IN A NUTSHELL
God speaks to Avraham for the first time and tells him to leave his father’s house and the land of his birth and childhood. He and his wife Sara leave without hesitation and set off on their journey to a new land and a new kind of faith – and so begins the adventure of Jewish history, with the land of Israel as its central focus.
Avraham and Sara experience some setbacks on the way. There is a famine in Israel and they have to go to Egypt for a time. Then there is an argument between Avraham and his nephew Lot, and the two part ways.
When Lot is captured in a local war, Avraham fights a battle to free him.
God then makes a covenant (an agreement) with Avraham, promising him that he will have a child who will be the next link in the generations that will become the Jewish people. The sign of this covenant is brit mila.
QUESTION TO PONDER
Can you think of any stories from Avraham’s life that show us why God chose Avraham to be the first Jew?