Transcript
Here we go. This morning we have the privilege of reading, and this coming שבת Shabbos, we have the privilege of reading פרשת וירא Parshas Vayera. It appears in the Stone חומש Chumash right before פרשת חיי שרה Parshas Chayei Sarah. We are going to start from the beginning of פרק כ\"א Perek Chaf Aleph. We're going to start from the beginning of chapter 21 today, which appears in the Stone חומש Chumash on page 94. Page 94 in the Stone חומש Chumash, פרק כ\"א Perek Chaf Aleph, chapter 21.And just a little background again, a brief overview of the פרשה parsha, so we understand the context in which which we're studying. At the beginning of this week's פרשה parsha, אברם Avram finds himself recovering from his circumcision. He's on the third day, the hardest day to recover from surgery. הקדוש ברוך הוא Hakadosh Baruch Hu, God himself visits him. He interrupts his conversation with the Almighty in order to entertain and host guests. רש\"י Rashi deduces from here that גדול הכנסת אורחים מקבלת פני השכינה gadol hachnasas orchim mekabalas pnei hashechina. It is greater to welcome guests, it's greater to be hospitable than it is even to continue a conversation with God. It's a very peculiar רש\"י Rashi, it's a very peculiar teaching. Really makes it you're talking to השם Hashem? You're in the middle of a conversation with the King of kings and it's better to interrupt it to welcome three wandering Arabs, three nomads? Tell them hold on, wait a minute. I'm in the middle of talking to God. What's going on? And one of the most beautiful answers I ever saw to this question is that it is better to, if there's a conflict between talking to God and imitating God, God would prefer that we imitate him. Welcoming guests is essentially imitating God. You can't claim to love God and want to continue the carry conversation when you're going to neglect God's children. So that if there's a conflict between talking to God and being like God, being like God is more important. In fact, this is not what I wanted to study today, but Rabbi Soloveitchik had a beautiful interpretation. You know the משנה Mishna in ברכות Brachos is a long discussion when you're allowed to interrupt, if somebody, if somebody initiates conversation with you and you're reciting שמע Shma, in between paragraphs, during a paragraph, and so on and so forth. So, we don't actually observe this today for a whole host of reasons, but strictly speaking according to the גמרא Gemara that the שלחן ערוך Shulchan Aruch quotes, if you're in the middle of the recitation of שמע Shma, someone comes up to you in the middle of a paragraph, between paragraphs, depends which paragraph, is it somebody who you have awe and reverence of, is it somebody you have great respect for, all kinds of rules. But the bottom line is there are circumstances you could interrupt your recitation of שמע Shma, because you're sitting there saying שמע Shma. You got the טלית tallis over your head, you're wearing your תפילין tefillin, or you're just intensely with great fervor saying שמע Shma, and someone comes up and doesn't realize you're saying שמע Shma. I don't know how they can miss it, but don't realize. And they say, George, what's going on? It's been 40 years since MTA, BTA. I don't know where you went to high school. What? What? You wish. What's happening? How you doing? So, the strict letter of the law is, you respond. You say, I'm doing well, how are you? I'm saying שמע Shma, let's let's talk in a minute.So what's going on? You're talking to God. שמע Shma is you're meditating on the unity of God's existence. How do you interrupt that? Says Rabbi Soloveitchik, says Rabbi Soloveitchik, it's model, he doesn't link it to this opening רש\"י Rashi. Says Rabbi Soloveitchik, because you're שמע Shma is an affirmation, your belief in the unity of God's existence. There's a greater affirmation that you believe in God. The greatest affirmation you believe in God is to be like God. So to be discourteous, to be rude, to embarrass someone in the name of meditating on God's existence, is being exactly unlike God. God would never want us to treat someone else rudely. God would never want us to embarrass somebody. God would never want us to place a conversation with him ahead of the dignity of another human being. So said the רב Rav, the reason you're allowed to interrupt שמע Shma to respond to someone, again, it depends middle of the paragraph, between paragraphs, and so on and so forth, but the principle of why you're allowed to interrupt is, the greatest affirmation of belief in God is to be like God. To the best of my knowledge, the רב Rav didn't connect it to אברם Avram and השם Hashem in the beginning of this week's פרשה parsha, but it's the same principle. אברם Avram's in the middle of talking to God, he interrupts in order to show hospitality, why? Because the greatest affirmation, more important than talking to God, is to imitate, is to be like God. So that's the beginning of this week's... עד שאתה מבקש ad sheata mevakesh. Right, יום כיפור Yom Kippur also, you can't receive atonement until you show God that you've worked things out with his children, meaning that you're like, you're imitating God. We this is a very, very important principle. All the time we see people who claim to be followers of God, they claim to be virtual, they claim to be noble. They're such פארברענטא fabrenta fervor, strong, and and yet in their interpersonal relationships, they're not acting God-like at all. There is, they're lacking ethics and morality, they're they're lack courtesy, they're they're cruel and