A chain starts with the second link
One link is only a ring. It's the second link, when attached to the first, that makes the beginning of a chain. Avraham Avinu is our first link. He rediscovered One G-d and began spreading that teaching in the world. Last week's sedra showed us the vital importance placed in finding a proper match for Yitzchak, thus assuring not only the second link, but allowing for future links to be added to the Chain of Jewish Tradition. As great as Avraham was, we wouldn't exist as a people without Yitzchak Avinu, Yaakov Avinu, and every other link in the Chain since then, to this day, and IY"H forever.

And it wasn't (and isn't) an easy process. Avraham was a one-of-a-kind. He fathered Yishmael, and later other children from Ketura (Hagar). Earlier there were the "souls they (Avraham with Sara Imeinu) made in Charan". But it was only through Yitzchak that the Chain was to continue. Rivka was unique too. Look at her brother Lavan. And even though Yitzchak and Rivka had twins, it was only through one of them - Yaakov avinu - that the Chain would continue.

We can say, perhaps that Avraham Avinu created Judaism, but it was through Yitzchak that it was able to perpetuate. Every generation has its Yitzchaks, to learn from their parents and teachers, and add a strong new link to the Chain.

As we learn in Pirkei Avot (5:1), the world was created with ten Divine statements. Count them. Take the VAYOMER ELOKIMs of Creation, add B'REISHIT BARA as the first of the Divine statements, and you still come up with only nine. What is the tenth statement of Creation of the World? It is (according to several opinions) G-d's creation of Women to partner with Man. G-d's command to Adam and Chava to be fruitful and multiply. This is not His part in Creation, so to speak, but ours. Creation is meaningless without the continuation of it throughout time. Avraham is great, not just for who he was, but because he produced a Yitzchak, and succeeded in transmitting to him a set of beliefs, a commitment to G-d... and the ability to pass it all to the next generation.

We must be true spiritual heirs of the Avot and Imahot, and not lose sight of the vital significance of our being the strongest links we can between the previous generation and the next.

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