http://www.ohrtmimim.org/Torah_Default.asp?id=2551
Parshat Lech-Lecha (5770)
This week we read about Abraham the first Jew. But at first glance it is not so clear what exactly this means.
There seems to be no clear explanation in the Torah as to exactly what made him a Jew or what exactly a Jew is!
Seemingly Abraham did no miracles, made no sermons, developed no religion and had few, if any, followers. He did not even see the fulfillment of the promises G-d made to him; to receive the land of Israel and have offspring as plentiful as the soil of the earth etc. So what exactly made him a Jew? And what is a Jew?
We also see that Abraham had his name changed from Avram. What is the meaning behind this?
To understand all this here is a story I just heard about Rebbe Menachem Mendel of Lubavitch the third leader of the Chabad Movement some 150 years ago in Russia (nicknamed ‘The Tzemach Tzedek’).
Since the time of Abraham, something about the Jews has always aroused the admiration, awe and ire of the non-Jews. The Good Book says it’s because we were chosen by G-d, but it’s not so clear what that means; the Jews don’t seem to be much different from everyone else and certainly not in a way that would indicate they are G-d’s chosen.
But in every generation there is at least one Jew who does clearly demonstrate this ‘chosen’ness. One was Abraham and another was the Tzemach Tzedik...
Thank G-d there is an 'Avraham, a Mosheh, a Mashiach (at least potentially) in each generation!