Vayera: Don’t Jettison Your Past

 When we undergo spiritualtransformation, there is a tendency to throw away our past and try to expungeit from our consciousness. However, a healthier approach is to be authentic to oneself,to embrace formative experiences of the past as a part of who we are andelevate it within our present. This becomes apparent in the spiritual transformationof “Avraham’’ and how he relates positively to his previous identity as “Avram.”