The Original Abraham Accords

In Parshat Lech Lecha, after Avraham separated from Lot, God made a covenant with him (Breisheet 13:14-17):

“Raise your eyes and look about from the place where you are, to the north, to the south, to the east and to the west. For all the land that you see I give to you and to your descendants forever. I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth; so that if a man can count the dust of the earth, then your descendants too will be countable. Rise, walk the land through the length and breadth, for to you I will give it.”

The Genesis Apocryphon (also called the Tales of the Patriarchs), one of the non Biblical Dead Sea Scrolls that was found in Qumran in 1946 gives a very similar account of God’s covenant with Avraham. In the Genesis Apocryphon, God tells Avraham to go up to Ramat Chatzor, north of Beit El and take a look at the land from there.

Although the Genesis Apocryphon is not a Biblical text, it is helpful as it points us in the direction of the cliff of Chatzor, just north of Ofra. The cliff of Chatzor is 1016 meters high and is the tallest mountain in the center of the country.

I had the honor of visiting this spot on a TaNaCh tiyul (trip) with Rav Yoel Bin Nun. It is understandable why this would be the spot where Avraham saw the entire land. From this mountain, you can see the Hermon in the north as well as the southern coastal plain.

Let’s follow in Avraham’s footsteps and continue to travel the land thereby fulfilling the mitzvah of inheriting the land as promised in the original covenant with Avraham.