The Creator’s relationship with the first couple began with a stumbling block: disobedience. Maybe Adam and Chava wanted to demonstrate their autonomy and independence of judgment by disregarding the instruction not eating the fruit of the prohibited tree.

This rebellious attitude continued with their offspring until God decided to destroy all living beings, with the exception of one human: Noah and his immediate relatives.

The rainbow that the Creator unfolded after the Deluge became a symbol of a Brit, the covenant through which God promised not to repeat the total destruction of Humanity.

After this promise, we begin a new stage of humanity that quickly forgets the commitment to the Creator. This new beginning incorporates a set of seven rules of conduct that will ensure peaceful coexistence.

After ten generations, Avraham, the great iconoclast appears. He rejects the idolatry that had been introduced into the human race and preaches the existence of the only God.

Avraham’s mission is clear: he must leave the environment of his parents to go to a new land where he will create a new nation that will lift the banner of the only God, with the obvious consequence that all human beings come from the same root because the one and only Creator is their common father.

To symbolize this renewed covenant, God requires that Avraham and his offspring practice, this time not a symbolic Brit, but one expressed through circumcision.

Man will have to learn that sacrifice is indispensable, a person has to give of himself to establish any relevant relationship with God and fellow man.

Furthermore, the Brit will acquire greater significance with the “pact” on Mount Sinai, where an expanded set of six hundred and thirteen Mitsvot will form the basis of the relationship between God and the Jewish people.

According to the Midrash, Avraham consulted with three friends before practicing the Brit on his body. Aner warned him that the Brit would weaken him and therefore he would become vulnerable to his enemies, the monarchs he had recently defeated.

Perhaps Aner was referring to the fact that the Brit imposed moral obligations as well and Avraham’s enemies could infer, from now on, the limitations that would govern the behavior of the patriarch in any battle and take advantage of that knowledge.

Similarly, many enemies of democracy who use murder and terror, when they are captured, appeal to the rights that democracy grants, rights that they, in turn, deny to their victims. They take advantage of respect for life that rules the civilized world that is unwilling to use the methodology of terror. Were they to use these methods they would bestow a moral victory to those who want to deal a mortal blow to democracy.

Notwithstanding, Aner’s advice, Avraham submitted to the Brit because it would produce only momentary weakness, while the moral benefit would be permanent.

Avraham’s second counselor, Eshkol, argued that the blood loss that the Brit would produce could put the patriarch’s life in danger. This argument reminds us that all action carries risk. When a leader formulates a task and points a path to its achievement,  at the same time, he assumes the risk of failure. The monotheistic idea that Avraham proposed had to deal with numerous vested interests, the idolatrous priesthood, and all who benefitted from that practice. Whether in a social, political, or economic way. Because renovation must meet a past that resists giving way to a different future.

The third recommendation came from Mamre, who argued that Avraham should have confidence in God, the God who had saved him from the furnaces of Nimrod and who had bestowed his victory over the four mighty kings.

Mamre was pointing to a fundamental principle of faith. Even in the presence of goodwill and the ability to face difficult scenarios, a human being requires Divine intervention. On the one hand, a human cannot refrain from fighting an enemy, one cannot relegate help and solidarity with others to the goodness of God. But at the same time, you have to be aware that, ultimately, God is the one who directs the destiny of History. A human being cannot desist from his responsibility and tasks, although he can never finish them on his own.