At the beginning of our Torah portion, the image we have of Abraham is a sad one: Having banished Hagar and Ishmael, he returns home without Isaac, only to receive the news that his wife Sarah has died. In a few pages, the tribal patriarch, the leader of his clan, loses all those closest and most dear to him. As he mourns everyone he has lost, we wonder, is it too late for Abraham? is this what he has to look forward to? A life of isolation, cut off from his own family and the promise of the future?

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