VAYEIRA 18:1-22:24
So you think that you've had a busy week. Listen to this:
.In this week's Parshah, Abraham is visited by three angels and is promised a son. The cities of Sodom and Gomorrah are destroyed. Sarah gives birth to Isaac at the age of 90, Hagar and Ishmael are banished. G‑d orders Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac.
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Seeing Is Believing
At our weekly shiur Reb Yitz remarked that the Parsha involves seeing, hearing and listening to Hashem.
For example at 18:1- וַיֵּרָא אֵלָיו יְהוָה, בְּאֵלֹנֵי מַמְרֵא
“The Lord appeared to him by the terebinths of Mamre,”
Reb Yitz commented that by Hashem appearing to Abraham this implies that Abraham “saw” G-d.
Compare this to Exodus 33:20 where Hashem says to Moshe:
וַיֹּאמֶר, לֹא תוּכַל לִרְאֹת אֶת-פָּנָי: כִּי לֹא-יִרְאַנִי הָאָדָם, וָחָי
“And He said: 'Thou canst not see My face, for man shall not see Me and live”.
One implication is that the holiness of Abraham was so great that he was able to see God.
Abraham is noted for doing chessed. Perhaps doing chessed is “seeing God.
At 18:2 – וַיִּשָּׂא עֵינָיו, וַיַּרְא
“And he lifted his eyes and saw…”
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Abraham is Visited by Three Angels
What exactly are Angels?
At 18:2 Abraham senses that his visitors are special, and he runs to them.
וַיִּשָּׂ֤א עֵינָיו֙ וַיַּ֔רְא וְהִנֵּה֙ שְׁלשָׁ֣ה אֲנָשִׁ֔ים נִצָּבִ֖ים עָלָ֑יו וַיַּ֗רְא וַיָּ֤רָץ
“And he lifted his eyes and saw, and behold, three men were standing beside him, and he saw and he ran toward them…”
In this instance Abraham’s visitors are described as men, אֲנָשִׁ֔ים.
At 19:1, They are described as Angels or messengers, מַּלְאָכִים
וַיָּבֹאוּ שְׁנֵי הַמַּלְאָכִים סְדֹמָה
“And the two angels came to Sodom…”
Of the three Angels or messengers from Hashem, one had the task of informing Abraham of the future birth of Isaac, and the remaining two had the task in assisting the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.
Much later on, at 28:12 Jacob has a vision of Angels going up and down on a ladder. These are referred to as מַלְאֲכֵי. Likewise at 32:2 when Jacob enters Canaan he is greeted by מַלְאֲכֵי.
Still later on at 32:25, Jacob wrestles with a supernatural being, who is called a man, אִישׁ .
In the Chumash, Angels are nameless. It is only in the Book of Daniel that some Angels are named: Gabriel and Michael.
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The cities of Sodom and Gomorrah are destroyed:
At 19: 24 and 25 we learn about the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah:
וַֽיהֹוָ֗ה הִמְטִ֧יר עַל־סְדֹ֛ם וְעַל־עֲמֹרָ֖ה גָּפְרִ֣ית וָאֵ֑שׁ מֵאֵ֥ת יְהֹוָ֖ה מִן־הַשָּׁמָֽיִם
“And the Lord caused to rain down upon Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire, from the Lord, from heaven”.
וַיַּֽהֲפֹךְ֙ אֶת־הֶֽעָרִ֣ים הָאֵ֔ל וְאֵ֖ת כָּל־הַכִּכָּ֑ר וְאֵת֙ כָּל־יֽשְׁבֵ֣י הֶֽעָרִ֔ים וְצֶ֖מַח הָֽאֲדָמָֽה
“And He turned over these cities and the entire plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and the vegetation of the ground”.
The destruction had two elements: The raining down of fiery sulfur and an earthquake that overturned the cities. Where were these cities located?
Sodom and Gomorrah were located in the Jordan Valley, a geologic rift zone characterized by earthquakes. I would guess they were close to what is now the Dead Sea. In the Dead Sea today there are seeps of natural asphalt or bitumen.