mean, discourteous. You can't claim to affirm God's existence and not at the same time seek to imitate and to be God-like. At the same time you can't be God-like in terms of interpersonal and then claim to love God but neglect him in terms of his ritual and religious demands. So of course that's the balance between בין אדם למקום bein adam lamakom and בין אדם לחברו bein adam lechavero, between religious life and and moral or ethical life, are they connected or not? But that's not beyond the scope of our class on the text-based with commentaries. But that's what's happening at the beginning of the פרשה parsha. I don't really want to focus on that because I just wanted to to fly through the context of the פרשה parsha.Didn't you say that the interaction between אברם אבינו Avram Avinu and God was through dreams? So how do you have the השם Hashem supposedly is talking to him? Great question. If every נביא Navi only was able to feel God's presence when they were asleep, then what does it mean God's talking to him here and it's interrupted? It's a great question. I'm not really sure. It's a good question. So that's what's happening in the beginning of the פרשה parsha. We know he gives, he feeds these angels. One of the angels is there, there's three angels, each one has a mission and a purpose. One is there to destroy סדום Sdom, one is there to inform אברם Avram that he's going to have a son, and one is there to help save לוט Lot. So there's a promise given to revealed to שרה Sarah, it's revealed to אברם Avram. שרה Sarah of course we know laughs, seems cynical about it. אברם Avram learns about סדום Sdom's destruction. How does he know about סדום Sdom's destruction? Because they're taking leave of him and he knows that they have to have multiple missions. אברהם Avraham, unlike נח Noach, objects and intercedes. First the Torah testifies God's love. כי ידעתיו למען אשר יצוה את בניו ואת ביתו אחריו Ki yedativ lemaan asher yetzaveh es banav v'es beiso acharav. God God states his his great love of אברם Avram, why? Fascinating. I wish we had more time for this. God does not love אברם Avram because he revolutionizes the world from paganism to monotheism. That's not why God loves אברם Avram. It's an incredible statement. Torah tells us, you know why God loves אברם Avram? Because אברם Avram loves his kids. It's a very important message for rabbis, for community leaders, business. You could change the world, but if you're not successful in transmitting it to your own kids, God loves אברם Avram because he's going to have a יצחק Yitzchak, even ישמעאל Yishmael, he tries to pass on his values. He understands the importance of his progeny, of continuity, of of even before יצחק Yitzchak is born. למען אשר יצוה Lemaan asher yetzaveh because he will, אשר יצוה את בניו asher yetzaveh es banav. אברם Avram intercedes and protests סדום Sdom. סדום Sdom is destroyed, לוט Lot is saved. לוט בת Lot bet. Which פסוק pasuk is that? If you want to see that further, it is chapter י\"ח Yud Ches, chapter 18, verse 19. פסוק י\"ט Pasuk Yud Tes, page 82, top of page 82 in the Stone חומש Chumash. So לוט Lot is saved, we could talk all about סדום Sdom, אברם Avram protesting, how it's a precedent. I mean אברם Avram protests. You're talking about the omnipotent, omniscient, perfect, infinite God. Who are you to protest? Doesn't he know best? Who is אברם Avram, a finite, limited person, limited intellect, limited understanding? Who is he to protest God and say, what are you doing? And yet אברם Avram does, and it represents a precedent for us, topic for another time. Lot's daughters, the the the incestuous relationship, מואב Moav and עמון Ammon are born. And then אברם Avram is in גרר Grar, שרה Sarah is abducted, we have the same incident again. אברם Avram didn't learn from it the last time when he says this, she's my sister. And then אבימלך Avimelech takes her, and God punishes him and basically challenges אברם Avram, what's the deal? Why'd you lie to me? And they make peace and they go their way. And that brings us up to chapter 21, פרק כ\"א Perek Chaf Aleph, פסוק א' Pasuk Aleph. What I want to study today. Again, our is a not a דברי תורה divrei Torah based class, a text-based class with a sensitivity to the text and analysis thereof. פרק כ\"א פסוק א' Perek Chaf Aleph, Pasuk Aleph, השם פקד את שרה Hashem pakad es Sarah. You may be familiar. When do we read this? Aside from this coming aside from this coming שבת Shabbos. We read it on the first day of ראש השנה Rosh Hashanah. Right? That's why you may hear in your in your in your mind the ראש השנה Rosh Hashanah tune for this for these words. והשם פקד את שרה VaHashem pakad es Sarah rather than the regular טראפ trop. והשם פקד את שרה כאשר אמר VaHashem pakad es Sarah ka'asher amar. God, translate פקד pakad, remembered שרה Sarah, as he said he would. ויעש השם לשרה כאשר דיבר Vayaas Hashem le'Sarah ka'asher dibber. And he performed for שרה Sarah as he said he would. What does that mean? ותהר ותלד שרה לאברהם Vatahar vateiled Sarah l'Avraham, we'll read the whole section and then we'll go back and dissect it. ותהר Vatahar, she conceived, ותלד שרה לאברהם בן לזקוניו vateiled Sarah l'Avraham ben lizkunav. She conceived and then she bore him a son in his old age, בן זקונים ben zkunim, למועד אשר דבר אתו אלקים Lamoed asher dibber oso Elokim, at the appointed time, that's what a מועד moed is. מועד Moed is the same as a חג chag, a יום טוב yontif. A יום טוב yontif is called a מועד moed. מועד Moed means a appointed time. So at the appointed time, אשר דבר אתו אלקים asher dibber oso Elokim, that God had said. What do you