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Thursday, October 29, 2026

Vayera 5

We finish Bereshis 21: Avimelech's peace treaty with Avraham, the dispute over the well, the naming of Be'er Sheva, and Avraham's eshel, his free inn in the desert. We then open chapter 22, the Akedah, with its first pasuk only. One idea runs through all of it: Avraham's every step is measured with great care. He limits his oath to the children already born. He airs his complaints before making peace. He tests each guest before teaching him. And still a slight misstep in making the treaty cost his descendants dearly. We end by listing Avraham's ten tests and showing how the number ten echoes through Jewish history.

The pesukim

Bereshis 21:22

וַֽיְהִי֙ בָּעֵ֣ת הַהִ֔וא וַיֹּ֣אמֶר אֲבִימֶ֗לֶךְ וּפִיכֹל֙ שַׂר־צְבָא֔וֹ אֶל־אַבְרָהָ֖ם לֵאמֹ֑ר אֱלֹהִ֣ים עִמְּךָ֔ בְּכֹ֥ל אֲשֶׁר־אַתָּ֖ה עֹשֶֽׂה׃

Around that time, Abimelekh and his general Pikhol made a declaration to Abraham, saying, "God is with you in all that you do.

Avimelech, king of the Philistines, comes with Pichol, his general, and tells Avraham, "God is with you in all that you do." They have come to make peace. When a person walks in the right path, Hashem makes even his enemies make peace with him, because Hashem doesn't want a righteous person to be bothered. Avimelech had good reason to resent Avraham after everything his palace suffered over Sarah. Even so, he has watched Avraham win against the four kings, come out of Sodom unharmed and have a son at 100, and now he wants a pact with him.
Bereshis 21:23

וְעַתָּ֗ה הִשָּׁ֨בְעָה לִּ֤י בֵֽאלֹהִים֙ הֵ֔נָּה אִם־תִּשְׁקֹ֣ר לִ֔י וּלְנִינִ֖י וּלְנֶכְדִּ֑י כַּחֶ֜סֶד אֲשֶׁר־עָשִׂ֤יתִי עִמְּךָ֙ תַּעֲשֶׂ֣ה עִמָּדִ֔י וְעִם־הָאָ֖רֶץ אֲשֶׁר־גַּ֥רְתָּה בָּֽהּ׃

Now swear to me here by God that you will not deal falsely with me, with my children, or with my grandchildren. Show to me and the land where you were an immigrant the same kindness that I have shown to you."

Avimelech asks Avraham to swear by God that he will not deal falsely with him, his children or his grandchildren, and to show him "the same kindness that I have shown to you." The kindness he means is that he let Avraham stay in his land after the whole episode with Sarah. Pharaoh had sent Avraham away in the same situation, and Avimelech could have done the same with full justification. Because he chose kindness instead, he asks Avraham to return it by promising not to drive out his descendants or take the produce of their land.
Bereshis 21:24

וַיֹּ֙אמֶר֙ אַבְרָהָ֔ם אָנֹכִ֖י אִשָּׁבֵֽעַ׃

"I will swear," replied Abraham.

Avraham answers, "I will swear." The Toldos Yitzchak explains that he swore by the One who says "Anochi," the "I am Hashem your God" of the first commandment. The Birkas Avraham reads the words as a limit. Avimelech wanted the pact to bind all of Avraham's future generations, but Avraham said, in effect, "I swear," meaning only himself and the members of his family already born. Avraham had never actually settled in Avimelech's land, but he appreciated the offer, and so he entered the pact on exactly those terms.
Bereshis 21:25–26

וְהוֹכִ֥חַ אַבְרָהָ֖ם אֶת־אֲבִימֶ֑לֶךְ עַל־אֹדוֹת֙ בְּאֵ֣ר הַמַּ֔יִם אֲשֶׁ֥ר גָּזְל֖וּ עַבְדֵ֥י אֲבִימֶֽלֶךְ׃

Abraham then complained to Abimelekh about the well that Abimelekh's servants had taken by force.

