| The Avraham (Abraham) of this week's parsha, | | | | from our friends or our communities. I picture a man in |
| Parshat Lech Lecha, is unique in so many ways. | | | | his mid-thirties who wants to stop binge drinking and |
| Possibly the most inspiring part of what makes him | | | | wasting his evenings at bars, but knows that the |
| special was his ability to turn his life completely around, | | | | pressure from his old college buddies will be intense |
| making so much out of so little, with wondrous | | | | and incessant. Change is hard. But the rewards are |
| amounts of success, and an uncanny ability to not look | | | | abundant. |
| back. | | | | When one can find it in themselves to fully change |
| In fact, the first time we experience Avraham, that's | | | | who they are, despite all the many obstacles that |
| not even his name. His original name was Avram, and | | | | might stand in their way, they truly are a new person. |
| only later do we find that God changed his name to | | | | When Avraham received his new "title" it was a |
| Avraham. In my opinion one of the hardest things in life | | | | message that he had succeeded against all odds, |
| is to change who we are, even if we desperately | | | | having fully changed his nature, resisting any and all |
| want to, need to, and have all the resources and | | | | temptations to return to his birth community or the |
| motivation. So many obstacles stand in the way of | | | | ways of his family. And we will forever remember the |
| personal change. | | | | accomplishments of Avraham, while Avram will just |
| Sometimes the difficulties are from within, but often it's | | | | disappear. |