mean, God gave a due date? What does it mean the appointed time? So she conceives and she has a child while אברם Avram's in advanced age and he fulfills his promise. ויקרא אברהם את שם בנו הנולד לו אשר ילדה לו שרה יצחק Vayikra Avraham es shem bno hanolad lo asher yalda lo Sarah Yitzchak. אברם Avram gave a name a name to his son, the one who was born to him through שרה Sarah, and what was that name? יצחק Yitzchak. וימל אברהם את יצחק בנו בן שמנת ימים כאשר צוה אתו אלקים Vayamal Avraham es Yitzchak bno ben shmonas yamim ka'asher tziva oso Elokim. You may remember that verse, we read it at a ברית מילה bris mila, for good reason, because it means אברם Avram circumcised his son when he was eight days, as God had commanded him. ואברהם בן מאת שנה בהולד לו את יצחק בנו Ve'Avraham ben me'as shana behivaled lo es Yitzchak bno. אברהם Avraham was, how old? 100 years old. קיין עין הרע Kanina hara. He was 100 years old when יצחק Yitzchak was born to him as a son. ותאמר שרה צחק עשה לי אלקים כל השמע יצחק לי Vatomer Sarah, tzchok asa li Elokim, ki kol hashoma yitzchak li. שרה Sarah said, God has, translate the word צחוק tzchok. Laughter. Good, it's a difficult word to translate. We'll come back to it. God has made צחוק tzchok. The מאכן חזק machen chezek by me. עשה לי אלקים כל השמע יצחק לי Asa li Elokim, kol hashoma yitzchak li, whoever hears will have it for themselves. Now it's interesting, isn't it? First they gave him the name יצחק Yitzchak, and then שרה Sarah says, he's a צחוק tzchok and everyone's going to יצחק yitzchak. Usually the Torah gives a name, the etymology of the name is provided. אפרים כי הפרני אלקים בארץ עניי Ephraim ki hifrani Elokim be'eretz onyi. מנשה כי נשני אלקים Menashe ki nashani Elokim. Usually the name is given why. Here they give a name יצחק Yitzchak. It doesn't say יצחק Yitzchak, כי כל השומע יצחק לי ki kol hashoma yitzchak li. It's given יצחק Yitzchak. אברם Avram gives him a ברית bris. שרה Sarah later reacts and says, you know what? צחוק Tzchok, everyone's gonna laugh at me. ותאמר מי מלל לאברהם היניקה בנים שרה כי ילדתי בן לזקניו Vatomer mi millel l'Avraham henika vanim Sarah, ki yaladeti ben lizkunav. So she says, who is the one who said to אברהם Avraham שרה Sarah is going to nurse children? Because look, I've born I've I've given birth to a child and he's an he's an old man, he's an empty nester. Now he's a full nester. Not to say empty nesters are old people, oh boy. How do I get my foot out of my mouth now? ויגדל הילד ויגמל Vayigdal hayeled vayigamal. So יצחק Yitzchak grew up, ויגמל vayigamal means he was weaned. It's interesting, the same word for weaned is גמל gamal. What's a גמל gamal? A camel. And that's the same word we use, somebody who performs a lot of חסד chesed, how do we describe them as a as a גומל חסד gomel chesed, גמילות חסדים gmilus chasadim. So there's a lot to analyze there. I think רב Rav Miller was fond of speaking about that. That ויגמל vayigamal means to be weaned. A גמל gamal is a camel. גמילות חסד Gmilas chesed when one bestows חסד chesed, they're doing camel חסד chesed, or they're doing weaning חסד chesed. You got to figure all that out. ויעש אברהם משתה גדול ביום הגמל את יצחק Vayaas Avraham mishteh gadol biyom higamel es Yitzchak, on the day that יצחק Yitzchak is weaned. I mean, could you imagine today? We send out invitations, everyone's invited. What's the party? He's no longer nursing. He's on formula, he's eating solids. We're making a big party. It's not an אפשערן upsherin, it's not a birthday party, it's not a בר מצוה bar mitzvah. Why the party with the bounce house and the magician? He's no longer nursing. Yeah, they haven't figured that out yet, the caterers. But the party planners. It's an old mockery. Oh, we'll come back to that. ותרא שרה את בן הגר המצרית אשר ילדה לאברהם מצחק Vatereh Sarah es ben Hagar hamitzris asher yalda l'Avraham metzachek. So now יצחק Yitzchak is weaned, is there a connection, we don't know, we'll talk about all of this. שרה Sarah observes that upon יצחק Yitzchak's being weaned, הגר Hagar, the Egyptian, who had born, who אשר ילדה לאברהם asher yalda l'Avraham, who had who had given birth for אברהם Avraham to, namely who'd she give birth to? ישמעאל Yishmael, she is מצחק metzachek. Here comes that מצחק metzachek again. ותאמר לאברהם Vatomer l'Avraham, so she doesn't like it one bit. She tells אברהם Avraham, גרש האמה הזאת ואת בנה garesh ha'amah hazos ve'es bnah. Get rid of her. I want her out, her and her son. כי לא Ki lo, we're on page 96, top of page 96. כי לא יירש בן האמה הזאת עם בני עם יצחק Ki lo yirash ben ha'amah hazos im bni im Yitzchak. For the son of this woman, this maidservant, is not going to inherit with my son, with יצחק Yitzchak. וירע הדבר מאד בעיני אברהם Vayera hadavar me'od be'einei Avraham. Did אברהם Avraham like this? No. It distressed him. By the way, what distressed him? That she requested it, or that ישמעאל Yishmael's not going to inherit, or that what distressed him? Torah doesn't tell us. על אודות בנו Al odos bno, on the on the situation, the circumstance of his son. Which son? ישמעאל Yishmael or יצחק Yitzchak? Okay, we got to get back to that. ויאמר אלקים אל אברהם אל ירע בעיניך Vayomer Elokim el Avraham, al yera be'einecha. I see it's distressing you, it's causing you anxiety, relax. Don't worry, על הנער ועל אמתך al hana'ar ve'al amasecha, on the lad and on your maidservant. כל אשר תאמר אליך שרה Kol asher tomar eilecha Sarah, this is a verse that women have been reminding their husbands for generations. כל אשר תאמר אליך שרה שמע בקלה Kol asher tomar eilecha Sarah, shma bekola. We've tried to edit it out unsuccessfully