The Birth of Abraham

In 1948 from Creation, in Ur of the Chaldees — a wealthy Mesopotamian city of ziggurats and moon temples — Terach fathers a son, Abram. The world is wholly pagan; less than three centuries after the Flood the idea of one Creator survives mainly in the study hall of Shem and Ever. The Torah says nothing of Abraham's childhood, but midrash fills the silence: Nimrod's astrologers saw a star foretelling the birth of one who would undo his kingdom, and the infant was hidden in a cave. Nedarim 32a says Abraham "recognized his Creator" at the age of three, reasoning from sun, moon and stars that all this must have an Owner. Maimonides tells it more soberly: Abraham reflected from childhood and at forty reached clear knowledge of one God and began teaching openly. Both agree on the essential point — he reached the truth alone, without prophecy or teacher. Ten years later, in 1958, Sarah is born.