וַיֹּ֣אמֶר אֲבִימֶ֔לֶךְ לֹ֣א יָדַ֔עְתִּי מִ֥י עָשָׂ֖ה אֶת־הַדָּבָ֣ר הַזֶּ֑ה וְגַם־אַתָּ֞ה לֹא־הִגַּ֣דְתָּ לִּ֗י וְגַ֧ם אָנֹכִ֛י לֹ֥א שָׁמַ֖עְתִּי בִּלְתִּ֥י הַיּֽוֹם׃

Abimelekh said, "I don't know who could have done such a thing. You never told me. I heard nothing about it until today."

Before making the treaty, Avraham complains to Avimelech about a well his servants had dug, which Avimelech's servants seized by force, claiming they had dug it. From here we learn that when two sides make peace, every complaint must go on the table first. If the old grievances stay buried, any small argument after the pact will bring them back up, "but you did this to me in the past," and the peace won't last. Clear the air completely, and the pact will stand.
Bereshis 21:27–30

וַיִּקַּ֤ח אַבְרָהָם֙ צֹ֣אן וּבָקָ֔ר וַיִּתֵּ֖ן לַאֲבִימֶ֑לֶךְ וַיִּכְרְת֥וּ שְׁנֵיהֶ֖ם בְּרִֽית׃

Abraham took sheep and cattle and gave them to Abimelekh, and the two of them made a treaty.

וַיַּצֵּ֣ב אַבְרָהָ֗ם אֶת־שֶׁ֛בַע כִּבְשֹׂ֥ת הַצֹּ֖אן לְבַדְּהֶֽן׃

Abraham then put seven female sheep aside by themselves.

וַיֹּ֥אמֶר אֲבִימֶ֖לֶךְ אֶל־אַבְרָהָ֑ם מָ֣ה הֵ֗נָּה שֶׁ֤בַע כְּבָשֹׂת֙ הָאֵ֔לֶּה אֲשֶׁ֥ר הִצַּ֖בְתָּ לְבַדָּֽנָה׃

Abimelekh asked Abraham, "What is the meaning of these seven ewes that you have set aside?"

וַיֹּ֕אמֶר כִּ֚י אֶת־שֶׁ֣בַע כְּבָשֹׂ֔ת תִּקַּ֖ח מִיָּדִ֑י בַּעֲבוּר֙ תִּֽהְיֶה־לִּ֣י לְעֵדָ֔ה כִּ֥י חָפַ֖רְתִּי אֶת־הַבְּאֵ֥ר הַזֹּֽאת׃

"Take these seven ewes from my hand," replied [Abraham]. "It will be my proof that I dug this well."

Avraham gives Avimelech sheep and cattle, they make a treaty, and Avraham sets aside seven ewes as "proof that I dug this well." The Bereishis Rabbah explains how the ewes were proof. Each side brought its sheep to the well, and the water rose for Avraham's sheep and not for Avimelech's. That showed whose well it was.
Bereshis 21:31–32

עַל־כֵּ֗ן קָרָ֛א לַמָּק֥וֹם הַה֖וּא בְּאֵ֣ר שָׁ֑בַע כִּ֛י שָׁ֥ם נִשְׁבְּע֖וּ שְׁנֵיהֶֽם׃

That area was therefore called Beer-sheba, since the two had made an oath there.

וַיִּכְרְת֥וּ בְרִ֖ית בִּבְאֵ֣ר שָׁ֑בַע וַיָּ֣קׇם אֲבִימֶ֗לֶךְ וּפִיכֹל֙ שַׂר־צְבָא֔וֹ וַיָּשֻׁ֖בוּ אֶל־אֶ֥רֶץ פְּלִשְׁתִּֽים׃

They thus made a treaty in Beer-sheba. Abimelekh and his general Pikhol then left, and they returned to the land of the Philistines.

The place is named Be'er Sheva, and Avimelech and Pichol return to the land of the Philistines. Be'er means a well, and sheva carries two meanings at once. It means "seven," for the seven ewes, and it is also related to shevua, an oath, for the oath sworn there. So Be'er Sheva is both the well of the seven and the well of the oath.
Bereshis 21:33–34

וַיִּטַּ֥ע אֶ֖שֶׁל בִּבְאֵ֣ר שָׁ֑בַע וַיִּ֨קְרָא־שָׁ֔ם בְּשֵׁ֥ם יְהֹוָ֖ה אֵ֥ל עוֹלָֽם׃

[Abraham] planted a tamarisk tree in Beer-sheba, and there he called in the name of God, Lord of the Universe.