men. That whatever your wife שרה Sarah says, listen to her voice. Why not just listen to her? Why listen to her voice? Just listen to her. כי ביצחק יקרא לך זרע Ki veYitzchak yikare lecha zara, because it is through יצחק Yitzchak that you will find a legacy, that you will find continuity. וגם את בן האמה לגוי אשימנו Vegam es ben ha'amah legoy asimenu, don't worry. The the the son of the maidservant, I'm also going to place a nation, כי זרעך הוא ki zaracha hu, he's also your offspring, your progeny. וישכם אברהם בבקר Vayashkem Avraham baboker, he wakes up in the morning. He hears God and he wakes up in the morning. ויקח לחם וחמת מים ויתן Vayikach lechem vechemas mayim vayiten. But אברם Avram's hospitable. He's not going to send them off without a little peck of food. So he makes a little brunch for them. ויתן אל הגר שם על שכמה Vayiten el Hagar, sam al shichmah, he gives it to הגר Hagar, she packs it, she takes it on her shoulder, ואת הילד וישלחה ve'es hayeled vayeshalcheha, together with the boy and he exiles her. ותלך ותתע במדבר באר שבע Vateilech vatesa bemidbar Be'er Shava. She goes, she wanders in the desert, in in באר שבע Be'er Sheva. She departs, she strays, she's wandering. What happens with her and ישמעאל Yishmael? That's its own story. We're going to leave that for another year. We don't have we can't get into that.But let's now just go back to the section we've read and begin to analyze because again, the purpose of our class, what you've told me we want to do, what we've been doing for the last couple of years, is a text-based class. Why is this word used? Why is that value used? Why is there the redundancy? What's the transition? What's the connection? We listen on שבת Shabbos to the פרשה parsha, okay, storyline, it's cute, our kids come home and report, we do פרשה parsha questions and answers with them. But there's so much to glean from the text itself. So let's go back to the beginning of פרק כ\"א Perek Chaf Aleph. והשם פקד את שרה VaHashem pakad es Sarah, God remembers שרה Sarah, כאשר אמר ka'asher amar, as he said. What's going on here? So look at רש\"י Rashi. סמך פרשה זו לכאן ללמדך Samach parsha zu lechan, lelamedcha, there's רש\"י Rashi often tries to deduce from the juxtaposition of the sections. Why is it that one narrative appears next to the other? It's not always because they're chronologically in order. As we know, for רש\"י Rashi, אין מוקדם ומאוחר בתורה ein mukdam umeuchar baTorah. Torah does not necessarily follow a chronological order. So when God, the great redactor, the great editor, takes the Torah and places one narrative next to another, for רש\"י Rashi, the assumption is there is something to learn from the placement of the stories. The transition from one story to another in itself has something you can learn. So what was the last story right before ours? אבימלך Avimelech. The last story right before ours is with אבימלך Avimelech. אבימלך Avimelech takes שרה Sarah, thinking she's just a beautiful woman, thinking she's אברם Avram's sister. God comes in a dream and says, hey buddy, what are you doing? He is afflicted with a plague. He therefore realizes something's off, comes to אברם Avram, challenges him, אברם Avram says, you're right, she's my sister. Why'd you do that? So what does אברם Avram what does אברם Avram do? He דאווענט davens for אבימלך Avimelech. He feels accountable for having tricked him and therefore he דאווענט davens that אבימלך Avimelech should be healed from this plague which was his punishment, and indeed he is healed. So רש\"י Rashi tells us, you know, so that's the end of last the last section, and now the beginning of our section, שרה Sarah is remembered. Is that a coincidence? Says רש\"י Rashi, no. שכל המבקש רחמים על חברו והוא צריך לאותו דבר הוא נענה תחילה Shekol hamevakesh rachamim al chavero v'hu tzarich le'oso davar, hu ne'eneh techila. שנאמר ויתפלל Shene'emar vayispalel. The סמך samach to והשם פקד את שרה, שפקד כבר קודם שריפא את אבימלך Hashem pakad es Sarah, shepakad kvar kodem sheripa es Avimelech. When you דאווען daven for someone else who's struggling with the same thing as you, you're answered first. When you place the other person's interest ahead of your own, when you feel the pain that someone else, when you're able to be selfless instead of selfish, when you're able to be a giver instead of a taker, then in the merit of that, God remembers you. That's a גמרא Gemara in בבא קמא Bava Kama, דף צ\"ב Daf Tzadi Beis. How do we know that? Where do we see that? This פרשה parsha. אברהם Avraham is דאווענען davening for אבימלך Avimelech, in the merit of that דאווענען davening for אבימלך Avimelech, he is answered first. שרה Sarah conceives, she is healed from her infertility. והשם פקד את שרה VaHashem pakad es Sarah, she is healed from her infertility even before אבימלך Avimelech, in the merit that אברם Avram דאווענט davened for someone else first. Now this is we could spend an hour on that statement of the גמרא Gemara. It's complicated. Because there are organizations today that match people up, you know, one person who's single with another single to דאווען daven for getting married, infertility, unemployment. And but but if you're דאווענען davening for the other person first because therefore you could get answered first, you're דאווענען davening for the other person so you could get answered first, so that defeats the purpose. It has to be genuinely דאווענען davening for the other person without any association or connection to your circumstance. I'm דאווענען davening for the other person because they deserve, you know? A person suffering