Singled-out and entrusted with an eternal mission Who exactly was Abraham? “At a very early age, he began to wonder about the world. He would think about it day and night, and ask himself, How could it be that this great wheel (the universe) is constantly turning, and no one is turning it? And who brought it into existence — for it could not have brought itself into existence” (Maimonides, Hilchos Avodah Zarah 1:3, based on the teachings of the Sages). (snip) He alone, among the whole society around him, was engaged in these thoughts. Among the blindly obedient masses,...