AVRAHAM- HAVING PASSION AND A PURPOSE THAT BENEFITS EVERYONE.

(1) Now the LORD said unto Abram: ‘Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto the land that I will show thee. (2) And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and be thou a blessing.

(1) מארצך, G-d had to add this as it is difficult for a person to leave a homeland in which he had dwelled for many years, all the more so if that land was at the same time the place where he had been born.

(1) This is why G-d added: וממולדתך, since it is doubly difficult to separate from one’s family also and to go to a country where one knows no one. This is the meaning of מבית אביך, “away from your father’s house.”

(5)... Abraham converted the men and Sarah converted the women and Scripture accounts it unto them as if they had made them...

(24) And Abraham was ninety years old and nine, when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.

"(1) And the LORD appeared unto him by the terebinths of Mamre, as he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day; (2) and he lifted up his eyes and looked, and, lo, three men stood over against him; and when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed down to the earth, (3) and said: ‘My lord, if now I have found favour in thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee, from thy servant."

[Avraham and Sarah proceed by hosting the guests beautifully, and eventually get blessed to have a son (Yitzchak).

Next, the angels tell Avraham that Hashem will destroy a city named Sedom which is notorious for having terrible sinners dwelling there.]

"(23) And Abraham drew near, and said: ‘Will You indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked?"

Avraham proceeds to beg Hashem to spare the city for fifty people, for ten people, etc.

In the end, they cannot find a sufficient number of people that are righteous and the city is destroyed.

(1) וירא אליו AND THE LORD APPEARED UNTO HIM to visit the sick man. R. Hama the son of Hanina said: it was the third day after his circumcision and the Holy One, blessed be He, came and enquired after the state of his health (Bava Metsia 86b)

(1) כחום היום IN THE HEAT OF THE DAY — The Holy One, blessed be He, brought the sun out of its sheath that he might not be troubled by travellers, and when He perceived that he was grieved that no travellers came He brought to him angels in the form of men (Bava Metzia 86b).

(3) אל נא תעבר מעל עבדך, the word נא is a kind of plea, Avraham begging these strangers not to pass him by without stopping to take some refreshment. The reason why this whole incident has been recorded in the Torah is to teach people how to relate to fellow human beings with charity and love. It is an act of loving kindness to welcome guests into one’s home in order to honour them and to look after their personal requirements, such as letting them wash up and stay overnight.