from infertility, דאווענען davening for someone else and willing to say to the Almighty, if it's a choice between me and her, give her a baby. They're suffering so terribly. If one of us is going to conceive, God, let it be her. In that merit, God will listen to you. But it can't be, I'm דאווענען davening for her, God, so therefore give me a baby because hey, I fulfilled the formula that דאווענט davened for her first. That's not the purpose of it. How does the mechanism work? Again, that's for another time. But I want to share with you is that רש\"י Rashi is deducing that from the juxtaposition. One section, it's as if God אברם Avram דאווענט davens for אבימלך Avimelech, והשם פקד את שרה vaHashem pakad es Sarah, so God remembered שרה Sarah. You see understand what רש\"י Rashi רש\"י Rashi was trying to understand, what's the connection? והשם VaHashem. Could have said השם פקד את שרה Hashem pakad es Sarah. השם Hashem remembered שרה Sarah. The ו' vav is a ו' החיבור vav hachibur. It connects it to the section immediately before. What's the section immediately before? ויתפלל אברהם אל האלקים Vayispalel Avraham el haElokim. So therefore רש\"י Rashi understands, אברם Avram דאווענט davens to השם Hashem, והשם פקד את שרה VaHashem pakad es Sarah, and God remembered שרה Sarah. You see from here, when you דאווען daven for someone else, you're answered first. Why doesn't it say God remembered that he promised Avram that he'd have a son? Okay, that's a separate, that's a good question, but it's a separate point. that it was Avimelech. Okay, good, that's a separate point, also. We'll see רש\"י Rashi mentions that. Just hold your questions again, people, if you can't hold your questions till the end, for those who are listening on the recording, it's uh it's it's difficult to to follow. Okay, continuing. רש\"י Rashi says, פקד את שרה כאשר אמר pakad es Sarah ka'asher amar. He remembered שרה Sarah as he promised, means בהריון be'herayon. He promised her she would conceive, she indeed conceived. What's the difference between כאשר אמר ka'asher amar and then ויעש השם לשרה כאשר דיבר vayaas Hashem lesarah ka'asher dibber? No one asked that. Bothered רש\"י Rashi. He remembered שרה Sarah as he said, he did for שרה Sarah as he said. Why כאשר אמר ka'asher amar and then כאשר דיבר ka'asher dibber? So כאשר אמר ka'asher amar for רש\"י Rashi corresponds with conception. כאשר דיבר Ka'asher dibber for רש\"י Rashi corresponds with לידה leida. And then she gave birth because it's not just so such a given that just because you conceive, that will culminate in a healthy birth. One-third of pregnancies end in miscarriage before the third month, before the first trimester ends. One-third of pregnancies in the first trimester end in miscarriage, and tragically, miscarriages and stillbirths after that. So, today, today. So the fact that a person conceives is worthy of celebration, it's worthy of cautious celebration because tragically there are people who it doesn't find, doesn't come to fruition. So כאשר אמר ka'asher amar as he promised, he promised her she'd conceive. כאשר דיבר Ka'asher dibber as he said, he also said she would give birth. So both were fulfilled, conception and birth. והיכן היו האמירה והיכן הוא הדיבור Veheichan hayu ha'amira, veheichan hu hadibur? And where was this אמירה amira, where were these two promises? Says רש\"י Rashi, אמירה, ויאמר אלקים אבל שרה אשתך Amira vayomer Elokim, aval Sarah ishtecha. The אמירה amira was when God told אברם Avram however שרה Sarah is going to have. דיבור, היה דיבור השם אל אברם בברית בין הבתרים, ששם נאמר לא יירשך זה Dibur haya dibur Hashem el Avram bebris bein habsarim, shesham ne'emar lo yirashcha zeh, וגם אמר והיה יורש משרה vegam omar vehayo yoresh miSarah. The דיבור dibur was when אברם Avram promised, when אברם Avram was promised in ברית בין הבתרים bris bein habsarim, you're going to have a son through שרה Sarah who will inherit you, that was the דיבור dibur, meaning he promised he promised her, he promised אברם Avram she's going to conceive. But he also promised independently, and you're going to have continuity who will inherit you, that was the promise of of birth. And then ויעש השם לשרה כאשר דיבר לאברהם vayaas Hashem lesarah ka'asher dibber l'Avraham. He did for שרה Sarah what he had promised to אברהם Avraham. The רמב\"ן Ramban quotes רש\"י Rashi. Look at the רמב\"ן Ramban Nachmanides. כאשר אמר בהריון כאשר דיבר בלידה, אלו דברי רש\"י Ka'asher amar be'herayon ka'asher dibber beleida, elehu devarim Rashi. ואין פקידה אלא לשון Ve'ein pkida el lashon זכירה והשגחה על הנפקד zchira vehashgacha al hanifkad. Why does it say והשם פקד vaHashem pakad? Why doesn't it say השם זכר Hashem zachar, God remembered? What is פקד pakad? We're looking at, skip for a moment actually to the כלי יקר Kli Yakar. The כלי יקר Kli Yakar, רב אפרים זלמן לונשיץ Rav Ephraim Zlaman Luntschitz asks exactly this question. יש הפרש בין לשון פקידה ללשון עשיה Yeish hefresh bein lashon pkida l'lashon asiyah. There's a difference between פקידה pkida and עשיה asiyah. פקידה Pkida means to remember. פקידה Pkida really means to count. פרשת פקודי Parshas Pekudim. אלה פקודי המשכן Eleh pekudei hamishkan. What's what's פקודים pekudim? The counting. פקוד פקדתי Pakad pakadti is to count, is to take take an accounting of, to remember, to recall, to focus on, to take accounting of. That's different than עשיה asiyah. What's עשיה asiyah? To do, to perform. Says the כלי יקר Kli Yakar, there's a difference between פקידה pkida and עשיה asiyah. כי הפקידה אינה אלא כים זכירה בעלמא Ki ha'pkida einah elah ki yim zachira ba'almah. פקידה Pkida just means to remember. העשיה היא פעולה ממש כמה שכתוב Ha'asiyah hi pe'ula mamash k'ma shekasuv. So God doing, performing, is actually doing something. God remembering means I remember. So if I see you and I say, oh, I'm reminded that I promised you I got to do X, Y, and Z. So that's nice I remembered, but I actually haven't made any progress, I haven't done anything. But if I see you and I say, oh, I promised you, I am doing A, B, C right now. So now I'm actually doing. So he didn't do, why does it say השם פקד Hashem pakad, he remembered? Why doesn't it say he did? Which it does. It says God remembered, השם פקד Hashem pakad, ויעש vayaas, and he did. Why didn't it just skip to ויעש vayaas? Why did he have to first remember? Continues the כלי יקר Kli Yakar. גם יש הפרש בין לשון אמירה ללשון דיבור Gam yeish hefresh bein lashon amira l'lashon dibur. You have in the beginning, so so you have פקד pakad, God remembered, כאשר אמר ka'asher amar. And then ויעש vayaas he did, כאשר דיבר ka'asher dibber. דיבר Dibber is a different word than אמר amar. So if you're sensitive to the text as the כלי יקר Kli Yakar is, he wants to know what's going on here. Why do we go from פקד pakad to ויעש vayaas, and why do we go from כאשר אמר ka'asher amar to כאשר דיבר ka'asher dibber? What's going on in this פסוק pasuk? That's what he asks. וביאור הענין U'bi'ur ha'inyan he says the answer is שכאשר נפקדה שרה נפקדו כל העקרות עמה she'ka'asher nifkeda Sarah, nifkedu kol ha'akaros ima. When שרה Sarah was remembered, so too were all women suffering for infertility. At that moment that God bestowed divine kindness on שרה Sarah, he he opened the floodgates. By extension, also bestowed that blessing on every woman struggling with infertility. פרשת לך לך על פסוק Parshas Lech Lecha al pasuk. Even though all infertile women were remembered, but שרה Sarah was remembered directly with perfect affection. Others were only remembered by extension of her. So therefore he says, והשם פקד vaHashem pakad, he remembered שרה Sarah, ויעש vayaas, and he performed allowing all women to conceive. For שרה Sarah it's כאשר אמר ka'asher amar, which is more affection, for everyone else it's דיבור dibur, I'm sorry it's דיבור dibur which is more affection, for everyone else it's אמר amar. So כלי יקר Kli Yakar gives his answer. I personally find his question more compelling than his answer. The question again is the sensitivity to the text, why פקד pakad and then ויעש vayaas, why כאשר אמר ka'asher amar and then כאשר דיבר ka'asher dibber? The רמב\"ן Ramban also addresses this and the רמב\"ן Ramban says, אין פקידה אלא לשון זכירה והשגחה על הנפקד Ein pkida el lashon zchira v'hashgacha al hanifkad. The language of פקידה pkida means to be remembered, not only remembered, but השגחה hashgacha, to be divine providence, for God to be following up, to be tracking. כגון פקוד פקדתי אלקים אתכם Kigon pakod pokadti Elokim eschem or פקוד פקדתי אתכם ואת העשוי לכם pakod pakadti eschem ve'es ha'asuy lachem. God not only remembers, but to remember means I'm going to watch over. I I remember and I'm going to personally and directly take care of it. Continues the רמב\"ן Ramban. אף כאן והשם פקד את שרה זכר את שרה ועשה לה כאשר דיבר Af kan, vaHashem pakad es Sarah, zachar es Sarah v'asa lah ka'asher dibber. He remembered her, but it didn't stop at remembering, he therefore did what he said he would do. I once gave a דרשה drasha, יזכור דרשה Yizkor drasha, the the רמב\"ן Ramban points out that you see, it doesn't just say that God did. God's doing is introduced by God's remembering. What's the significance of God remembering? When we recite יזכור Yizkor on the on the שלש רגלים shalosh regalim and יום כיפור Yom Kippur, how does יזכור Yizkor begin? If I stopped you and I woke you in the middle of the night and I said יזכור Yizkor, who's remembering? When we say יזכור Yizkor, who's remembering? You would say to me, we're remembering. Remembering parents, remembering grandparents, remembering aunts and uncles, neighbors, friends. יזכור Yizkor is a process of our reminding ourselves. However, if you look at the words of יזכור Yizkor, יזכור Yizkor begins, יזכור אלקים Yizkor Elokim, may God remember. So יזכור Yizkor is not about reminding ourselves, יזכור Yizkor is a process of reminding God. Which begs the question, does God forget that he needs to be reminded? שלש רגלים Shalosh regalim and יום כיפור Yom Kippur, we're reminding God of our loved ones. Has he forgotten them? Is God's memory subject to forgetfulness, that we have to remind him? And similarly here, והשם פקד vaHashem pakad, God remembered שרה Sarah. Is he capable of forgetting? We make promises and forget. We forget obligations. God's capable of forgetting? And the רמב\"ן Ramban points out it's not just with שרה Sarah, with every one of our matriarchs, with חנה Chana and others, when God makes that promise, when they struggle for infertility, when he chooses to change their circumstance, it's introduced with ויזכר אלקים vayizkor Elokim, or והשם פקד vaHashem pakad. He remembers them. What's the meaning of God remembering, if he's not even capable of forgetting? And therefore what's the process of יזכור Yizkor really all about? You have to come to the next יזכור Yizkor. What's next יזכור Yizkor? פסח Pesach. So פסח Pesach, come פסח Pesach, we'll answer that question. But I wanted to put it out there for you, the כלי יקר Kli Yakar and the רמב\"ן Ramban, and why it's I have to keep you coming back, so I have to leave some things for you as questions. Okay, continuing. ותהר ותלד שרה לאברהם Vatahar vateiled Sarah l'Avraham, פסוק ב' Pasuk Beis. She