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Wednesday, October 28, 2026

Vayera 4

This class covers Bereishis 21:1–21: Yitzchak's birth, his name, the great feast at his weaning, Sarah's demand that Yishmael be sent away, and Hagar and Yishmael in the desert, ending with Avraham's two visits to Yishmael. We follow the opinion that the angels came on Pesach, which makes the timeline from the bris to Yitzchak's birth on the next Pesach fit cleanly. Two ideas keep coming back. The first is that Hashem keeps His word and makes His miracles public: the sunbeam on the wall, the full nine months, Sarah's milk and the barren women who conceived all show the world that Yitzchak was Avraham's son. The second is that Hashem judges a person by who he is right now, which is why the thirsty Yishmael was saved, by a well that some say was already there and some say was made at the twilight of creation.

The pesukim

Bereishis 21:1

וַֽיהֹוָ֛ה פָּקַ֥ד אֶת־שָׂרָ֖ה כַּאֲשֶׁ֣ר אָמָ֑ר וַיַּ֧עַשׂ יְהֹוָ֛ה לְשָׂרָ֖ה כַּאֲשֶׁ֥ר דִּבֵּֽר׃

God granted special providence to Sarah as He said He would, and God did what He promised for Sarah.

Hashem remembered Sarah as He had said, and did for her what He had promised: He gave her a son. The words "as He had said" stress that Hashem kept His word even though there were real reasons it could have been delayed or taken back. Those reasons were the rumors after Sarah's time in Avimelech's palace, Sarah's laugh at the angels' news, and Avraham relying on a miracle in Gerar. Hashem is not a mortal king who promises and then changes his mind. As Bamidbar 23:19 says, God is not a man who lies, nor a mortal who changes His mind.
Bereishis 21:2

וַתַּ֩הַר֩ וַתֵּ֨לֶד שָׂרָ֧ה לְאַבְרָהָ֛ם בֵּ֖ן לִזְקֻנָ֑יו לַמּוֹעֵ֕ד אֲשֶׁר־דִּבֶּ֥ר אֹת֖וֹ אֱלֹהִֽים׃

Sarah became pregnant, and she gave birth to Abraham's son in his old age. It was at the exact time that God had promised it to him.

Sarah conceived and bore Avraham a son in his old age, at exactly the time Hashem had promised. Rashi explains that the angel had made a mark on the wall: when the sunbeam reached it the next year, she would give birth. Yitzchak was born at that very hour, on the first day of Pesach, the 15th of Nisan, when Avraham was 100 and Sarah was 90. The Yefeh To'ar adds that she carried exactly nine months, 270 days. Counting on the calendar pointed to a conception after she left Avimelech's house.
Bereishis 21:3–4

וַיִּקְרָ֨א אַבְרָהָ֜ם אֶֽת־שֶׁם־בְּנ֧וֹ הַנּֽוֹלַד־ל֛וֹ אֲשֶׁר־יָלְדָה־לּ֥וֹ שָׂרָ֖ה יִצְחָֽק׃

Abraham gave the name Isaac to the son he had, to whom Sarah had just given birth.

וַיָּ֤מׇל אַבְרָהָם֙ אֶת־יִצְחָ֣ק בְּנ֔וֹ בֶּן־שְׁמֹנַ֖ת יָמִ֑ים כַּאֲשֶׁ֛ר צִוָּ֥ה אֹת֖וֹ אֱלֹהִֽים׃

When his son Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him, as God had commanded.

Avraham named the son Sarah had borne him Yitzchak, and circumcised him at eight days old as Hashem had commanded. The name comes from laughter. Avraham had also laughed at the news, but his was a laugh of joy, not of doubt, at being given such a special son. That joy is built into the name he gave.
Bereishis 21:5–7

וְאַבְרָהָ֖ם בֶּן־מְאַ֣ת שָׁנָ֑ה בְּהִוָּ֣לֶד ל֔וֹ אֵ֖ת יִצְחָ֥ק בְּנֽוֹ׃

Abraham was 100 years old when his son Isaac was born.

