As he walked into his friend Moshie's home one afternoon, Levi pointed to the suitcases lined up at the door. "Who's going where?" he asked.

"Oh, I forgot to tell you. My brother Akiva is going on shlichus to Switzerland. It's supposed to be a beautiful country. I can't wait until I grow up and get a chance to travel. You know, last year he went to Hong Kong to help out in the summer camp."

Akiva was in the hall and had overheard his brother. "Moshie," he said gently, "you seem to be missing the point. We don't go on shlichus just to travel around the world!

In this week's parshah, we read about the first person who was told to leave his home and journey to go to another land because he had a mission to do. I can't imagine anyone in Avraham Avinu's household saying: "How nice! HaShem commanded us to leave this country and move to Eretz Yisrael. What an opportunity to travel and discover new and interesting places!"

"Well, 3,000 years ago, Eretz Yisrael was not exactly Switzerland," replied Moshie wistfully.

"And Switzerland today is not exactly Eretz Yisrael," said Akiva. "It may not be as far away and isolated as Hong Kong. But then again, I may find myself in a city like the place where our cousin Menachem stayed when he went to Brazil. There was no kosher food, no minyan, no frum friends, and very high telephone bills! On shlichus, a person gives of himself to help Jewish people learn about Yiddishkeit. Shlichus is real mesirus nefesh, and I am very happy to have the zechus to go."

"Hey Akiva, you sound just like Rabbi Akiva ," quipped Levi. "He said that his entire lifetime he waited to have the opportunity to show mesirus nefesh and give up his life for the sake of HaShem."

The next day in school, Moshie and Levi learned about a level of mesirus nefesh even higher than that of Rabbi Akiva.

"Avraham Avinu had reached the peak of mesirus nefesh," their teacher explained. "His goal was to spread the knowledge of HaShem to anyone and everyone he met. And if people didn't cross his path, he made it his business to seek them out. Sarah Imeinu was doing the same for the women. This wasn't easy. Can you imagine how hard it was to tell people who worshiped idols that they should stop believing in them and believe in one, invisible Creator?

"Avraham was prepared to give up his very life for the sake of HaShem. He walked straight into the burning furnace, bravely showing everyone how strongly he believed in HaShem."

Levi remembered his conversation at Moshie's house the day before and asked his teacher, "You said that Avraham Avinu reached the peak, but didn't Rabbi Akiva have the same type of mesirus nefesh?"

"There's a difference," his teacher answered. "Rabbi Akiva was looking for mesirus nefesh. It was an important goal for him. He told his students that he hoped he would have an opportunity to show that he loved HaShem 'with all his soul.'

"Avraham Avinu, on the other hand, wasn't looking to reach the peak of mesirus nefesh. He had one thing in mind: his mission to teach others about HaShem. If it called for mesirus nefesh - well, he would do that, too. But his goal was teach about HaShem and he dedicated his life to this purpose."

(Adapted from Likkutei Sichos, Vol. I, p. 136)