in the explaination:) thanks me later
Explanation:
Abraham faced struggles that no other person experienced before or since. As a result of successfully overcoming these challenges, he became the father of the Jewish people. When yet a child, without the positive role models of parents, teachers, and society, he discovered the existence of G‑d entirely on his own. At great personal risk, he introduced the major principles of monotheism to a world in which the concept did not exist. Ordered by the wicked King Nimrod to recant his beliefs, Abraham refused, even when threatened with death. His staunch refusal was all the more remarkable, considering that Abraham had never received communication from G‑d and thus had no idea of being saved or of earning eternal reward in the next world. Miraculously, Abraham emerged from Nimrod’s fiery furnace unscathed.
Later, Abraham left his hometown, Ur, in southern Iraq, and settled in the land of Israel, where he taught multitudes the Jewish concept of G‑d. He is One, Abraham said, timeless, incorporeal, benevolent, and demands moral and ethical behavior from mankind. At the age of 70, Abraham received a prophetic vision in which G‑d promised that Abraham would become the forerunner of a nation totally devoted to G‑d’s service, and that this nation would inherit the land of Israel. The promise was realized when at age 90 Abraham’s wife Sarah gave birth to his son Isaac.
G‑d tested Abraham’s faith 10 times. The greatest of these challenges was the Akeidah, the command to offer Isaac as a sacrifice. Aside from the personal tragedy of losing his son, Abraham faced the total destruction of his life’s work. First, Abraham’s greatest desire was to establish a nation that would continue his G‑dly mission, a dream that would not be realized if Isaac perished. Second, Abraham would be revealed as a charlatan and a fraud. Indeed, for many years Abraham preached that G‑d abhors human sacrifice, and suddenly he stood accused of that very same crime! Nevertheless, Abraham responded to G‑d’s command with alacrity. At the last moment, as Abraham held the knife above the neck of his bound son, G‑d told Abraham to desist and gave him the promise of eternal survival, which has sustained the Jewish people to this day. Countless Jews throughout the generations have emulated Abraham and Isaac, and have given up their lives, when necessary, Al Kiddush HaShem, to sanctify G‑d’s name. Abraham died in 2023 at the age of 175.
Isaac
Isaac’s history was very different than that of his father. Unlike Abraham, Isaac was born in the land of Israel, and lived and died there. Unlike his father, a master teacher, Isaac saw as his life’s mission the solidifying of the spiritual foundation of the Jewish people through internal self-perfection. Therefore, he did not reach out to the masses in the manner of Abraham, although Issac did not entirely neglect outreach activities. When there was a famine, Isaac settled in the Philistine area of southwestern Israel. A remarkable episode took place there, one that is a portent for the Jewish experience throughout the exile: the story of Isaac and the wells. The following chart displays the striking similarities between Isaac’s life and future events and also illustrates the concept of maase avos siman l’banim: the events of our forefathers’ lives are a paradigm for those of their descendants:
