On being a Jewish parent.

The most influential man who ever lived

doesn't appear on any list I have seen

of the hundred most influential men who ever lived.

He ruled no empire, commanded no army, engaged in no spectacular acts of heroism on the battlefield,

performed no miracles, proclaimed no prophecy, led no vast

throng of followers, and had no disciples other than his own child. Yet today more than half of the

seven billion people alive on the face of the planet identify themselves as his heirs.

His name of course is Abraham, held as the founder of faith by the three great monotheisms,

Judaism, Christianity in Islam. He fits no conventional stereotype. He's not like Noah described as

unique in his generation. The Torah tells us no tales of his childhood, as it does of Moses.

We know next to nothing about his early life.

When God calls on him, as he does at the beginning of this week's Parishar

to leave his land, his birthplace and his father's house,

we have no idea why he was singled out. Yet never was a promise more richly fulfilled

than the words of God to him when he changed his name from Avram to Avraham,

for I've made you father of many nations. Today there are 56 Islamic nations and more than 80

Christian ones and the Jewish state. Truly, Abraham became the father of many nations. But who and what

was he? And why was he chosen for this exemplary role? There are three famous portraits of Abraham.

The first is the one we learned as children.

Abram left alone with his father's idols,

breaks them with a hammer which he leaves in the hand of the biggest of the idols.

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