וַיָּ֧גׇר אַבְרָהָ֛ם בְּאֶ֥רֶץ פְּלִשְׁתִּ֖ים יָמִ֥ים רַבִּֽים׃

Abraham lived [there] in the land of the Philistines for many days.

Avraham plants an eshel in Be'er Sheva, calls there in the name of God, Lord of the Universe, and lives in the land of the Philistines for many days. Eshel simply means a tamarisk tree, but the Talmud (Sotah 10a) explains that it was a free inn Avraham built for travelers. There he did what he did best: he took care of anyone who was passing through. Kindness (chesed) is one of Hashem's own attributes, and Avraham wanted to walk in Hashem's ways by caring for every creature, just as Hashem does.
Bereshis 22:1

וַיְהִ֗י אַחַר֙ הַדְּבָרִ֣ים הָאֵ֔לֶּה וְהָ֣אֱלֹהִ֔ים נִסָּ֖ה אֶת־אַבְרָהָ֑ם וַיֹּ֣אמֶר אֵלָ֔יו אַבְרָהָ֖ם וַיֹּ֥אמֶר הִנֵּֽנִי׃

After these events, God tested Abraham. "Abraham!" He said. "Yes."

"After these events, God tested Avraham." Hashem called "Avraham!" and he answered, "Hineni," here I am. This opens the parsha of the Akedah, the binding of Yitzchak on the altar. It is Avraham's tenth and final test: after waiting until 100 for a righteous son, he is told to bring that son as an offering. All the merit of the Jewish people stands on what happens in this chapter.

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 you make peace with someone, put every complaint on the table first, so old grievances don't come back after the pact.
  • Food belongs to Hashem until you bless it, so make the blessing before you eat.
  • Real hospitality thinks of the small things: a door where a guest can slip in without being embarrassed, asking what he'd like to eat, walking him back to the road.
  • The greater the person, the finer the standard he is judged by, so even well-meant decisions are worth bringing before Hashem first.
  • Recalling the Akedah, especially in hard times, brings Hashem's mercy, and its merit never runs out.
Going deeper— the stories, Kabbalah and the reasons behind the reasons

Recap: from the angels' visit to Hagar in the desert

  • Three angels visited Avraham. They told him Sarah would have a son, then went on to destroy Sodom, and Avraham pleaded for the city. Lot was saved in Avraham's merit, while his wife looked back and became a pillar of salt.
  • Lot's daughters thought the world had ended. The older one's son was Moab, the ancestor of Ruth, King David and Mashiach, because her intentions were sincere. The younger one's son, Ben Ami, became the nation of Ammon.
  • After Sarah was returned by Avimelech, she conceived. Hashem made Yitzchak's face look exactly like Avraham's so no one could claim Avimelech was the father.
  • The letters of the name Yitzchak hint at its story. Yud (10) stands for the Ten Commandments, tzadi (90) for Sarah's age, ches (8) for his circumcision on the eighth day, and kuf (100) for Avraham's age.
  • When Hagar and Yishmael were sent away, an angel showed her a well. Some say the well had been there the whole time, but she was too caught up in her distress to see it.

Even the mosquitoes make peace with a tzaddik

  • The Yefeh To'ar brings that Hashem keeps even flies and mosquitoes from biting or stinging a righteous person. Hashem doesn't want a tzaddik to have any bother at all.
  • Rashi brings that Avimelech had great respect for Avraham, which is why he came to make peace.
  • The Yefeh To'ar says "in all that you do" includes sending Yishmael away. At the time the Philistines couldn't understand it: how could a father drive out his firstborn with only bread and water instead of money to start a business?
  • Once they saw Yishmael turn wicked, they understood. Everything Avraham does is deeper than it looks, and they said they should have known that ever since the episode with Sarah.

Who said "you never told me"?

