Parasha Lech Lecha

The Parshat begins with the introduction of Avraham about 1900 years

before the common era.  Hashem tells Avraham to leave your country, your birthplace, and your father’s house; unto the land that Hashem will show you.

Avraham has become so different from those around him that he can no longer exist within their society.  He is a man on a historic mission

to become the father of a new nation that would influence our

civilization.

The question Avraham asks is how can he become the father of a great nation when he has no heir.  Sarai decides to offer her handmaiden Hagar to Avraham, and she births a son called Yishmael, the father of the Arab world.  Later, Hashem once again promises Avraham that he will have a son, but this time from Sarai his wife, and she gives birth to a son called Yitzchak, the progenitor of the Jewish people.

The only thing that Hashem asks in return is that Avraham recognizes

the one and only true God and that he will be the God of the Jewish

people.  This then is the agreement; the covenant.  And as a sign of

this covenant, every male among Avraham's people shall be circumcised.

Also, in future generations, all male children will be circumcised on

their eighth day of life, so that the covenant shall last forever.

Avraham accepts Hashems’ covenant and thus ends the history of Abram the Chaldean, and the history of a new person, Avraham the Hebrew begins.