Abraham's Journey: Reflections on the Life of the Founding Patriarch (MeOtzar HoRav)

To write about Abraham today would appear to be a peculiar, if not absurd, undertaking. How can an ancient figure, enveloped in the fog of mystery and (in the opinion of today s cynical man) myth, fascinate the imagination and vision of modern scholars and preachers? They confront innumerable problems of enormous magnitude and force, and face situations which captivate their fantasy with both greatness and perplexing tragedy. Why should they investigate and probe a person who emerges from the unknown historic twilight, whose contours and features are blurred and almost imperceptible to the onlooker, while there is a world full of marvels, light, and charm that wink at and tantalize us? Why watch a bubble riding on the crest of a wave disappearing at the distant horizon, while a mighty tide rolls on toward us and breaks at our feet Excerpt from Abraham s Journey.

Abraham's Journey: Reflections on the Life of the Founding Patriarch focuses on the life of Avraham Avinu, founding patriarch of the Jewish People. Abraham was not only the first Jew, but also a historical prototype, his experiences and actions foreshadowing critical patterns in the history of his people. In addition, Abraham serves as a spiritual and ethical model to his descendants. He is a teacher, a paragon of kindness, a lonely iconoclast, a master of sacrifice, and a knight of faith. Through careful exegesis of verses, illuminating analyses of character, and insightful readings of classical commentators, the essays in this book seek both the eternal and the contemporary messages of the Abraham story.

Abraham s Journey is the ninth volume in MeOtzar HoRav: Selected Writings of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik.