- At Mishmar last week, Mrs. Kahan discussed the Rashi in this week's Parsha quoting the Midrash that the reason the death of Sara is adjacent to the akeida (even though it really isn't) is because after the Satan told her the news of Avraham offering Yitzchak as a korban, her soul "flew away" and she died. We saw many versions of the story in different Midrashim with fascinating differences. At the end of the evening, we started debating how Sara would have reacted had she been the one to be commanded to sacrifice Yitzchak. I thought that she would have done it, but we were pretty evenly split. What do you think?
- See here for a post on my favorite biblical character who's not actually biblical. I think she's fascinating and ripe for historical fiction (and I still think the name is cool).
- Chazal note the extended retelling of Eliezer's story in such great detail and comment that "יפה שיחתן של עבדי אבות מתורתן של בנים" - that the idle chatter of the servants of our forefathers is more precious than the teachings of their children. What on Earth does that mean?
- We see that Rivka is given the choice whether to go with Eliezer and marry Yitzchak or not, and she chooses to go, despite never having met Yitzchak. What do you think went into her decision making process (let's assume just for the sake of discussion that she wasn't a toddler).
- Finally, when she does get to meet Yitzchak he is waiting out in the field when she and Eliezer return because Yitzchak had gone "לשוח בשדה" - to converse in the field. Chazal take this phrase to refer to Tefila, and assert that this is when he founded תפילת מנחה. Can you think of any connections between מנחה and יצחק?
Lots to think about and react to this week - let's try to include some non-verbal feedback this week.
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