Children often begin their studies of the Bible with the famous story of God telling Abraham to leave behind his homeland, “for a land that I will show you”. But it seems so strange: Abraham seems to appear right out of the blue, unknown and entirely un-introduced. Is there a context to his story – and if so, what is it?

In our previous series of classes, “the Phantom Akeidah”, we began to look at the Binding of Isaac in the broader scope of Abraham’s life. But there is a more sweeping background to the Akeidah, Rabbi Fohrman argues, and it is to be found by looking at the stories that precede his appearance on the scene. In this series of discussions, we’ll take a far-reaching look at the first era of human history, as recorded by the Torah – the period that spans Adam to Abraham. Our goal will be to discover the context that lends the Abraham story -- and the rest of the Book of Genesis -- its vitality and more expansive meaning.