And we learned at 14:16 that in the battle of the fives kings and four kings there were pits of asphalt:
וְעֵמֶק הַשִּׂדִּים, בֶּאֱרֹת בֶּאֱרֹת חֵמָר
“The valley of Demons was full of bitumen (asphalt) pits”
It must have been a forbidding, foul-smelling place. I’m guessing that anaerobic bacteria lived off of the sulfur contained in the asphalt, producing hydrogen sulfide that has a rotten egg smell and native sulfur. This is the phenomenon that place in Louisiana and Texas where there are economic salt and sulfur deposits.
With the raw materials on-hand plus an earthquake, you have the elements of destruction. Sulfur is easily ignited,, hydrogen sulfide is a deadly gas and for good measure sulfuric acid is able to be produced, culminating in an acid rain…what a catastrophe!
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Lucas Cranach the Elder, 1528
Lot was Abraham’s nephew, the son of Abraham’s deceased brother Haran. Sara was his Aunt. Terach was his grandfather. Lot like the rest of the family was a Sumerian. He chose to live in Sodom. The question is why?
On its face, Sodom was not a place for any of Abraham’s family, who for want of a better term were straight-laced. And Sodom at the very least was a city of questionable morality, I speculate that unlike the rest of the family, Lot belonged to that group of Sumerians who in matters of sexual intimacy were lax if not indulgent.
When Sodom’s townspeople wanted to have “their way” with Lot’s guests, he volunteered his daughters in their stead. At first I thought this repugnant, but on refection I am of the opinion that the daughters were part of the scene and not horrified as to what might have happened.
Furthermore when the daughters are in the cave with their father, at 19:31, one says:
אָבִ֣ינוּ זָקֵ֑ן וְאִ֨ישׁ אֵ֤ין בָּאָ֨רֶץ֙ לָב֣וֹא עָלֵ֔ינוּ כְּדֶ֖רֶךְ כָּל־הָאָֽרֶץ
"…Our father is old, and there is no man on earth to come onto us, as is the manner of all the earth”.
I think that the daughters were not concerned whether or not mankind had been destroyed, but were simply behaving in the manner of the erstwhile Sodom population. And Lot went along with the program.
Five hundred years later we learn in Devarim 25:4-5 about the sweeping prohibition against marrying an Ammonite or Moabite, offspring from the incest between Lot and his daughters:
“No Ammonite or Moabite shall be admitted into the congregation of the Lord; none of their descendants, even in the tenth generation, shall ever be admitted into the congregation of the Lord.”
Despite the prohibition, King David's ancestor is Ruth who is a Moabite and whose line will come the Messiah.
What do we learn from this?
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Hagar and Ishmael are banished:
In the Parshah, 21:10, at the behest of Sarah, Abraham sends Hagar and Ishmael away”
וַתֹּ֨אמֶר֙ לְאַבְרָהָ֔ם גָּרֵ֛שׁ הָֽאָמָ֥ה הַזֹּ֖את וְאֶת־בְּנָ֑הּ כִּ֣י לֹ֤א יִירַשׁ֙ בֶּן־הָֽאָמָ֣ה הַזֹּ֔את עִם־בְּנִ֖י עִם־יִצְחָֽק
“And Sarah said to Abraham, Drive out this handmaid and her son, for the son of this handmaid shall not inherit with my son, with Isaac."
This is tantamount to divorcing Hagar and disinheriting Ishmael who would have normally not only shared with Isaac, but perhaps would have taken a double share.
Question arise as to why Sarah did not want Ishmael to remain in her home?
And why should Ismael not share the inheritance with Isaac?
Are there racial, religious or ethnic implications for Jews in Israel today?
Rabbi Riskin addresses these questions, firstly looking at why Sarah was so upset with Ishmael. At 21:9 -
וַתֵּרֶא שָׂרָה אֶת-בֶּן-הָגָר הַמִּצְרִית, אֲשֶׁר-יָלְדָה לְאַבְרָהָם—מְצַחֵק
“And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne unto Abraham, making sport.”
Rabbi Riskin sees מְצַחֵק as not just “amusing himself”, but probably Isaac being sodomized by Ishmael, the older brother overpowering the weaker brother.
And in the previous Parshah at 16:12 Rabbi Riskin translates – “… יָדוֹ בַכֹּל, וְיַד כֹּל בּו…”
“…his hand grasps for everything…”
וְהוּא יִהְיֶה, פֶּרֶא אָדָם--יָדוֹ בַכֹּל, וְיַד כֹּל בּוֹ; וְעַל-פְּנֵי כָל-אֶחָיו, יִשְׁכֹּן.
