is dependant on these exact “mesorot” (traditions). 2. Similarly, when a word is sometimes dotted in a way that could be understood as feminine, rather than masculine, it usually isn’t seen as significant except for several exceptions where the midrash utilizes the change to teach a lesson (see for example, Rashi, Bamidbar 11, 15). 3. Rashi explains, based upon chazal, that our fore-fathers are called a chariot (“merkava”) upon which Hashem, as if it were, “rests” and is “transported” throughout the world. Accordingly, it sometimes is written that Hashem “rests upon them” (see Shoftim 3, 10; Shmuel I, 10, 10) or afterwards: “rose up from them”, like here.