«Вши» Хаей Сара. 5784

(15) And God said to Abraham, “As for your wife Sarai, you shall not call her Sarai, but her name shall be Sarah.*Sarah I.e., “princess.”(16) I will bless her; indeed, I will give you a son by her. I will bless her so that she shall give rise to nations; rulers of peoples shall issue from her.”(17) Abraham threw himself on his face and laughed, as he said to himself, “Can a child be born to a man a hundred years old, or can Sarah bear a child at ninety?”(18) And Abraham said to God, “O that Ishmael might live by Your favor!”(19) God said, “Nevertheless, Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall name him Isaac;*Isaac Heb. Yiṣḥaq, from ṣaḥaq, “laugh.” and I will maintain My covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring to come.(20) As for Ishmael, I have heeded you.*I have heeded you Heb. shema‘tikha, play on “Ishmael.” I hereby bless him. I will make him fertile and exceedingly numerous. He shall be the father of twelve chieftains, and I will make of him a great nation.

(7) Then Isaac said to his father Abraham, “Father!” And he answered, “Yes, my son.” And he said, “Here are the firestone and the wood; but where is the sheep for the burnt offering?”(8) And Abraham said, “It is God who will see to the sheep for this burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them walked on together.

(1) Abraham took another wife, whose name was Keturah.(2) She bore him Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah.

קטורה KETURAH — This is Hagar. She was named Keturah because her deeds were as beautiful (sweet) as incense (Ketoreth) (Genesis Rabbah 61). And since she closed her 'opening,' as she did not mate with anyone from the time she separated from Avraham (Genesis Rabbah 61:4).

קטורה, according to the plain meaning of the text this woman was not identical with Hagar.

Isaac had just come back from the vicinity of Beer-lahai-roi, for he was settled in the region of the Negeb.

מבוא באר לחי ראי HE HAD JUST COME FROM THE WELL LACHAI-ROI— For he had gone there to bring Hagar back to Abraham that he might take her again as his wife (Genesis Rabbah 60:14).

(5) And Sarai said to Abram, “The wrong done me is your fault! I myself put my maid in your bosom; now that she sees that she is pregnant, I am lowered in her esteem. יהוה decide between you and me!”(6) Abram said to Sarai, “Your maid is in your hands. Deal with her as you think right.” Then Sarai treated her harshly, and she ran away from her.

(7) A messenger of יהוה found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, the spring on the road to Shur,(8) and said, “Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?” And she said, “I am running away from my mistress Sarai.”(9) And the messenger of יהוה said to her, “Go back to your mistress, and submit to her harsh treatment.”(10) And the messenger of יהוה said to her,
“I will greatly increase your offspring,
And they shall be too many to count.”(11) The messenger of יהוה said to her further,
“Behold, you are pregnant
And shall bear a son;
You shall call him Ishmael,*Ishmael I.e., “God heeds.”
For יהוה has paid heed to your suffering.(12) He shall be a wild ass of a person;*person Or perhaps “sire” (cf. Josh. 14.15, Gen. 2.22b–4.1, and Phoenician usage). Trad. “man.” See the Dictionary under ’adam.
His hand against everyone,
And everyone’s hand against him;
He shall dwell alongside of all his kin.”(13) And she called יהוה*יהוה The messenger who spoke is labeled with the principal’s name, to underscore that the message was delivered on the principal’s behalf. (A narrative convention in the Hebrew Bible.) who spoke to her, “You Are El-roi,”*El-roi Apparently “God of Seeing.” by which she meant, “Have I not gone on seeing after my being seen!”*Have I not gone on seeing after my being seen Meaning of Heb. uncertain.(14) Therefore the well was called Beer-lahai-roi;*Beer-lahai-roi Apparently “the Well of the Living One who sees me.” it is between Kadesh and Bered.

(14) Early next morning Abraham took some bread and a skin of water, and gave them to Hagar. He placed them over her shoulder, together with the child, and sent her away. And she wandered about in the wilderness of Beer-sheba.

ותלך ותתע AND SHE WENT AND WANDERED — she reverted to the idol worship of her father’s house (Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer 30).

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

He shall be a wild ass of a person;
His hand against everyone,
And everyone’s hand against him;
He shall dwell alongside of all his kin.”

Rav Ḥana bar Aḥa said that the Sages in the school of Rav say: There are four creations that the Holy One, Blessed be He, created, yet He, as it were, regrets that He created them, as they do more harm than good. And these are they: Exile, Chaldeans, and Ishmaelites, and the evil inclination.

Ishmaelites, as it is written: “The tents of robbers prosper, and they that provoke God are secure, in whatsoever God brings with His hand” (Job 12:6). God brought upon Himself these Arabs that dwell in the deserts in tents.

AND SARAI DEALT HARSHLY WITH HER, AND SHE FLED FROM BEFORE HER FACE. Our mother did transgress by this affliction, and Abraham also by his permitting her to do so. And so, G-d heard her [Hagar’s] affliction and gave her a son who would be a wild-ass of a man, to afflict the seed of Abraham and Sarah with all kinds of affliction.

§ Having mentioned Rabbi Bena’a, the Gemara relates an incident in which he was involved. Rabbi Bena’a was marking burial caves for the purpose of helping to prevent the contracting of ritual impurity. When he arrived at the cave of Abraham, i.e., the Cave of Machpelah, he encountered Eliezer, the servant of Abraham, who was standing before the entrance. Rabbi Bena’a said to him: What is Abraham doing at this moment? Eliezer said to him: He is lying in the arms of Sarah, and she is examining his head. Rabbi Bena’a said to him: Go tell him that Bena’a is standing at the entrance, so that he should assume an appropriate position to receive a visitor. Eliezer said to him: Let him, i.e., Rabbi Bena’a, enter, since it is known that there is no evil inclination in this higher world, so it is not inappropriate for Rabbi Bena’a to see Abraham and Sarah in this position. He entered, examined the cave in order to measure it, and exited.

Isaac then brought her into the tent of his mother Sarah, and he took Rebekah as his wife. Isaac loved her, and thus found comfort after his mother’s death.

האהלה שרה אמו INTO HIS MOTHER SARAH’S TENT — He brought her into the tent and she became exactly like his mother Sarah — that is to say, the words signify as much as, [And he brought her into the tent] and, behold, she was Sarah, his mother). For whilst Sarah was living, a light had been burning in the tent from one Sabbath eve to the next, there was always a blessing in the dough (a miraculous increase) and a cloud was always hanging over the tent (as a divine protection), but since her death all these had stopped. However, when Rebecca came, they reappeared” (Genesis Rabbah 60:16).

אחרי אמו [AND ISAAC WAS COMFORTED] AFTER HIS MOTHER’S DEATH — It is natural that whilst a man’s mother is living he is wrapped up in her, but when she dies he finds comfort in his wife (Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer 32).

And Abraham named that site Adonai-yireh, whence the present saying, “On the mount of יהוה there is vision.”

Three times a year—on the Feast of Unleavened Bread, on the Feast of Weeks, and on the Feast of Booths—all your males shall appear before your God יהוה in the place that [God] will choose. They shall not appear before יהוה empty-handed,

He moved from there and dug yet another well, and they did not quarrel over it; so he called it Rehoboth, saying, “Now at last יהוה has granted us ample space to increase in the land.”