וַתֹּ֣אמֶר שָׂרָ֔ה צְחֹ֕ק עָ֥שָׂה לִ֖י אֱלֹהִ֑ים כׇּל־הַשֹּׁמֵ֖עַ יִֽצְחַק־לִֽי׃

Sarah said, "God has given me laughter. All who hear about it will laugh for me."

וַתֹּ֗אמֶר מִ֤י מִלֵּל֙ לְאַבְרָהָ֔ם הֵינִ֥יקָה בָנִ֖ים שָׂרָ֑ה כִּֽי־יָלַ֥דְתִּי בֵ֖ן לִזְקֻנָֽיו׃

She said, "Who would have even suggested to Abraham that Sarah would be nursing children? But here I have given birth to a son in his old age!"

Avraham was 100 when Yitzchak was born. Sarah said, "God has made laughter for me; all who hear will laugh for me," and, "Who would have told Avraham that Sarah would nurse children?" Her laughter has turned around. Earlier she laughed in doubt, thinking she was too old and her husband too old. Now it is a joyful laughter, and perhaps this is where we see her teshuvah (return to Hashem). "Laugh for me" means not at me but with me. At that time every barren woman conceived in Sarah's merit, and a great person is happy when others succeed, so her joy and theirs became one.
Bereishis 21:8

וַיִּגְדַּ֥ל הַיֶּ֖לֶד וַיִּגָּמַ֑ל וַיַּ֤עַשׂ אַבְרָהָם֙ מִשְׁתֶּ֣ה גָד֔וֹל בְּי֖וֹם הִגָּמֵ֥ל אֶת־יִצְחָֽק׃

The child grew and was weaned. Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned.

The child grew and was weaned, and Avraham made a great feast on that day. People don't usually celebrate a weaning, but Sarah nursed Yitzchak much longer than usual. Someone only pretending to nurse would wean the baby as fast as possible, so a long nursing silenced anyone who claimed she had taken in a baby from the street. The verse says the child "was weaned," not that she weaned him: he grew old enough to stop on his own. The Torah calls it a great feast, not just a feast, because the Shechinah (Hashem's presence) was revealed there in Avraham's honor.
Bereishis 21:9

וַתֵּ֨רֶא שָׂרָ֜ה אֶֽת־בֶּן־הָגָ֧ר הַמִּצְרִ֛ית אֲשֶׁר־יָלְדָ֥ה לְאַבְרָהָ֖ם מְצַחֵֽק׃

But Sarah saw the son that Hagar had born to Abraham playing.

Sarah saw Hagar's son "metzachek": playing, or fooling around. Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, in Bereishis Rabbah, refuses to read this as a terrible sin; heaven forbid such things should happen in Avraham's house. Instead, Yishmael was claiming the inheritance. When his friends said that Avraham finally had an heir, Yishmael answered that he was the firstborn, a favorite wife cannot take that away, and he would take most of it and leave Yitzchak a token. It is a claim we still see playing out through history.
Bereishis 21:10

וַתֹּ֙אמֶר֙ לְאַבְרָהָ֔ם גָּרֵ֛שׁ הָאָמָ֥ה הַזֹּ֖את וְאֶת־בְּנָ֑הּ כִּ֣י לֹ֤א יִירַשׁ֙ בֶּן־הָאָמָ֣ה הַזֹּ֔את עִם־בְּנִ֖י עִם־יִצְחָֽק׃

She said to Abraham, "Drive away this slave together with her son. The son of this slave will not share the inheritance with my son Isaac!"

Sarah told Avraham, "Drive out this slave and her son, for the son of this slave will not inherit with my son, with Yitzchak." The double phrase "with my son, with Yitzchak" seems repetitive, so Rashi, followed by the Yefeh To'ar, reads each half as its own argument. "With Yitzchak": even if he were not my son, Yitzchak is so righteous that he alone deserves to be your heir. "With my son": even if he were not so righteous, as my son he would still deserve the inheritance over Yishmael. Yitzchak is both, her son and Yitzchak, so how could the slave's son share the inheritance with him? Sarah could not bear to hear Yishmael boasting that it would be his.
Bereishis 21:11

וַיֵּ֧רַע הַדָּבָ֛ר מְאֹ֖ד בְּעֵינֵ֣י אַבְרָהָ֑ם עַ֖ל אוֹדֹ֥ת בְּנֽוֹ׃

This troubled Abraham very much because it involved his son.

