  Variational Monte Carlo calculations for ${_{\Lambda}^4}H$ (ground and
excited states) and ${_{\Lambda}^5}He$ are performed to decipher information on
${\Lambda}$-nuclear interactions. Appropriate operatorial nuclear and
${\Lambda}$-nuclear correlations have been incorporated to minimize the
expectation values of the energies. We use the Argonne $\upsilon_{18}$ two-body
NN along with the Urbana IX three-body NNN interactions. The study demonstrates
that a large part of the splitting energy in ${_{\Lambda}^4}H$ ($0^+-1^+$) is
due to the three-body ${\Lambda}$ NN forces. $_{\Lambda}^{17}O$ hypernucleus is
analyzed using the {\it s}-shell results. $\Lambda$ binding to nuclear matter
is calculated within the variational framework using the
Fermi-Hypernetted-Chain technique. There is a need to correctly incorporate the
three-body ${\Lambda}$ NN correlations for $\Lambda$ binding to nuclear matter.
