sigh...it is a constant struggle.

And still again:

Today in class we are talking about Lech L’cha. She recognizes and praises Abram’s ‘obvious natural attraction’ to the land of Israel, since without knowing where he was going, he went to the land of Israel; she admits that no one has it written this way, but that it is simply obvious that the land itself pulled Abram to it.
However, I countered, verse 1 in the chapter contradicts this assertion that it was Abram’s magnetic pull that brought him to Canaan- “Now the LORD said unto Abram: 'Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto the land that I will show thee.” Unto the land that I will show thee. So, Abram was not brought to Canaan by his inner compass that unconsciously knew that the land of Israel was the land to which he was meant to go, but rather he used GPS directions—God Personally Spoke the directions to him. Continue 500 meters, than make a right at the mountain after the flock of goats out to pasture.
Teacher listens to this opinion. ‘Yofeh!’ she confesses. ‘this even strengthens the conviction that Abram was drawn to the land by his neschama!’
I don’t know why I bother.

A little while later…

In the parsha it talks about the ‘souls that Abram and Sarai made’ in Haran—the converts to Abram’s new ways that were following them on their journey. Rashi further elaborates that Sarai taught the women, and Abram the men—and Teacher asks us why this is so critical and important to acknowledge within the oral law. She says that even here, Abram and Sarai knew that the ‘essence of men and women were different, necessitating the separation for the women to learn from Sarai, the men from Abram,’ proving that even before the Torah, Abram and Sarai knew the importance of the separation of the men from the women, already knew the idea of tzniut (modesty, unquestionable disparateness.)

Slightly cynically, I would argue that this comment by Rashi, erudite as he was, came roughly 2500 years (according to the Jewish calendar) after Abraham’s lifetime (who was born 1948 according to the Jewish calendar, while Rashi lived around 4600, and now is 5770), when these ideas of Tzniut were already ardently adhered to; of course it would make sense to analyze the past in a way that would concur with the present in order to assuage those who would question the validity of the current standards.

One more interesting tidbit:

Men, women, and children are meant to enjoy Chagim, and Halakha has a different standard for each; children, through sweet things to eat. Women, are supposed to be bought something new (clothes and jewelry) for the Chagim by her husband. And men, they are to enjoy the Chagim through meat and wine. (and probably scratching themselves while burping.)

This discussion began by asking if we are actually meant to be vegetarians, since in the time of Eden we were, and in the time of the Moshiach we will be.