This was very bad in Avraham's eyes because it concerned his son. At first Avraham thought Yishmael was a good boy, so what upset him was that Sarah seemed to be speaking badly about his son. Then he looked into it with his own eyes, saw that it was true, and knew they had to go. Even so, sending them away was very painful for a man like Avraham, who was always looking for chances to do kindness to everyone.
Bereishis 21:12–13

וַיֹּ֨אמֶר אֱלֹהִ֜ים אֶל־אַבְרָהָ֗ם אַל־יֵרַ֤ע בְּעֵינֶ֙יךָ֙ עַל־הַנַּ֣עַר וְעַל־אֲמָתֶ֔ךָ כֹּל֩ אֲשֶׁ֨ר תֹּאמַ֥ר אֵלֶ֛יךָ שָׂרָ֖ה שְׁמַ֣ע בְּקֹלָ֑הּ כִּ֣י בְיִצְחָ֔ק יִקָּרֵ֥א לְךָ֖ זָֽרַע׃

But God said to Abraham, "Do not be troubled because of the boy and your slave. Do everything that Sarah tells you. It is through Isaac that you will gain posterity.

וְגַ֥ם אֶת־בֶּן־הָאָמָ֖ה לְג֣וֹי אֲשִׂימֶ֑נּוּ כִּ֥י זַרְעֲךָ֖ הֽוּא׃

But still, I will also make the slave's son into a nation, for he is your child."

Hashem told Avraham not to be troubled over the boy and the slave: listen to everything Sarah says, for through Yitzchak you will have offspring, and the slave's son will also become a nation because he is your seed. Avraham should listen to Sarah because she was on a higher level of prophecy than he was. "Through Yitzchak" teaches that Yishmael is not counted as Avraham's offspring at all. Someone who goes in evil ways is no longer considered a descendant of Avraham, just as Esav, though Yitzchak's son, is not counted as his offspring. Yishmael's future greatness is not his own merit; it comes only because he is Avraham's seed.
Bereishis 21:14

וַיַּשְׁכֵּ֣ם אַבְרָהָ֣ם ׀ בַּבֹּ֡קֶר וַיִּֽקַּֽח־לֶ֩חֶם֩ וְחֵ֨מַת מַ֜יִם וַיִּתֵּ֣ן אֶל־הָ֠גָ֠ר שָׂ֧ם עַל־שִׁכְמָ֛הּ וְאֶת־הַיֶּ֖לֶד וַֽיְשַׁלְּחֶ֑הָ וַתֵּ֣לֶךְ וַתֵּ֔תַע בְּמִדְבַּ֖ר בְּאֵ֥ר שָֽׁבַע׃

Abraham got up early in the morning. He took bread and a skin of water, and gave it to Hagar, placing it on her shoulder. He sent her away with the boy. She left and roamed aimlessly in the Beer-sheba desert.

Avraham rose early, took bread and a skin of water, put them on Hagar's shoulder together with the boy, and sent her away, and she wandered in the desert of Be'er Sheva. Avraham was a very generous man, yet here he gave only bread and a little water. He knew Yishmael would grow up wicked and did not want to give him money that he could use to do wicked things. He rose early, before anyone in his large household was awake, so that no one would have the chance to send them off with gifts.
Bereishis 21:15

וַיִּכְל֥וּ הַמַּ֖יִם מִן־הַחֵ֑מֶת וַתַּשְׁלֵ֣ךְ אֶת־הַיֶּ֔לֶד תַּ֖חַת אַחַ֥ד הַשִּׂיחִֽם׃

When the water in the skin was used up, she set the boy under one of the bushes.

