פרשת וירא

At the Shabbaton, the Divrei Torah this year were particularly outstanding - Yasher Koach to Atara, Tamar, Eliana, Shira & Ms. Appel. I found it interesting though, that at Maayanot, we heard exclusively about אברהם with not much attention paid to שרה. Therefore, I'm posting an idea that was once circulated in the now defunct Maayanot Parsha Points. I hope you enjoy & please send feedback.

Let us start off with a number of questions.
· אברהם found out that he and שרה were going to have יצחק at the end of לך לך. Yet, three days later, the מלאכים came to tell him the exact same news with שרה overhearing? Why was it necessary for Hashem to tell either of them, let alone twice, of יצחק's pending arrival? Why couldn't they find out the way that everyone else does?
· If שרה's נבואה was greater than אברהם's, why was he told directly by Hashem & she through a מלאך (who wasn't even talking to her!)?
· Why did Hashem reprimand שרה for her laughter, when אברהם also laughed when he was told they would have יצחק? Rashi (based on תרגום אונקלוס) explain that the laughter of אברהם expressed joy, while שרה’s was cynical and doubtful, but why would that be? And even if it were true, אברהם heard the נבואה from Hashem. שרה heard the rantings of three Arabic nomads. Why would she be expected to take it seriously?
· שרה’s reaction is completely irrational. רש"י (יח:ח) tells us that the bread that she prepared was never served because “פירסה נדה” at the age of 89. With theנס process already in motion, why would her reaction be so skeptical? Once her body was miraculously rejuvenated, is ואדני זקן that much more of an obstacle?

We have often discussed the concept of each of the אבות and אמהות embodying a certain מידה, which means not merely a good quality that they had, but a theological approach as to the proper way to serve Hashem (see chart below). When we say that אברהם was an איש חסד, it means that he was active, externally focused in his עבודת ד'. Perhaps it also refers to a degree of spiritual optimism. We know that שרה personified גבורה (like her son יצחק). Maybe that implies the reverse. Based on the story in the Midrash, an early if not initial exposure to G-d for both אברהם and שרה was the story of the כבשן האש. אברהם stood up for Hashem and was miraculously saved, שרה watched her father הרן do the same, and be burnt alive. Maybe this helped foster within each of them differing approaches to נס. To אברהם, anything was possible. When faced with a seeming contradiction – G-d’s promise that he would be the father of a great nation and his childlessness into old age, or even the same promise against the commandment to sacrifice יצחק – he knew that his is not to reason why, and that Hashem can make it right in the end. שרה on the other hand dealt with the practical, and was emotionally reluctant to rely on ניסים. Therefore, when her child-bearing years passed with no children, she assumed that the ברכה would be fulfilled through ישמעאל, but never dreamt that she would still be destined to be the mother of this nation. The שטן (according to "רש"י) knew that once he told that יצחק was on the מזבח, he would never reach the happy ending.

This is not a value judgment. שרה’s approach was not necessarily worse than אברהם’s, in fact sometimes her spiritual pessimism was proper. When ישמעאל was not turning out as planned, אברהם could only see his potential. It was שרה and her pragmatism that correctly recognized him באשר הוא שם – as he was – and Hashem explicitly told אברהם to concede to her superior judgment.

We noted last week that a נסיון is designed to test the subject in his potential area of weakness. אברהם didn’t need to be tested in the realm of חסד; his נסיון, the עקידה, struck at his potential spiritual Achilles heel – גבורה. אברהם hearing from Hashem was the default. Of course had שרה received the news in the same way she would have reacted as אברהם did. The מלאכים came to visit שרה, and asked for her before they started speaking, but אברהם responds “הנה באהל”. רש"י explains that צנועה היא. We understand, this to refer to her feminine modesty in line with the way we contemporarily use the term. Maybe a supplemental reading can be that in line with her גבורה personality, she remained hidden from the guests, who then had to talk at her instead of to her. Perhaps שרה’s נסיון was to recognize the possibility of נס. True, she heard the news from less than reliable sources, and had no obligation to believe it. But what was expected was that she not dismiss it out of hand. “היפלא מד' דבר” ? Hashem’s rebuke explains שרה’s crime. By cynically ruling out a miraculous conclusion to her story, שרה falls short of G-d’s expectation. This is not to say that שרה was a spiritual failure or any less than the אם ישראל we know her to be. Yet, the תורה is clear that Hashem is upset with her, so our job is to figure out why. The above may be a step in that pursuit.