No mention is made at all of what Avraham had done during the first seventy-five years of his life that rendered him deserving of a prophetic revelation or the blessings promised to him. Avraham exemplifies the ability to oppose the current, to stand alone in opposition, to do what is right when everyone else is wrong. A person is endowed with the ability to become who he wishes to be, regardless of his background. Nobody is trapped in the mold of his upbringing; each individual has the capacity to build himself according to his principles and convictions.
Among the most commonly asked questions concerning Parashat Lekh-Lekha relates to the absence of information regarding Avraham’s background. This parasha begins with God speaking to Avraham and instructing him to migrate to a land, which we later discover to be Canaan, where he would be blessed with offspring and success. No mention is made at all of what Avraham had done during the first seventy-five years of his life that rendered him deserving of a prophetic revelation or the blessings promised to him. In stark contrast to the Midrashim, which speak at length of Avraham’s heroic struggles against paganism, his family and the monarch Nimrod, the Torah says nothing about Avraham’s life before God commanded him to relocate.
The Rosh Yeshiva, HaRav Aharon Lichtenstein shelit”a (as recorded by a student – vbm-torah.org/archive/sichot/bereishit/03-57lekh.doc), suggested that the Torah sought to emphasize the fact that Avraham was self-made, that he created himself, so-to-speak, ex nihilo. In a society and family firmly entrenched in paganism, the emergence of a monotheist of Avraham’s piety and stature is indeed a beri’a yeish mei-ayin, a new creation that surfaced out of nothing. Rav Lichtenstein noted that Avraham’s emergence violates the common principle of causality that underlies much of the accepted theories in social sciences. No part of Avraham was the product of his upbringing; he was entirely self-made, a new “creature” that arose out of a spiritual vacuum. For this reason, perhaps, the Torah is silent about Avraham’s background. The sudden, unexplained appearance of Avraham reflects the fact that he emerged “out of nowhere,” like a plant that grows without soil, sunlight or water.
Rav Lichtenstein added that the extraordinary story of Avraham poses a formidable challenge for each and every one of us:
Even if a person is incapable of reaching the spiritual levels attained by the forefathers, he must still strive and try - at the very least - to create his own path to serving God. Avraham embodies the proof that it is possible to free oneself from the pressures of society and family and to swim against the current…
Avraham teaches that the human being is not a programmed or programmable robot, that simply reacts mechanically to the “buttons” pressed by his surroundings and experiences. A person is endowed with the ability to become who he wishes to be, regardless of his background. Nobody is trapped in the mold of his upbringing; each individual has the capacity to build himself according to his principles and convictions.
Indeed, as Rav Lichtenstein noted, Avraham is called “Avraham Ha-ivri” (14:13), the one “on the other side.” He exemplifies the ability to oppose the current, to stand alone in opposition, to do what is right when everyone else is wrong. As Rav Lichtenstein remarked, “The father of the nation teaches us that it is within a person's power, if he but wills it, to beat his own path, to clear himself a way, to create his own current.” We are not bound by the forces and influences exerted upon us; rather, we have the capability to resist these pressures and chart our own path of sincere avodat Hashem.