When the water in the skin ran out, Hagar left the boy under one of the bushes. Yishmael had a fever and had drunk all the water himself. Avraham could have healed him: he had the stone that healed anyone who looked at it. But he did not pray for him or try. Sarah was greater in prophecy, and since she knew Yishmael had to be sent away, Avraham assumed that praying for him would not help.
Bereishis 21:16

וַתֵּ֩לֶךְ֩ וַתֵּ֨שֶׁב לָ֜הּ מִנֶּ֗גֶד הַרְחֵק֙ כִּמְטַחֲוֵ֣י קֶ֔שֶׁת כִּ֣י אָֽמְרָ֔ה אַל־אֶרְאֶ֖ה בְּמ֣וֹת הַיָּ֑לֶד וַתֵּ֣שֶׁב מִנֶּ֔גֶד וַתִּשָּׂ֥א אֶת־קֹלָ֖הּ וַתֵּֽבְךְּ׃

She walked away, and sat down facing him, about a bowshot away. She said, "Let me not see the boy die." She sat there facing him, and she wept in a loud voice.

Hagar went and sat facing him at about a bowshot's distance, saying, "Let me not see the boy die," and she wept aloud. Without realizing it, she sat down in the same place where the angels had met her years before, when she fled from Sarah. There she cried out to Hashem: Is this the promise You made me then, that my children would be too many to count? Now he is dying of thirst.
Bereishis 21:17

וַיִּשְׁמַ֣ע אֱלֹהִים֮ אֶת־ק֣וֹל הַנַּ֒עַר֒ וַיִּקְרָא֩ מַלְאַ֨ךְ אֱלֹהִ֤ים ׀ אֶל־הָגָר֙ מִן־הַשָּׁמַ֔יִם וַיֹּ֥אמֶר לָ֖הּ מַה־לָּ֣ךְ הָגָ֑ר אַל־תִּ֣ירְאִ֔י כִּֽי־שָׁמַ֧ע אֱלֹהִ֛ים אֶל־ק֥וֹל הַנַּ֖עַר בַּאֲשֶׁ֥ר הוּא־שָֽׁם׃

God heard the boy weeping. God's angel called Hagar from heaven and said to her, "What's the matter Hagar? Do not be afraid. God has heard the boy's voice there where he is.

Hashem heard the boy's voice, and an angel called to Hagar from heaven: Do not be afraid, Hashem has heard the boy's voice where he is. Hagar was the one crying out loud, yet the verse says Hashem heard Yishmael. He was answered in Avraham's merit and in his own merit: he accepted his bris (circumcision) at 13 without complaining. Some say he circumcised himself; others, that he let Avraham circumcise him. We learn from here that a sick person's own prayer is answered faster than other people's prayers for him. He is the one inside the situation, so his prayer comes from the heart with far more feeling.
Bereishis 21:18–19

ק֚וּמִי שְׂאִ֣י אֶת־הַנַּ֔עַר וְהַחֲזִ֥יקִי אֶת־יָדֵ֖ךְ בּ֑וֹ כִּֽי־לְג֥וֹי גָּד֖וֹל אֲשִׂימֶֽנּוּ׃

Go and lift up the boy. Keep your hand strong on him, for I will make of him a great nation."

וַיִּפְקַ֤ח אֱלֹהִים֙ אֶת־עֵינֶ֔יהָ וַתֵּ֖רֶא בְּאֵ֣ר מָ֑יִם וַתֵּ֜לֶךְ וַתְּמַלֵּ֤א אֶת־הַחֵ֙מֶת֙ מַ֔יִם וַתַּ֖שְׁקְ אֶת־הַנָּֽעַר׃

God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. She went and filled the skin with water, giving the boy some to drink.

The angel told Hagar to lift up the boy and hold him firmly, for he would become a great nation. Hashem opened her eyes, she saw a well of water, filled the skin and gave the boy a drink. She had put him down out of frustration: his own father had sent him away, so why should she pity him? She was ready to leave him and go marry someone else. The well was there the whole time, but stuck in that frustration she could not see it, until the angel told her to take care of her son and showed her the water right in front of her. When you are caught up in frustration, you don't even see the way out of the problem.
Bereishis 21:20–21

וַיְהִ֧י אֱלֹהִ֛ים אֶת־הַנַּ֖עַר וַיִּגְדָּ֑ל וַיֵּ֙שֶׁב֙ בַּמִּדְבָּ֔ר וַיְהִ֖י רֹבֶ֥ה קַשָּֽׁת׃

God was with the boy. [The boy] grew up and lived in the desert, where he became an expert archer.')

