​Avraham - Staying open to self-discovery

Dear friends,
 
When you take the first part of this coming week's Parshah and isolate it from the rest of the Torah, you will be able to step out of your picture of Avraham, and see him as he was.
 
He began sensing that the world is a place of wonder when he was a young child. You are familiar with the story of his breaking his father's idols, which took place when he was still young. When you explore the missing years, the Midrashim tell you so much more.
 
Before Nimrod forced him to choose between his belief in Hashem and facing death, he had already spent ten years in prison. He was completely alone with his convictions; the entire world was on the "other side", one in which believing in a personal G-d who loves you, cares for your life’s purpose and who extends His hand to you when you try to find Him was something between a myth and a heresy.
 
In today's world, believing in a Higher Power is socially acceptable, but letting Him into your choice making mechanism is not. Avraham began teaching so that other people would find their places in Hashem's world, and lead lives that have real meaning.
 
It was then that Hashem told him to go to the Land "Where I will show you yourself" as the text tells you. Hashem will always take you to where you have to be in order to discover yourself. Whether you succeed in this mission is up to you; we are sometimes open to self-discovery, and sometimes less so.
 
I am keeping this letter short. The reason is technical, but there is also something to be said for brevity.
 
Avraham's path included not only going to Eeretz Yisrael, but also being forced to leave in the face of a famine. It involved his return, and ultimately his becoming a person of such greatness that literally every Jew and non-Jew in the world is affected by his life to one degree or another.