Hagar, the maidservant of Avrohom and Sarah, was born into a family of royalty. She grew up in a palace where her every desire was quickly fulfilled while she was accorded the greatest honor. Yet she gave it all up to live in the home of Avrohom and Sarah. Chazal say that while Eliezer assisted Avrohom fulfill his life’s mission of spreading the word of G-d to the men, Hagar assisted Sarah accomplish the same among the women. Ultimately when Hagar was dismissed from the home of Avrohom and Sarah because of Yishmael’s evil influence on Yitzchak, an angel came to console Hagar and give her the courage and fortitude to proceed.
     All in all, Hagar was not a simple woman. Obviously she reached certain levels of spiritual greatness especially while living in close proximity of Avrohom and Sarah. Yet the pasuk states (21:14), "Vayashkem Avrohom baboker vayikach lechem v’chaymas mayim vayiten el Hagar sam al shichmah v’es hayeled vayishlacheha vataylech vataysa b’midabr be’er shova- And Avrohom rose early in the morning, took bread and a skin of water, and gave them to Hagar; he placed them on her shoulder and the boy, and sent her off. And she went, and strayed in the desert of Be’er Sheva." Rashi explains that the words, "and she strayed," are an allusion to the fact that she went back to the idols of her father’s household. What happened to the lofty levels that Hagar had reached? How was she able to cast off all her greatness so quickly and forsake all she had learned about a monotheistic G-d in the home of Avrohom and return to idolatry in such a short period of time?
     Hagar was beset with questions and doubts. She had been promised the world. When she had been sent away from Avrohom’s house the first time, she had been assured that Yishmael would have children, his descendants would grow and prosper into a powerful nation, and that he would be powerful and involved in everyone’s affairs. Yet now, he lay feverish and dying. Where were all those promises and assurances? Hagar felt she had been double-crossed and so she gave up on everything and returned to her former beliefs.
     Avrohom was put in the same predicament. He too was promised glory, riches, and especially a nation of descendants who would become the chosen nation. At one hundred years old, he was finally blessed with a son. Then G-d turned around and told him to offer his beloved son as a sacrifice for Him. As he ascended Mount Moriah to perform the Akeidah, Avrohom surely must have been wondering about all the promises he had been told earlier. But Avrohom did not feel forsaken. He did not understand the calculations of G-d but he believed that G-d had a reason for what was happening. During the earlier covenant, G-d made numerous promises to Avrohom and the pasuk (15:6) states, "And he trusted in Hashem, and He reckoned it to him as righteousness." This became the unabated motto of Avrohom: to always believe in G-d despite the questions and doubts that may (justifiably) linger in his mind.
     In our lifetimes too, we are often beset with doubts and perplexing predicaments that we cannot comprehend. Our forefather Avrohom was an exemplar of faith and the paragon of unwavering belief that we must seek to always possess.
     In shacharis each morning, we recite the prayer of,"Vayivarech Dovid." The prayer begins by enumerating the praises of G-d. We refer to G-d’s strength, splendor, triumph, glory etc. We continue with the accomplishments of G-d, concluding with the creation of the world and granting life to all living things. Then we conclude with a statement that seems to be completely out of place, "It is You, Hashem the G-d, who selected Avrom, brought him out of Ur Kasdim and made his name Avrohom. You found his heart faithful before You." What connection does Avrohom have to the previous paragraph?
     Rabbi Elya Lopian zt’l explained this idea with the following analogy. Imagine if a drunken peasant is staggering down the street and he stops and bends down to pick up something from the street. Does anyone care to know what he found? Of course not, it was probably some dirty piece of trash that someone had discarded that this beggar will find some minor use for.
     But imagine if a king was passing through the town. A tremendous entourage preceded him with thousands of cheering people lining the streets as they watched the procession. All of a sudden the procession stopped and the music halted. Instantly it became deadly quiet. The king opened the door of his coach and descended the steps. Then he walked a few feet and picked up a small trinket from the ground. Would anybody not be itching to know what item the mighty king had found worthy enough to hold up the entire procession and pick up with his own royal hands.
     We enumerate the great praises of Hashem to stress how special the ordeal with Avrohom had been. G-d Himself, the Awesome, the Infinite, the Powerful, the Unfathomable had, so-to-speak, stopped everything to transform and elevate Avrom into Avrohom. The whole prelude of the prayer of ‘Vayivarech Dovid’ is only to bring out the idea of how great it was for Avrohom to be uplifted to such a degree.
     Why was Avrohom found worthy of being accorded such prestige and honor? The prayer continues, "You found his heart faithful before You." Avrohom was a ‘ne’eman.’ A ne’eman is someone who is reliable, trustworthy, faithful, loyal, and firm. These are rare traits in a world full of fraudulence and deceit.
     Every morning we recite this prayer to impress upon ourselves the importance of striving to be a ne’eman. For one to be steadfast in his convictions and to have a reputation that his word is reliable is a very difficult aspiration to reach, aside from the fact that these lofty values are not appreciated in our society.
     Avrohom was able to transcend all the impediments in his life, stand strong while he voiced his ‘heretic’ philosophies that contradicted the views of the entire world, and passed his ten magnanimous tests. All of his accomplishments were only possible because he was a ne’eman. May we be worthy of this lofty title. [The idea about Avrohom Avinu and his ne’emanus as well as the analogy of Rabbi Elya Lopian zt’l was adapted from a shmooze I was privileged to hear from the great Mashgiach of Lakewood, Rabbi Matisyahu Solomon shlita. The shmooze was given as a eulogy for Rabbi Avigdor Miller zt’l in yeshivas Ohr Somayach in Monsey on 27 Iyar, 5761. Rabbi Solomon referred to Rabbi Miller as the ‘Avrohom Avinu of our generation’ because of his innovativeness and popularity as a ne’eman.]