וַיֵּ֖שֶׁב בְּמִדְבַּ֣ר פָּארָ֑ן וַתִּֽקַּֽח־ל֥וֹ אִמּ֛וֹ אִשָּׁ֖ה מֵאֶ֥רֶץ מִצְרָֽיִם׃

He settled in the Paran Desert, and his mother got him a wife from Egypt.("

Hashem was with the boy. He grew up in the desert, became an expert archer and settled in the desert of Paran, and his mother took him a wife from Egypt. Hagar was Egyptian, and she went back to her old ways and her old country to find him a match, which was not a good one. Yishmael had four sons and a daughter there, then left Egypt with his family. He lived as a nomad raising sheep, and in Avraham's merit he prospered.

English from The Living Torah by Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan, used with the permission of the Kaplan family. Hebrew: Miqra according to the Masorah (CC BY-SA).

Takeaways

  • When Hashem promises, He keeps His word, even when there are reasons He could hold it back.
  • Frustration can hide the well that is right in front of you; step out of it and you will start to see the way out.
  • Your own prayer in your own trouble is the most powerful prayer there is, so don't leave the praying only to others.
  • Hashem judges you by who you are right now, so what you choose today counts.
  • A great person is happy when others succeed; Sarah's laughter became everyone's laughter.
Going deeper— the stories, Kabbalah and the reasons behind the reasons

Why these notes follow the opinion that the angels came on Pesach

  • There are two opinions on when Avraham had his bris: in Tishrei, on Yom Kippur, or in Nisan, around Pesach.
  • We follow the Nisan opinion. The Tishrei opinion can probably be worked out, but it makes the sequence of events that follows much more complicated.

Why this portion is read on Rosh Hashanah, and the timeline to Yitzchak's birth

  • "Hashem remembered Sarah" is read on the first day of Rosh Hashanah. That is the day Hashem decrees what will happen in the coming year, and it was on Rosh Hashanah that Yitzchak's birth that year was decreed.
  • On the Nisan reckoning, Avraham had his bris on the 13th of Nisan. The angels came on the third day after it, the 15th, the first day of Pesach, and Sodom was overturned on the 16th.
  • Avraham then moved away for two reasons. No guests were passing by anymore, and people had started talking about what Lot did with his daughters, which reflected badly on his uncle. He went to Gerar, where the episode with Avimelech took place.
  • On Rosh Hashanah Hashem decreed that Sarah would give birth that year. Counting back nine months from the following Pesach, she had conceived in Tammuz, after she left Avimelech's house.

A double miracle placed right after the Avimelech story

  • Sarah being remembered at 90 was already a great miracle, and the Torah places it right after the episode with Avimelech.
  • In Avimelech's household every orifice was closed up, so no one there could conceive or give birth. Sarah conceived at a time when the household she had just been in could not have children at all: a miracle on top of a miracle.

Three reasons the promise could have been held back

  • First, Sarah had just come out of Avimelech's house. If she became pregnant right away, people would say the child was his, so Hashem had good reason to delay the pregnancy until it was obvious. He fulfilled His promise anyway.
  • Second, Hashem holds the greatest tzaddikim (righteous people) to account for even the slightest flaw. Sarah's laugh, "my husband is old," showed a tiny lack of trust in Hashem, though her trust was far beyond anything we can imagine. Avraham rebuked her, she did teshuvah, and the promise stood.
  • Third, by calling Sarah his sister in Gerar, Avraham was relying on a miracle to save her from Avimelech. A person should not rely on miracles. This too could have cost the promise, but Hashem kept His word.

More meanings of "pakad"

  • "Pakad" is related to "pikadon," a deposit. Sarah had so many merits stored up with Hashem that it was as if she had a deposit with Him, and Yitzchak was paid out of it.
  • A sotah is a woman suspected of being unfaithful who drinks the special water in the Beis HaMikdash (the Temple). If she is innocent and childless, she conceives that year, because of the pain of being falsely suspected. Bereishis Rabbah says Sarah earned her child the same way, through the pain of being suspected with Avimelech.
  • Why didn't this happen after she was taken by Pharaoh, when she suffered the same suspicion? Avraham was not yet circumcised then, and Hashem wanted Yitzchak, one of the forefathers, to be born in complete purity.
  • Hashem assigns ministering angels to different tasks, and normally an angel is in charge of conception. Here the verse says Hashem Himself remembered Sarah: He did the miracle Himself, with no messenger in between.