  • Pasuk 26 reads, "I don't know who could have done such a thing. You never told me. I heard nothing about it until today." Read as one speech by Avimelech to Avraham, it repeats itself, and "you never told me" makes little sense, since Avraham has just told him.
  • The Tzeror HaMor reads it as Avimelech pushing back at Avraham. Had he known, he would never have allowed it, but it's partly Avraham's fault: friends shouldn't keep things from each other.
  • The Tzeida LaDerech and the Alshich solve the repetition by remembering that three people are standing there: Avraham, Avimelech and Pichol, the general.
  • On their reading, Avimelech tells Avraham, "I don't know who did such a thing." Then he turns to Pichol and says, "You also never told me," since a good general should know everything happening in the kingdom.
  • Pichol defends himself: "I also heard nothing until today." Each phrase now has its own speaker, and nothing is redundant.

Why Avraham did not split the animals

  • The Tzeror HaMor says Avraham explained the seven ewes to Avimelech as a sign. The water had already proved the well was his; the ewes would remind Avimelech to order his men not to fight with Avraham's shepherds.
  • In those days a pact was made by splitting animals in half and having both parties walk between the halves. The message was that just as these animals lost their life once split, the pact would only break if someone lost his life.
  • Here Avraham did not split any animals. He was afraid Avimelech would raise a monument and split an animal as an idolatrous offering, so he set aside the seven ewes himself as the sign of the treaty.

The price Avraham's descendants paid for the treaty

  • Hashem judges the most righteous to a hairline. Something that would mean nothing for anyone else counts as a serious wrong for Avraham, the greatest man of his time.
  • The first wrong was making a formal treaty. An oath alone would have been enough, while a treaty is a sign of love and brotherhood that he should not have offered Avimelech.
  • The second wrong was taking on himself and his descendants, without asking Hashem first, not to touch Avimelech's land.
  • Because he gave seven ewes, the Philistines were later able to kill seven saints: Shimshon, Chofni and Pinchas the sons of Eli, and Shaul with his three sons.

A hospitality committee in every city

  • Every city should have a committee that looks after travelers and strangers. Where there isn't enough room, it may even require householders to take in guests, just as a community can require each person to give charity according to his means.
  • The committee should keep rooms, rented permanently if needed, and blankets, pillows and linens set aside only for weary strangers. A good bed matters even more than food.
  • A stranger should meet a committee member right away and be taken to his lodging. Being sent from one house to the next is very painful, especially in winter, and can make him feel he is in Sodom.
  • No Jew may excuse himself from this. Even with a valid reason for not hosting, ignoring a fellow Jew violates "Love your neighbor as yourself" (Vayikra 19:18). The best way is rooms paid for from communal funds, so everyone has a share.

The inn with four doors and the meaning of eshel

  • The Kad HaKemach says Avraham built his inn with a door on every side, so a stranger could always find an open door and slip in without being embarrassed in front of the people already there.
  • It's like walking into shul late while everyone stands davening and watches you come down the front. A back door spares you that, and Avraham thought of exactly that kind of detail so every guest would feel welcome.
  • The Kad HaKemach reads the letters of eshel as an acronym: aleph for achila (food), shin for shtiya (drink), and lamed for levaya (escorting the guest back to the road when he left).
  • The Kad HaKemach adds that the letters, rearranged, spell sha'al, "he asked": Avraham asked every guest what he wanted to eat and served each person what he needed.
  • He also says hospitality is like a fruitful tree: a person who hosts generously will have good children. Hosting a Torah scholar and letting him use your things is like bringing an offering to Hashem.

Where Avraham learned chesed

  • The Yalkut Chadash relates that Avraham asked Shem, the son of Noach, in what merit his family survived the flood. Shem answered that it was charity.
  • Avraham asked whom they could have given charity to, with only eight people in the ark. Shem explained that they spent all day and all night feeding the animals.
  • From this conversation Avraham began hosting travelers. Charity saves a person from harm, and indeed Lot was later saved from Sodom because of Avraham's chesed.

