ON THE PARSHA Parshas Va'Yera by Dovid Lipman, Israel Year 3, No. 4 Introduction This parsha, which explains how our father Avraham became the prototype of perfect Fear of Hashem, has six parts: 1) Angels visit Avraham & Avraham defends S'dom 2) Lot survives S'dom's destruction 3) Sarah's second abduction 4) Yitzchak Born & Yishmael Banished 5) Covenant with Avimelech 6) The Ultimate Sacrifice? 1. Angels visit Avraham -- 18:1 [Beg.] to 18:16 Avraham defends S'dom -- 18:17 to 18:33 [end, Chap. 18] Hashem visits Avraham as he recovers from circumcision, and, since Avraham wants to help guests, Hashem sends angels, for whom Avraham makes a feast. They predict Sarah having a boy a year later, and Sarah laughs in the tent, with a touch of disbelief. Hashem rebukes Avraham for the disbelief, and Avraham rebukes Sarah. The angels leave for S'dom, and Hashem tells Avraham that He will soon destroy S'dom and its suburbs. Avraham bargains with Hashem to save S'dom in the merit of any righteous citizens, and Hashem agrees to as few as ten citizens as being enough, but the area lacks even that. The Principles of Shabbos (18:4) "Let some water be brought..." Rashi cites the gemara (B.M. 86b) that although the hospitality of Avraham merited his children's food in the desert, the water was supplied by an agent (Moshe, by hitting the rock), because Avraham didn't bring the water himself either (everything else was from Hashem directly since Avraham prepared everything else himself). From here we see can learn the principle, "A mitzvah is greater if you do it yourself" (Kid. 41a). This is especially emphasized with Shabbos preparations, and the gemara (Shab. 119a) stresses the importance of everyone - regardless of station - making at least one preparation himself. The Mishnah Berurah (250:3, see Sh.HaTz. 9) notes this principle applies to all mitzvos. 2. Lot survives S'dom's destruction -- Chap. 19 Lot takes in the angels when they get to S'dom, but the wicked citizens hear of this kindness and threaten the worst of crimes for the guests, and even for Lot. The angels rescue Lot and blind the citizens, telling Lot to prepare for the destruction. He only manages to bring his wife and two daughters, and his wife becomes salt for the forbidden act of watching the destruction. Alone in a cave, Lot's daughters fear they are the only hope for humanity's future, and they have children from their father by getting him extremely drunk. From their sons come the nations Ammon and Moav. The World of the Supernatural (19:3) "...and he baked matzahs..." -it was Pesach (Rashi). So we must say that the "bread" Avraham offered the angels was also matzah. But we know Avraham is praised (Mid. Ba.Ra.20:17) for doing more than he promised! How could he not warn them he had to use matzah? R' Chaim Shmulevitz asks, the midrash says the Jews were supposed to jump in the Red Sea - but only one did at first. Why? Isn't giving up ones life at Hashem's command the norm for a Jew? He answers, they weren't told to give up their lives - that they could have done. They were told to travel into the sea - as though it were dry land. They needed total faith that before Hashem, land and sea are equal. Only one Jew had that faith. Avraham kept the mitzvah of matzah this way, too. Matzah is called "bread of poverty", and a Jew should understand that in terms of nourishment to serve Hashem, bread and matzah are equal! So Avraham naturally called it "bread". [He wasn't fooling the guests, either - the Midrash (Yal.Sh.18:82) says Avraham knew their greatness - though he thought them human - so he knew they'd also know all bread is bread.] But by Lot, who didn't reach that level where bread is all the same, it's called "matzah". [Note: When speaking to Sarah, Avraham even calls it "cake"!] 3. Sarah's second abduction -- Chap. 20 Avraham moves to G'rar, King Avimelech's land, and the king takes Sarah and is prevented from harming her. Hashem tells Avimelech in a dream to return Sarah, and he does so. Avraham explains why he couldn't admit Sarah was his wife, and he prays for the people of the castle, to heal them from a plague Hashem sent as punishment. Do You Remember? -from the files of 'On the Parsha' 1. How could Avraham serve angels milk with meat? 2. Was Ma'achah a girl or a boy? 3. Should one live in a well settled town or a new one? 4. Where do we see that one whould pray in a set place? 5. What the difference between "Fear of Elokim" and "Fear of Hashem"? 4. Yitzchak Born & Yishmael Banished -- 21:1 to 21:21 [Aliyah 6] The year ends and Sarah is rejuvenated, and she has a son, Yitzchak. She and Avraham celebrate, as the boy is circumcised and weaned. But when Sarah sees Yishmael as a danger to Yitzchak, she tells Avraham to send Hagar and Yishmael away, and Avraham does so, with orders from Hashem. After a near brush with death, Yishmael saves himself and his mother with prayer, and he marries and lives in the desert. Answers to Do You Remember? - Parshas Lech L'cha 1. "Chasing the vulture" means rejecting Dovid as Mashiach, due to his "strict" side (bloodshed), appropriate for Avraham, prototype of kindliness. 2. Hagar was running away, and by definition was going nowhere. 3. So he could refer to his wife as "Sarah" as commanded. 4. "Yarok" is yellow, the color of gold. (Tos. Succah 31b) 5. Covenant with Avimelech -- 21:22 to 21:34 [end, Chap. 21] Avraham, still living in Avimelech's land, is greeted by the king and hailed for his closeness to Hashem. They make a pact between their families, despite Avimelech's unwillingness to admit fault for crimes committed by his servants toward Avraham, who expresses hope that the pact will publicize his rights and protect them. A Time to Laugh (21:22) Why are Avimelech and his General Pichol always traveling together, and why is all they say and do written in singular? Maybe they were both elected president (presuming this is possible) and one took the job of "king" and the other became "Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces"! 6. The Ultimate Sacrifice? -- Chap. 22 Hashem tests Avraham's loyalty to His command by telling him to offer Yitzchak as a korban on a distant mountaintop. Avraham, not missing a beat, carries out the instructions up to tying his son up. As he takes the knife, Hashem withdraws the order, and Avraham immediately offers up a nearby ram in Yitzchak's place. Hashem then praises Avraham for his perfected Fear of Hashem, and a messenger informs Avraham that his brother Nachor has raised a family. Words according to Chazal (22:2) "Moriah". Rashi brings the explanation (Taanis 16a) that from that mountain came "Hora'ah", Torah instruction, because the Sanhedrin convened there. Another view there is it brought fear ("Morah") to the nations, who cannot defeat the Jews thanks to the merit of the Binding of Yitzchak.