Proving Yitzchak was Avraham's son, and the birth itself

  • The Talmud (Yevamos 80b) tells of a woman who gave birth twelve months after her husband left town. The rabbis ruled that the child was his, because a pregnancy can last that long. Since pregnancies vary, a calendar count alone is not airtight, but Sarah carrying a normal nine months did remove some of the suspicion.
  • People still repeated the rumors without doing the math. So Hashem made another miracle: once the talk started, the baby's face changed to look exactly like Avraham's, and the gossip stopped.
  • Some say Yitzchak was born on the night of Pesach and some say during the day. Sarah gave birth without pain.

What the letters of Yitzchak's name hold

  • Bereishis Rabbah reads the letters of Yitzchak's name by their numbers. Yud is 10, for the Ten Commandments his descendants would receive. Tzadi is 90, Sarah's age when she bore him. Ches is 8, the day of his bris. Kuf is 100, Avraham's age at his birth.
  • Yitzchak was the first person ever circumcised at eight days old. Avraham and his household had been circumcised a year earlier, when Hashem first commanded it. That too was part of the joy the name carries.

Blessings that came into the world with Yitzchak

  • The verse could have said "Hashem pakad Sarah" but says "pakad es Sarah," adding the untranslated word "es." Such an extra word always comes to teach something, just as "es Kayin" and "es Hevel" teach that each brother was born with a twin. Here it teaches that every barren woman in the world conceived along with Sarah, in her merit.
  • People could have said all those pregnancies were some natural phenomenon, something in the air, with nothing to do with Hashem. In fact the barren women came to Sarah and asked her to pray for them, and when her prayers were answered everyone knew it came from Hashem, who controls nature.
  • Many deaf and blind people began to hear and see. People who were spiritually sick, holding all kinds of twisted philosophies, were healed, recognized Avraham's greatness and took his advice.
  • When Yitzchak was born, the world itself became brighter than it had been before.

Sarah's milk

  • Another rumor said the baby was really Hagar's and Sarah had claimed him. So Hashem dried up the milk of all the local nursing mothers, and they came, kissed Sarah's feet and begged for a drop of her milk for their babies.
  • Sarah was extremely modest. Even among women only, since in Avraham's house he taught the men and she taught the women separately, she wanted to uncover only the minimum needed to nurse.
  • Bereishis Rabbah says Avraham disagreed: this is not a time for modesty, uncover yourself and show everyone the miracle Hashem did. She did, her milk gushed like two streams, and all the babies drank. This is why the verse says she nursed "children," in the plural.
  • The babies whose mothers came sincerely, to see Hashem's miracle, became as good as Sarah. The babies whose mothers came only for milk and mocked Sarah in their hearts gained nothing spiritually. They did become rulers and high officials, but when their descendants refused the Torah, those positions were taken from them.
  • A Midrash (Pesikta Rabbati 43) goes further: every convert in the world, and everyone who fears Heaven, comes from those babies who drank Sarah's milk.

Avraham's feasts and the great guests

  • Avraham made three feasts for Yitzchak: at his bris, at his weaning, and on his thirteenth birthday when he became bar mitzvah. A bris should be celebrated with a meal.
  • Rashi says "great feast" also refers to the great people who came: the great men of the generation, Shem and Ever, and Avimelech.
  • Sixty-two leaders came as well. A ruler only counted as a king if he also held land in Canaan, and there were 31 such kings, each with a governor over his land there.
  • Avimelech came despite the rift between them. Avraham held no grudge, and Avimelech, who had seen Sarah's greatness and been healed through Avraham's prayer, had come to believe in Hashem and was happy to celebrate.
  • The Sefer HaYashar says Avraham's father Terach and his brother Nachor also came, from Charan. When Avraham left with "Lech Lecha" it seemed he would never see his family again, yet they came for this celebration.
  • Og also came, according to the opinion that Og was not Eliezer. He had informed Avraham about Lot's capture hoping Avraham would die in the war so he could take Sarah and the inheritance. Bereishis Rabbah says the kings taunted him at the feast: you said Avraham was as barren as a mule, and now your hopes are dashed. Og answered that the child of old parents was weak and he could kill him with one finger.

