We find many stories about Abraham, our patriarch, in the Torah's midrashim. From his coming to know God at the age of three, and from then on developing his knowledge and awareness of the existence of a single Creator of the Universe, through the famous story in which he smashes the idols his father made to sell, to the occasion when he is thrown alive into a fiery furnace.<\/p>\n
However, nothing appears in the Written Torah about Abraham's life until the age of 75. (At least not explicitly; it appears only in allusions, or allusions).<\/p>\n
And the first thing that appears is what this parashah tells us, that God appears to Abraham and says to him, "Leave your land, where you were born, from your father's house, to the land that I will show you." As we mentioned, Abraham was already 75 years old, had a wife (Sarai), a group of people who followed him and considered him a leader ("the souls who made it in Haran"), and a certain amount of wealth.<\/p>\n
Now, why does the Torah say nothing (explicitly) about the life of Abraham, who can be considered, in a way, "the first Jew," until the age of 75?<\/p>\n
This omission can be explained as follows: Until the age of 75, Abraham's connection with God stemmed from his human intellect, his mind. However refined and elevated a person may be, they will never be able to establish a connection with God on their own, simply because God is infinite, and human beings are finite.<\/p>\n
Even though Abraham had already demonstrated, by putting his own life at risk, his loyalty to God and his absolute conviction of the truth of God's Oneness, contrary to what the whole world thought, nevertheless, this did not create a bond with God.<\/p>\n
It is specifically when God establishes the relationship with human beings through His precepts (embodied in the Torah) that human beings can connect with Him.<\/p>\n
Therefore, when the Torah recounts the beginning of Judaism, it doesn't tell us about Abraham's sacrifices or his exploits as the "first Jew," but rather says, "And God said to Abraham." In other words, the Torah establishes that the beginning of Judaism is not with man, not even one as special as Abraham, but with God. The starting point is God.<\/p>\n
This leaves us with the important lesson that when a person approaches Judaism, they must know that the starting point is God. In other words, a person should not seek personal advantage in approaching Judaism, but rather seek where God is and what He wants from their life, so that from there, they can draw closer to Him and improve day by day.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Encontramos en los midrash\u00edm de la Tor\u00e1 muchas historias sobre Avraham, nuestro patriarca. Desde que conoci\u00f3 a Di-s a los tres a\u00f1os, y de ah\u00ed en adelante desarroll\u00f3 su conocimiento y conciencia de la existencia de un \u00fanico Creador del Universo, pasando por la famosa historia en que rompe los \u00eddolos que su padre fabricaba… Read More \u00bbThe beginning<\/span><\/a>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3973,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9,14],"tags":[1008,950,971,993,942],"series":[],"class_list":["post-2350","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-editoriales","category-lej-leja","tag-avraham","tag-di-s","tag-hombre","tag-precepto","tag-tora"],"episode_featured_image":"https:\/\/tuviaserber.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/11\/comienzo.jpg","episode_player_image":"https:\/\/tuviaserber.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/avatar1400.jpeg","download_link":"","player_link":"","audio_player":false,"episode_data":{"playerMode":"light","subscribeUrls":{"castbox":{"key":"castbox","url":"","label":"CastBox","class":"castbox","icon":"castbox.png"},"rss":{"key":"rss","url":"","label":"RSS","class":"rss","icon":"rss.png"},"spotify":{"key":"spotify","url":"","label":"Spotify","class":"spotify","icon":"spotify.png"}},"rssFeedUrl":"https:\/\/tuviaserber.com\/en\/feed\/podcast\/rabino-tuvia-serber","embedCode":"El comienzo<\/a><\/blockquote>