Why Avraham charged guests who would not bless Hashem

  • The Talmud (Sotah 10a) also reads eshel as an orchard. Avraham planted every kind of fruit tree in the middle of the desert.
  • When guests tried to thank Avraham, he told them to bless Hashem instead, since it all comes from Him, and he taught them Birkas HaMazon (grace after meals).
  • The Bereishis Rabbah says that if someone refused to bless Hashem, Avraham charged him a very high price. If he complained, Avraham told him that food in the desert is worth ten times what it costs in the city.
  • Why would anyone charge for charity? The Talmud (Berachos 35a) answers with two verses. Tehillim 24:1 says the earth and everything in it belongs to Hashem, while Tehillim 115:16 says Hashem gave the earth to man.
  • The first verse speaks of food before a blessing, when it still belongs to Hashem. The second speaks of food after the blessing, when it becomes yours. Eating without a blessing is therefore stealing from Hashem.
  • Avraham couldn't give away what wasn't his, so a guest who refused to bless had to pay. Avraham treated that money as consecrated to Hashem and used it for his chesed and spiritual work.

Teaching gently, not by force

  • The Yad Yosef says Avraham gave food only to people who accepted his teachings, just as with the blessings.
  • You can't force a person to believe. "There he called" means Avraham taught gently and with logic, convincing people that Hashem created the world and runs it, and that they should serve Him.
  • We saw a glimpse of this with the angels. Telling them to wash the dust off their feet and rest under the tree was a lesson to stop relying on themselves and rely on Hashem.

The tree and the pool that revealed every guest

  • The Gemara in Berachos warns that a person shouldn't invite too many people into his house, because the wrong guests bring suffering. Avraham was careful about whom he brought in.
  • The Zohar says the eshel was a special tree that worked like a lie detector. Under a sincere believer its branches spread over the whole courtyard, and under a wicked person, or one who only claimed to believe, they pointed straight up and gave no shade.
  • Under the tree was a small spring-fed pool that served as a mikvah (ritual bath). If an impure person came near, the water rose so he could immerse. If it dried up completely, Avraham knew the guest needed a seven-day purification first.
  • With these signs Avraham knew the true nature of every visitor, and so he knew how to speak to each one and bring him close to Hashem.
  • Avraham looked after the male guests, and Sarah took care of the women.

The great merit of hospitality

  • Welcoming a guest is a great favor, even to a wealthy one, who can't act as he would at home.
  • Hospitality is listed in the morning prayers before rising early for shul, among the deeds whose fruits a person eats in this world while the principal waits for the World to Come (Shabbos 127a).
  • The Tikkunei Zohar: whoever makes strangers feel at home is helped when he dies. The soul leaving the body is a confused stranger, and in this merit it is welcomed into the Future World. Hosting a Torah scholar is like bringing the daily offering.
  • The Zohar: hospitality can cancel evil decrees. Hashem sent the three angels to Avraham as travelers so he would have the merit of hosting them, and through that merit Lot escaped Sodom: "God remembered Avraham, and He sent Lot out of the upheaval" (19:29).
  • In a calamity Hashem remembers who was kind to the poor: "Charity saves from death" (Mishlei 10:2). So host properly and see to guests yourself; anyone who has arrived in a strange city with no one to feed him knows how bitter it is.

Why the Akedah matters so much

  • The Akedah is read on Rosh Hashanah, the Day of Judgment, because recalling it brings merit.
  • The Zohar says all the merit of the Jewish people comes from the Akedah. The Bereishis Rabbah says that in a time of trouble the Jewish people should recall it, and Hashem will have mercy.
  • The knife is called ma'acheles, from ochel, food, so it can also mean "food-maker." Everything the Jewish people enjoy in this world comes from the merit of the Akedah.
  • The Akedah is so important that it was placed in the introduction to the morning prayers, so it is read every day. The Yefeh To'ar says its merit has no end: whenever we ask Hashem to recall it, He has mercy on us.
  • Some say the Akedah happened on Rosh Hashanah. Another opinion says it was on the afternoon of Yom Kippur.