Other readings of what Yishmael was doing

  • Bereishis Rabbah brings three readings of "metzachek" before Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai's. The first is that Yishmael was seducing and violating married women. (He was 14 when Yitzchak was born, and older by the weaning.)
  • The second is idolatry: he built an altar to the local idol and sacrificed grasshoppers he had caught.
  • The third is attempted murder of Yitzchak. They would play war, but Yishmael shot real arrows.

How Yishmael could be sent away from his inheritance

  • Parents cannot disinherit a son, even the son of a less-loved wife. So this was not Avraham or Sarah disinheriting Yishmael; it was Hashem.
  • When Hashem changed Avraham's and Sarah's names at the bris, Avraham asked about Yishmael. Hashem promised that Yishmael would be blessed, but said the covenant and the land would go through Yitzchak. A parent cannot override that law, but Hashem Himself can.
  • The Zohar says Sarah also wanted Yishmael out so there would be no more idolatry in the house. This is striking, since the Zohar is the teaching of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, who in the Midrash denies that such sins happened in Avraham's house.
  • Another view, the Kli Chemdah's, holds that Sarah didn't care about inheritance or money at all. She wanted Yishmael out so Yitzchak would not learn from his evil ways.

Sent away with almost nothing

  • When Avraham sent Hagar away he gave her a document. The Targum's word for it can mean a bill of freedom or a bill of divorce: the book reads it as freeing her, and Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer calls it a divorce.
  • Sarah wanted them to leave empty-handed, since Hagar was no more than a slave. Avraham, usually so generous, gave only bread and water: once he knew Yishmael was wicked, he had no pity on him.
  • Yishmael was either 17 or 27, so why did Hagar have to carry him? Rashi explains that Sarah's displeasure struck him, he fell sick with fever, and he could not walk.

A woman in childbirth should pray for herself

  • Hashem heard Yishmael's own voice, because the prayer of someone in trouble for himself is the most sincere.
  • So the book teaches that a woman in childbirth should pray herself that Hashem have mercy on her (Zohar).

Why Yishmael was saved despite his sins: judged as he is now

  • If Yishmael had committed murder, idolatry and adultery, why did he deserve to be saved? If he was 17, it is because a person under 20 is not punished by Heaven. If he was 27, his suffering, being driven from his father's house and wandering in the desert, together with his teshuvah, atoned for all his sins.
  • At that moment some of the angels protested that Yishmael did not deserve a miracle, because of what his descendants would do. When Nevuchadnetzar drove the Jews from Yerushalayim, about 80,000 young kohanim ran to the Yishmaelim asking for water as brothers, all children of Avraham.
  • The Yishmaelim told them not to drink on an empty stomach and fed them salty fish, which made them even thirstier. Then they handed them sealed skins that held only air. When the kohanim opened them at their mouths, the air burst their stomachs and many died. The angels asked: his children will kill Yours with thirst, and You save him from thirst with a miracle?
  • Hashem answered that He judges a person by what he is now: "where he is" (Bereishis Rabbah, brought by Rashi). The Talmud in Rosh Hashanah (16b) learns the same from these words: a person is judged by his deeds at that moment, not by what he will do. Rashi there brings the Midrash in its exact words. The angels' charge was: "One whose children will kill Your children with thirst, You bring up a well for him?" Hashem asked, "At this hour, is he righteous or wicked?" They answered, "Righteous." Read Rashi closely: the charge is about water and the miracle is water. At that hour Yishmael himself had never sinned with water, so he could not be punished through water, even though his descendants one day would.

The well: already there, or a miracle from creation?

  • The Toldos Yitzchak says Hagar could have seen the well before the angel came and spoke to her: it was already there. She was too caught up in her frustration to see it. That fits the words "Hashem opened her eyes."
  • The Ramban holds that the well was a miracle.
  • Bereishis Rabbah and Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer say the well appeared miraculously and was one of the things created at the twilight of the first Friday of creation, ready for this moment. The book sets these readings one after the other without calling them a dispute.