conceived, she gives birth to אברם Avram, בן לזקוניו ben lizkunav, a a son while he's old, a בן זקונים ben zkunim. When? למועד Lamoed, at the appointed time. What's this appointed time? Says רש\"י Rashi, רבי יודן ורבי חמא Rebbe Yudan v'Rabbi Chama. רבי יודן אומר מלמד שנולד לתשעה חדשים Rebbe Yudan omer, melamed she'nolad l'tesha chodoshim, שלא יאמרו מביתו של אבימלך הוא Shelo yomru b'veiso shel Avimelech hu. רבי חמא אומר לשבעה חדשים Rabbi Chama omer, l'sheva chodoshim. רבי יודן Rebbe Yudan says, you see from here that he was born nine months later. Why nine months later? No one would suspect that he was the result of a union between שרה Sarah and אבימלך Avimelech. By taking a full nine months after they leave, take leave of אבימלך Avimelech, this absolutely no one would have suspicion. רבי חמא Rabbi Chama is of the opinion no, he was born in the seventh month. Whenever it is, the point is, it wasn't haphazard. יצחק Yitzchak was not was not born in a random date. It was למועד lamoed, it was at an appointed time according to רש״י Rashi. By the way the בעל הטורים Baal HaTurim says פקד שרה pakad Sarah, בגימטריה b'gematria, אף כל העקרות פקד af kol ha'akaros pakad. The numerical value of and God remembered Sarah is, and he also remembered all barren women. והשם פקד V'Hashem pakad בגימטריה b'gematria is the same numerical value of אף כל העקרות פקד af kol ha'akaros pakad, he also remembered all barren women. So she conceives and she gives birth. Says the אור החיים הקדוש Or HaChaim HaKadosh, turn to the אור החיים Or HaChaim if you have him, רב חיים בן עטר Rav Chaim Ben Atar, Morocco and then ירושלים Yerushalayim. אמר ותהר Omar v'tahar is born על דרך אומרם ז״ל al derech omram z\"l. The מדרש בראשית רבה Midrash Breishis Rabbah says בית מטרון לא היה לה beit matron lo hayah lah, זה מודיע כי היה נס גם בהריון zeh modia ki hayah nes gam b'herayon. So if you say to me, okay she gave birth. Why do we have to know? Nobody asks this question. We said רש״י Rashi says, השם פקד Hashem pakad he remembers her means she conceived. And כאשר דיבר ka'asher diber means and she gave birth. Let me ask you a question. It's possible to conceive without giving birth, tragically, is it possible to give birth without conceiving? Not in our religion at least. You can't give birth without, you can't give birth without conceiving. So why don't we skip right to, just say and God fulfilled his promise by she gave birth, and we'll know implicitly that he fulfilled his promise in that she also conceived. Implicitly conception should be involved in having given birth. What's going on?So the אור החיים הקדוש Or HaChaim HaKadosh quotes the גמרא Gemara that says, when it says that שרה אין לה ולד Sarah ein lah vlad, she didn't have a child, earlier in the פרשה parsha, רש״י Rashi there says, it means not only she didn't have a ולד vlad, she didn't have a בית ולד beit vlad. She had no uterus. Sarah was born without a uterus. Or she had a hysterectomy. She didn't have the hardware, bottom line was, she didn't have the hardware to have a baby. So conception itself represented a miracle. In fact, the גמרא Gemara learns from here, I think it's the גמרא Gemara in סוכה Sukkah, if I if I remember correctly, that you see from here that prayer is so potent and powerful a tool that you could get God to reverse nature. You could get God to reverse nature through prayer. Prayer is so powerful that God will override the rules of nature. So never give up. Now you're not allowed to דאווענען daven for a miracle, right? On a separate note, the גמרא Gemara in נידה Niddah says very very clearly that you have the first 40 days of conception. I happen to know this גמרא Gemara well. You have the first 40 days of conception to דאווענען daven for the gender of the child. But the גמרא Gemara assumes that it's at 40 days that the gender becomes determined. Now by the way, modern science tells you that it's at conception that it's determined because the chromosomes are formed then. However, I will tell you that even modern science acknowledges that the genitalia do not form until the 40th day after conception. That maybe within on a chromosomal level it's already predetermined, but on the physical level the manifestation is not till, corresponds exactly with the 40th day after after conception. So it's less of you're דאווענען davening for a miracle within those 40 days, because there's no chromosomal analysis of in utero. So the תלמוד Talmud says the first 40 days you can דאווענען daven whether it's a boy or a girl. From the 40th day until this day you can דאווענען daven for this. From this day to that day you can דאווענען daven for that. Why is that? Because after that period you're praying for a miracle. If it's already predetermined, if it's manifested that it's going to be a boy, then for you to דאווענען daven that it's going to be a girl, you're asking God to do a miracle. We don't believe in דאווענען davening for miracles. But we do believe in דאווענען davening and דאווענען davening's effectiveness even in performing a miracle. So שרה Sarah literally lacked a womb, she lacked a uterus, and the prayers were so effective God transcended nature. Fine. So therefore the אור החיים Or HaChaim says, when it says ותהר v'tahar, where she conceived, don't, you don't understand, what was bothering the אור החיים Or HaChaim? Read פסוק ב' pasuk beis again. This is a text-based class. None of you asked this question. ותהר ותלד שרה V'tahar v'teiled Sarah. In those three words, which word is extra? Not שרה Sarah, although you could ask we know we're talking about שרה Sarah, so maybe שרה