After having a rough childhood growing up in downtown Haran, Abraham is commanded to leave his father's house and the idols behind and head over to the land HaShem will tell him about. With a promise for a brighter future, and to start a nation of believers in the one G-d, a new idea at the time, Abraham heads out together with nephew Lot and his wife Sarah.



From place to place they traveled, searching for the land which HaShem had promised them, passing by one town after another, looking for some kind of sign that that this would be the Promised Land - but none came. Finally, after a long while, they reached the land of Canaan. Surely, thought Abraham, this is not the place, for at the time, the Canaanites were at the height of their expansion and building in the land. Cities were arising from the dust and towns were being built. Schools, hospitals, and bridges were in the midst of construction. Fields were planted and crops were grown, all of Canaan was bursting with activity. It was the pinnacle of Canaanite life at its best.



Surely, thought Abraham, we will be moving on from this over-populated area towards a distant Europe, which at the time was empty. In his dreams, Abraham could already see a new society sprouting into the world, bringing forth monotheism without being hindered by other people around who were pagans. Who knows where the Promised Land could be? Maybe it will be in France, far away from all the hustle and bustle. And how great would that be, for we can always warm ourselves in the cold European winters by the fires of the burning cars....



But no, it was not to be, and a startled Abraham was told by HaShem that the land he seeks is none other then the over-populated land of Canaan.



How shocked Abraham was to hear this! How could it be that precisely the land that seemed to be the most unlikely of all was to be the Promised Land that he and his descendents would inherit? How far from reality this seemed to be! For at the time, there could be nothing further from reality, from the looks of things. Still, Abraham did not question the way of HaShem, knowing that against all odds, if HaShem had promised that this would be the land for him and his descendents, then that is what will be, no matter what it looks like today.



This is the lesson that we must take from our father Abraham. Today's reality is only so in the eyes of the beholder. What looks like today as the only way we can go, as we are being dictated insane policies by the US against our interest and against our own good, leaving us no option, is really just an illusion. For all we have to do is to look beyond and know that HaShem's reality is the only one out there.



And so, as I walked this week on the Temple Mount, not being able to pray, bow down or show any other sign of Jewish life, and being confined to the harsh reality of the present and the great chilul HaShem that is going on there daily, the lesson of Abraham came to me. Against all odds, and in spite of the fact that it is the furthest thing from being a reality today, the Temple will be rebuilt, the Kohanim will once again burn their sacrifices on the altar and the Levites will sing their praises to HaShem. For this is the only real reality that there is.