Avraham's two visits to Yishmael

  • The Me'am Loez tells that Avraham visited Yishmael twice in the desert. He told Sarah he wanted to visit, since Yishmael was still his son. She told him to go in peace but made him swear not to get off his camel at Yishmael's tent, so he wouldn't get too involved and would come right back.
  • On the first visit he rode a fast camel and arrived at noon in the heat. Yishmael was out hunting with his mother. Avraham asked his wife for a little water, and she said, "Water? Soon you'll be asking for bread," and sent him away.
  • He left a message: an old man from the land of the Philistines came, and Yishmael should change his doorway, because it no longer works. Yishmael understood that his father had come and his wife had shamed him, and he divorced her. He then married a Canaanite woman named Fatima.
  • Three years later Avraham came again. Fatima invited him to rest and eat. Keeping his oath, he would not get down and asked only for a little water, but she brought out a tray of the best food and drink, and he ate and blessed her.
  • This time his message was that the door of the tent is very good and should not be exchanged. Yishmael was overjoyed that his wife had honored his father and that his father still loved him enough to come twice. That day he moved his family to the land of the Philistines to be near his father, and stayed there 26 years.

Yishmael's character, and an open question

  • Yishmael is a complicated figure. He had a real love for his father, was glad that his father approved of his wife, and later came to Avraham's burial having done teshuvah, ending up more of a righteous person.
  • Three traits remain inborn in Yishmael's descendants: very powerful prayer, hospitality to guests, and honoring parents.
  • An open question: Hashem saves Yishmael because He judges a person only by the present. Yet the ben sorer u'moreh (the wayward and rebellious son) is put to death for what he is bound to become, before he has actually done it. How do these fit together?
Review questions
  1. Why is "Hashem remembered Sarah" read on Rosh Hashanah, and what were the three reasons the promise might have been held back?
  2. What does Sarah mean by "with my son, with Yitzchak," and what argument does each half of the phrase make?
  3. How did Hashem prove to the world that Yitzchak was really Sarah's and Avraham's son?
  4. Why did Avraham send Hagar and Yishmael off with only bread and water, and why did he do it early in the morning?
  5. Why couldn't Hagar see the well, and what does that teach about frustration?
  6. What did the angels argue when Yishmael was dying of thirst, and how did Hashem answer them?
Sources
  • Me'am Loez — the commentary we follow through the whole class, including Avraham's two visits to Yishmael
  • Rashi — the sunbeam mark on the wall, "with my son, with Yitzchak," the great guests at the feast, Yishmael carried because of his fever, judged "where he is"
  • Yefeh To'ar — the three reasons the promise could have been held back, the 270-day pregnancy, the double "with my son, with Yitzchak"
  • Bereishis Rabbah — the sotah comparison, the numbers in Yitzchak's name, Avraham telling Sarah to uncover herself and nurse, the readings of "metzachek," Og at the feast, the well from the twilight of creation
  • Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai (in Bereishis Rabbah) — Yishmael was claiming the inheritance, not sinning
  • Talmud Yevamos 80b — the twelve-month pregnancy
  • Talmud Rosh Hashanah 16b — a person is judged by his deeds at that moment
  • Rashi on Rosh Hashanah 16b — the angels' charge (thirst) and "at this hour, is he righteous?": Yishmael had not yet sinned with water
  • Toldos Yitzchak — the well was already there before the angel spoke; Hagar's frustration
  • Ramban — the well as a miracle
  • Zohar — Sarah wanted idolatry out of the house; Yishmael at 17 exempt from Heaven's punishment, or atoned at 27
  • Sefer HaYashar — Terach and Nachor at Yitzchak's feast
  • Bamidbar 23:19 — God is not a man who lies or changes His mind
  • Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer — the well from the twilight of creation; the divorce reading of Hagar's document
  • Kli Chemdah — Sarah wanted Yishmael out so Yitzchak would not learn his ways
  • Talmud Yerushalmi Taanis 4:5 — the kohanim, the salt fish and the skins of air
  • Pesikta Rabbati 43 — converts come from the babies who drank Sarah's milk