Parashat Lech Lecha starts with a single moment that changes the history of the Jewish people, and perhaps of mankind: God’s command that Abram abandon the land where he grew up, “for a land that I will show you, to turn you into a great people”. 

But a question might arise by reading the text: why is it Abram of all people? As Nechama Leibowitz points out, the written Torah does not specify what makes Abram (soon to be Abraham) different and worthy of this command/blessing. It is the Oral Tradition that tells us of Abram’s iconoclastic nature and his rebellion against idolatry from his youth. Rambam, loyal to his rationalistic nature, goes further and portrays Abram as a child philosopher, who arrives intellectually to the conclusion that there must be one Maker of the Universe and convinces others to abandon idolatry. Yet the Torah remains silent about this. Leibowitz points out one possible explanation: it is best that the reader sees Abram as a man about to be tested in his faith (he will actually endure 10 major tests throughout his life, of which leaving his homeland is only the first!). The Torah does not want us to see complete geniuses, but human beings like us, who doubt, suffer and sometimes make mistakes. 

By presenting him as a clean slate, we can accompany him through his life and see him as a human example: a person that transforms himself, his descendants and the world by breaking radically from the culture around him. Perhaps it is best to see Abram as a person without all the answers: that is what makes his life and his decision to leave his land to build something new even more heroic.