Avraham's ten tests

  • The Mishnah (Avos 5:3) says Avraham was tested ten times. First, Nimrod threw him into the fiery furnace of Ur Kasdim. Second, Hashem told him to leave his parents and family for an unknown place.
  • Third, a famine struck only the land of Canaan. He didn't go back to his father against Hashem's command and didn't complain; he went down to Egypt.
  • Fourth, Pharaoh took Sarah. Fifth, he fought the four kings who captured Lot and defeated them with 318 men or fewer.
  • Sixth, at the Bris Bein HaBesarim (the covenant between the halves), Hashem showed him all the future exiles and suffering of his descendants. Avraham had to make the agonizing choice of whether they would pay for their sins with exile or with Gehinnom.
  • Seventh, circumcision at 99. It was very painful at that age, and he had to cut the very organ he hoped would give him a son with Sarah, yet he still obeyed.
  • Eighth, Avimelech took Sarah by force. Ninth, Hashem told him to send away Hagar and his firstborn Yishmael. Tenth, the Akedah, the hardest of all, after which he needed no more tests.

The number ten through history

  • The Rokeach brings that in return for the ten tests, Hashem gave us the Ten Days of Repentance from Rosh Hashanah to Yom Kippur, when prayer and teshuva are accepted far more than during the rest of the year.
  • The world was created with ten sayings, showing it was created for Avraham's sake.
  • There were ten generations from Adam to Noach, and the world was destroyed by the flood. There were ten more from Noach to Avraham, but this time Avraham taught the people to change their ways, and the world was spared.
  • Parallel to the ten tests, Hashem brought ten plagues in Egypt and ten miracles at the sea, and gave the Ten Commandments. When the Jewish people made the golden calf and the first tablets were broken, the merit of Avraham's ten tests moved Hashem to have mercy.

Questions waiting in the Akedah

  • The Me'am Loez lists twenty questions on the words of the Akedah, and we will go through them with the rest of the chapter.
  • Why does the pasuk need to say "after these events"? Of course the story comes afterward.
  • Why test Avraham at all, when Hashem already knows exactly what he can do? And wasn't it perhaps a greater test for Yitzchak?
Review questions
  1. Why did Avraham limit his oath to Avimelech to the members of his family already born?
  2. How do the Tzeida LaDerech and the Alshich solve the repetition in Avimelech's answer about the well?
  3. How did the seven ewes prove the well was Avraham's, and why didn't Avraham split the animals when making the pact?
  4. What three things does the word eshel stand for, and why did Avraham's inn have four doors?
  5. Using Berachos 35a, why could Avraham charge guests who refused to bless Hashem?
  6. Name Avraham's ten tests. What did the Rokeach say Hashem gave us in return for them?
Sources
  • Rashi — Avimelech's great respect for Avraham
  • Yefeh To'ar — flies and mosquitoes leave a tzaddik alone; Yishmael's sending away seen in hindsight; the Akedah's merit has no end
  • Rabbeinu Bachya — Avimelech asks Avraham to return the favor of letting him stay
  • Toldos Yitzchak and Birkas Avraham — two readings of "I will swear": by the One who said "Anochi", and binding only those already born
  • Tzeror HaMor — "you never told me" as partly Avraham's fault; the seven ewes as a reminder, set aside so no animal would be split for idolatry
  • Tzeida LaDerech and Alshich — Avimelech turning to Pichol in pasuk 26
  • Bereishis Rabbah — the water rising for Avraham's sheep; charging those who wouldn't bless; recalling the Akedah in times of trouble; the knife as "food-maker"
  • Talmud Sotah 10a — eshel as a free inn and as an orchard
  • Kad HaKemach — the four doors; eshel as food, drink and escort, and as sha'al; hospitality as a fruitful tree
  • Yalkut Chadash — Shem's answer: the charity of feeding the animals in the ark
  • Talmud Berachos 35a and 63a — food belongs to Hashem until it is blessed (Tehillim 24:1 and 115:16); don't invite too many people into your house
  • Yad Yosef — food only for those who accepted Avraham's teaching
  • Zohar — the tree and the pool that revealed each guest; all Jewish merit comes from the Akedah
  • Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 1 — the Akedah in the introduction to the morning prayers
  • Mishnah Avos 5:2–3 and the Rokeach — ten generations, ten tests, and the Ten Days of Repentance