* TORAH WEEKLY * Highlights of the Weekly Torah Portion Parshas Vayera For the week ending 17 Cheshvan 5755 21 & 22 October 1994 ========================================================================= Summary Avraham Avinu is visited by Hashem on the third day after his bris milah. When three angels appear as Arabs, Avraham rushes to bring them to his tent and to offer them hospitality, despite this being the most painful time after the operation. Sarah laughs when she hears them relate that she will give birth to a son in the following year. Hashem reveals to Avraham that He will destroy Sodom, and Avraham pleads for Sodom to be spared. Hashem agrees if there are 50 righteous men in Sodom. Avraham `bargains' Hashem down to ten righteous men; however, not even ten can be found. Lot, his wife and two daughters are rescued just before sulfur and fire rain down on Sodom and Amora. Lot's wife looks back and is turned into a pillar of salt. Lot's daughters fear that as a result of the destruction there will be no husbands, and decide to get their father drunk and through him perpetuate Mankind. From the elder daughter, Moav is born, and from the younger, Ammon. Avraham moves to Gerar, where Sarah is abducted. Hashem appears to Avimelech in a dream, and he releases Sarah unmolested. As promised, a son, Yitzchak, is born to Sarah and Avraham. At Hashem's command, on the eighth day after the birth, Avraham circumcises him. Avraham makes a feast when Yitzchak is weaned. Sarah tells Avraham to banish Hagar and Yishmael because she sees in Yishmael sure signs of degeneracy. Avraham is distressed at the prospect of banishing his son, but Hashem tells him to listen to Sarah. Yishmael is rescued by an angel after nearly dying of thirst, and Hashem promises that he will be the progenitor of a mighty nation. When Avimelech sees that Hshem is with Avraham, he enters into an alliance with him. In a tenth and final test, Hashem instructs Avraham to take Yitzchak (who is now 37), and offer him as a sacrifice. Avraham agrees, even though this will ostensibly abort Jewish nationhood, and contradict his life-long teaching against human sacrifice. At the last instant, Hashem sends an angel to stop Avraham. Because of his unquestioning obedience, Hashem promises Avraham that even if the Jewish People sin, they will never be completely dominated by their foes. The Parsha concludes with the birth of Rivka. ========================================================================= Commentaries "Hashem appeared to him... while he was sitting in his tent in the heat of the day" (18:1). The Torah calls Noach a tzadik, and Avraham is known as a chasid -- a higher level. How is a chasid greater than a tzadik? Noach cared for the animals every day, but if there had been an automatic feeding and waste disposal system available in his day, he would have gladly installed it. It was important to Noach that the job be done -- it's a dirty job, but someone has to do it! Avraham's attitude was: I want to do the mitzva, it's not enough that the job will get done! We see this from Rashi on the first verse of this week's Parsha: Hashem made the day exceedingly hot so that no travelers should venture out and disturb Avraham on this third day after his bris, the most painful day. However, Avraham had more pain from not being able to do the mitzvah of welcoming guests than from the pain of the mila! Hashem saw that this was Avraham's major source of pain, and sent angels who looked like travelers so that Avraham could fulfill the mitzvah. This is the level of the chasid -- he wants to do chesed (acts of loving-kindness), as our Sages teach us "the world will be built on chesed." (Based on Rabbi Eliyahu Dessler) "Sarah saw the son of Hagar (Yishmael)... playing" (21:9). Rashi explains that Yishmael's playing involved immorality, idol worship, and murder. To the truly evil, these unspeakable crimes are mere child's play. (Chidushei HaRim) "I shall bless you and increase your seed like the stars of the heaven and the sand of the seashore; and your descendants shall inherit the gate of their enemies" (22:17). Although Hashem had already pledged to Avraham that the Jewish People would be a great and multitudinous nation, the added dimension here was that, as a reward for his willingness to sacrifice his son, no sin by his offspring would ever result in their total annihilation or permanent subjugation. Since Avraham was prepared to sacrifice nationhood for the sake of Hashem, therefore Hashem rewarded him with a guarantee of the immortality of that nation. (Based on the Ramban) "I shall bless you and increase your seed like the stars of the heaven and the sand of the seashore;" (22:17). When Israel ignores their Father in Heaven, and turn away from His mitzvos, they are like the sand of the seashore, trampled under foot by everyone. But if they fulfill Hashem's will, then they are lofty, mighty and exalted like the stars of the heavens, and no nation, however mighty, can dominate them. (Medrash Or HaAfelah) ========================================================================= Haftorah: II Kings 4:1-37 Just as in the Parsha the angels promise Sarah that she will conceive and give birth to a child, similarly in the Haftorah, the prophet Elisha promises a barren Shunamite woman that she will give birth. The child (later to become the Prophet Yona) dies in his youth, and is resurrected by Elisha, who revives him by placing himself on the lifeless child, implanting his own soul into the boy. This is a lesson for all teachers: One has to in-spire -- to breathe one's own life into one's pupils -- to give over of one's own soul. Nothing less than this will do. ========================================================================= Ani Ma'amin The Rambam's 13 Principles of Faith Principle #2: "I believe with complete faith that the Creator, may His Name be Blessed, is unique, and there is no uniqueness like His in any way, and that He alone is our God, Who was, Who is, and Who always will be." In the first principle, the Rambam posited that perforce the existence of God means the absolute existence of The Creator -- that He is the only Source of reality, the only Source of Power. Why is it now necessary in this second principle to again affirm the uniqueness and oneness of The Creator? The answer is that Man has a tendency to identify good and evil or happiness and suffering, with separate causes. Witnessing the various, seemingly contradictory facets of Hashem's providential guidance, it is easy to become confused and resolve these opposing elements by concluding that there are separate conflicting powers controlling the world. The emphasis on G-d's Unity here rejects the subtle influences of polytheism which could exist even in a monotheistic system. Rabbi Yaakov Weinberg * * * * * * * * * * How easy is it to conclude that there are separate controlling powers? Consider the following: o If -- Heaven forbid -- a tragedy were to strike: An earthquake, a tornado, etc. Would you consider the underlying cause of this tragedy nature (tectonic theories, meteorological disturbances) or is it Hashem? o Do you consider an "Act of G-d" (as might appear on an insurance form) to really be Divine action, or something beyond G-d's control? * * * * * * * * * * G-d is a complete and total Unity. He is not a collection of limbs and organs, as are man and animals. 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