Parashat Lekh-Lekha 5784

by Rabbi Ellen S. Wolintz-Fields

In this week’s Torah Reading, Parashat Lekh-Lekha, we learn that Abram told his wife Sarai to tell the Egyptians that she is his sister, because if they hear she is his wife, and see how beautiful she is, they will kill him. Abram told his wife to lie, to save himself. When they entered Egypt, Sarai was indeed taken into Pharaoh’s palace, and Abram was given sheep, oxen, donkeys, slaves and camels. God afflicted Pharaoh with plagues, as a result of him taking Sarai. Pharaoh realized that Sarai was not Abram’s sister, but his wife, and gave her back, and sent Abram on his way. October is Domestic Violence Awareness month. Telling your wife to lie, and putting her life in danger, to save your own, is a form of domestic violence. Abram is one of our forefathers – but this is horrible behavior. We should call it out for what it is.  It is our responsibility, arevut, to condemn domestic violence and say we will not tolerate it.