And he shall be a wild ass of a man: his hand shall be against every man, and every man's hand against him; and he shall dwell in the face of all his brethren.'
Rabbi Riskin interprets this verse differently: “his hand is in everything and a hand in all.”
Ishmael is not a person who shares. And given an opportunity he will overpower his brother. He will take it all. Ishmael is a person who can not be tamed.
Since 1947 we have always been willing to share, but Ishmael has always wanted it all. If Rabbi Kahane had his way, Ishmael and his Egyptian mother will have been banished, sent away.
I think that Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood are related to Ishmael.
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Hashem orders Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac:
Abraham came to Canaan when he was 75 years old. He is now 137 years old when Hashem orders him to sacrifice Isaac.
For more than 60 years he has been gathering followers and bringing the concept of monotheism to the people of Canaan. Isaac has been destined to carry on this work.
What is to be gained by testing Abraham’s loyalty so late in the game?
Perhaps, it is Isaac and not Abraham who is being tested.
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Just prior to the beginning of the Binding of Isaac and after the incident at Beersheba, at 21:34 – “And Abraham lived in the land of the Philistines many days”.
Then at 22:2 Abraham is commanded to go to the Land of Moriah and on a mountain that God will show him he is to offer up Isaac as a sacrifice. Notice that God tempers His command by saying, "please" , נָ֠א.
וַיֹּ֡אמֶר קַח־נָ֠א אֶת־בִּנְךָ֨ אֶת־יְחִֽידְךָ֤ אֲשֶׁר־אָהַ֨בְתָּ֙
"And He said, "Please take your son, your only one, whom you love"
A question is raised as to just where is the Land of Moriah? All we know is that the party starts out by donkey, from the land of the Philistines and on the 3rd day they see the place at a distance (22:4).
My guess is that they started out from the coast plain, followed a corridor through the foothills, going eastward until they reached the Judean Mountains. A donkey can average 3.5 miles per hour, so by the 3rd day could have gone more than a 100 miles. The mountain in the Land of Moriah could have been the Temple Mount as per 2 Chronicles 3:1 or not.
I would speculate that Moriah, מוֹרִיָּה means “God instructs” and could be the Temple Mount.
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The Akedah As Interpreted In The Muslim World
In Chapter 22 we have the Akedah, the Binding of Isaac. These passages are central to our belief system; we read them every morning.
However, there are approximately two billion Muslims in the world who hold differently. The vast majority of the Muslim world distort the Chumash and hold that it was Ishmael and not Isaac who was to be sacrificed.
Muslims erroneously believe that the episode begins prior to the birth of Isaac: Abraham tells Ishmael that he has had a vision regarding the sacrifice. Ishmael agrees to be sacrificed. No binding is necessary. As one of the rewards for his righteousness, Abraham is told that he will have another son, Isaac. Go figure.
יִשְׁמָעֵאל means :God listened.
Whether you are a Jew or a Muslim or are a Christian it seems that a very important son is called upon to be sacrificed.
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According to Rav Kook, A careful reading of the Torah’s account clearly indicates that Lot did not deserve to be saved on his own merits alone.
At 19:29:
וַיְהִי, בְּשַׁחֵת אֱלֹהִים אֶת-עָרֵי הַכִּכָּר, וַיִּזְכֹּר אֱלֹהִים, אֶת-אַבְרָהָם; וַיְשַׁלַּח אֶת-לוֹט, מִתּוֹךְ הַהֲפֵכָה, בַּהֲפֹךְ אֶת-הֶעָרִים, אֲשֶׁר-יָשַׁב בָּהֵן לוֹט
“And it came to pass, when Hashem destroyed the cities of the Plain, that Hashem remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when He overthrew the cities in which Lot dwelt.”
While it is true that Lot rejected the cruel nature of the people of Sodom, that was not enough. Unlike his uncle Abraham, Lot presented no alternative vision, and did not properly contest the Sodomite ideology of cruelty.
Likewise for Jews it is not enough to reject ideologies that contradict the Torah’s ethical ideals. It is insufficient to only engage in negative criticism. Jews must present a positive outlook, based on a vision of chessed as did the Patriarch Abraham.
(adapted from “Gold from the Land of Israel” by Chanan Morrison
, pp. 46-48. Adapted from Ein Eyah vol. II, p. 250)
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