Our parashah begins with Avraham Avinu sitting by the entrance of his tent, a 99-year-old man writhing in pain following his berit mila, on a scorching hot day.

Later in the parashah, Avraham is informed by Hashem that the city of Sedom, where his nephew, Lot, lived, was about to destroyed.

Later in the parashah, Avraham moves to Gerar, where his wife is abducted by the king.

Later in the parashah, Avraham is commanded by Hashem to offer his son as a sacrifice.

These are four very difficult positions to be in. Most of us would probably lose our cool, and maybe even our minds. But Avraham doesn't.

Sitting by the entrance to his tent, he sees what appear to be three travelers in need of hospitality. Avraham proceeds to set the gold standard of hachnasat orhim (welcoming guests) and hesed that continues to guide and inspire us to this day.

Upon hearing of the decree against Sedom, Avraham offers an impassioned prayer, one which is still studied as an example of tefillah. And although the decree is not rescinded, Lot is rescued.

After Sarah is abducted, Hashem punishes the king by causing all the women in the royal court to become infertile. The king asks Avraham to pray on his behalf, and Avraham agrees. In reward, Avraham's wife has a child after decades of infertility.

Finally, and most famously, Avraham's preparedness to sacrifice his son becomes the model of self-sacrifice for Hashem, and provides merits which continue protecting us even now.

Whenever Avraham confronted a challenge, he turned it into a catalyst for greatness and blessing. Or, as the saying goes, when life gave him lemons, he turned them into lemonade.

The Gemara in Masechet Ta'anit (21a) tells the story of Nahum Ish Gamzu, whom the Jews appointed to deliver a gift to the king – a chest filled with precious jewels. As Nahum slept overnight in an inn, the innkeeper secretly removed all the jewels, and filled the chest with earth. When Nahum arrived at the palace, the chest was opened, and the king saw that it was filled with earth.

Assuming the Jews were mocking him, the king was about to condemn the entire Jewish population to death.

Just then, Eliyahu Ha'navi appeared as one of the royal servants. He noted to the king that the Jews' ancestor, Avraham, defeated four large armies by throwing earth upon them in the battlefield, and the earth changed into deadly arrows. The king decided to try this with the earth presented to him by Nahum Ish Gamzu. Sure enough, the earth became arrows, enabling the king to capture a region which they had been unable to conquer until that point. The king rewarded the Jews by sending them a chest filled with jewels.

This story is teaching us a critical lesson – to turn our "earth" into "arrows," to find away to transform adversity into blessing, to view life's challenges as opportunities for greatness.

When a person loses his job, this is an opportunity to find an even better job. If a shidduch doesn't work out, this is an opportunity to find someone even better. If an unwanted circumstance arises, we have the power to turn it into something amazing.

If a person is struggling, he shouldn't cry and complain and feel sorry for himself. He should stand up tall and trust that Hashem can help turn the situation into a great blessing.

We all have "lemons" thrown at us every day. We need to grow up, stand up, and have the courage to say, "What can I do to make something incredible out of this?"

And, with Hashem's help, we will. - Rabbi Joey Haber

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https://itorah.com/weekly-inspire/turning-lemons-into-lemonade/15/32107