Sarah is extra. ותהר V'tahar. ותהר V'tahar. And she conceived. Why is it extraneous? Because the פסוק pasuk could have said ותלד שרה v'teiled Sarah. Because we know that if ותלד שרה v'teiled Sarah, if we know that שרה Sarah gave birth, what do we know? ותהר V'tahar that she first conceived. She didn't swallow יצחק Yitzhak and then give birth to him. She had to first conceive him. So ותהר v'tahar is an extra word. The text, every word in the real estate of the תורה Torah is precious. Nothing is extra. That is the assumption of every commentary. So when they see a word that they perceive as extra, they're bothered by the question why is it there? So the אור החיים Or HaChaim is bothered, why is the word ותהר v'tahar there? Let the verse begin ותלד שרה v'teiled Sarah, and שרה Sarah gave birth and I will know that she conceived. Says the אור החיים Or HaChaim, to tell us that ותהר v'tahar, conception itself was a miracle. She lacked a womb and the very fact that she conceived was in itself a miracle. ואמרו לאברהם רמז בן זה לאברהם V'omro l'Avraham remez ben zeh l'Avraham. Why does it say ותלד v'teiled... bothered the אור החיים Or HaChaim again. He's not spelling out the questions, it's our job to realize that there was a question that bothered him. Continue reading the פסוק pasuk. What's the next question that bothers him? So she conceives, she gives birth, and who does she give birth for? On whose behalf? Who impregnated her? לאברהם L'Avraham. What, I don't know that by now? I don't understand. God remembers שרה Sarah as he said, ויעש השם לשרה v'ya'as Hashem l'Sarah, did everything he said. She conceives and she gives birth. Why is it telling me לאברהם l'Avraham? Who do I think it's for? The milkman? God forbid. Who do I think it's for? Her personal trainer? Of course it's אברהם Avraham. We know it's אברהם Avraham. Why is the why is it telling me אברהם Avraham?So, listen to what the אור החיים Or HaChaim says, it's beautiful. ותלד שרה לאברהם בן לזקוניו V'teiled Sarah l'Avraham ben l'zkunav. אמרו, look at the אור החיים Or HaChaim. אמרו לאברהם רמז בן זה לאברהם ולא ישמעאל לאברהם Omro l'Avraham remez ben zeh l'Avraham v'lo Yishmael l'Avraham. To say that this child is for אברהם Avraham, the other son is not for אברהם Avraham. Doesn't mean that אברהם Avraham shouldn't love the other son, but meaning this son will be אברהם Avraham's legacy, the other one is not going to be his legacy. כי ביצחק יקרא לך זרע Ki b'Yitzchak yikarei l'cha zara, because the תורה Torah says God promised אברהם Avraham, ביצחק b'Yitzchak, through יצחק Yitzchak you will find a legacy. וגם שמצינו שאמר הפסוק ותלד הגר לאברם בן V'gam she'matzinu she'amar ha'pasuk v'teiled Hagar l'Avram ben. We also find that when it says הגר Hagar, she also gave birth לאברם בן l'Avram ben, for אברם Avram, for his legacy. So notice, says the אור החיים Or HaChaim, this is beautiful. שם נקרא שם נקרא שמו אברם Shem nikra sham nikra shmo Avram. אבל אחר שנעקר שם אברם, שלא יזכור עוד שם זה עליו, אלא אברהם Aval achar she'nekar shem Avram, she'lo yizkor od shem zeh alav, ela Avraham. ישמעאל אין לו לקרא בן אברהם Yishmael ein lo l'karah ben Avraham. What's the אור החיים Or HaChaim saying? Understand when it means that שרה Sarah had this child for אברהם Avraham. What does it mean for אברהם Avraham? Someone to get him his slippers? Someone to bring him the newspaper? Get him a cup of coffee? No, it means she provided a legacy, she provided continuity, she provided progeny who would embrace his values and represent his name. She gave him a little קדישל kaddishel. So that's what the פסוק pasuk means, says the אור החיים Or HaChaim. ותהר V'tahar she conceived, ותלד שרה v'teiled Sarah and שרה Sarah gave birth לאברהם l'Avraham for אברהם Avraham, a בן ben, a son. And what does it mean for אברהם Avraham a son? In contrast to ישמעאל Yishmael, who of course was beloved by אברהם Avraham, but was not לאברהם l'Avraham, did not represent his legacy, his continuity. So אור החיים Or HaChaim has asked the question on himself. I don't understand, but turn back and you'll find that when turn back to chapter 16 verse 15, when הגר Hagar gave birth to ישמעאל Yishmael, what does it say? And הגר Hagar gave birth לאברם בן l'Avram ben. She too thought she was providing his legacy, לאברם l'Avram. She gave birth for אברם Avram. Says the אור החיים Or HaChaim, notice. Who did she have a child for? אברם Avram. Who did שרה Sarah have a child for? אברהם Avraham. שרה Sarah provided a legacy for the man whose name includes a ה' hey. שרה Sarah provides a legacy for the man who revolutionizes the world with ethical monotheism. הגר Hagar, she gave a legacy for the אברם Avram, for the man of the past, the child of pagans. שרה Sarah gives a legacy and a child for the new man whose name includes a ה' hey. Says the אור החיים Or HaChaim, ואולי כי לזה הקורא לאברהם אברם עובר בעשה v'ulai ki l'zeh hakoreh l'Avraham Avram over b'aseh. He quotes a מדרש בראשית רבה Midrash Breishis Rabbah, it's also a גמרא Gemara in ברכות Berachos, maybe מגילה Megillah, I don't remember. So the גמרא Gemara says, anyone who calls אברהם Avraham אברם Avram is violating a positive מצוה mitzvah. If I give a דרשה drasha on שבת Shabbos and I refer to אברהם Avraham as אברם Avram, I'm violating a מצוות עשה mitzvas aseh. Because once God changed his name, you have to use it. The גמרא Gemara there says, once אברם Avram was changed to אברהם Avraham, and once שרי Sarai to שרה Sarah, you're not allowed to use their old name, with the exception of יעקב Yaakov, that even though his name was changed to ישראל Yisrael, you can still continue to call him יעקב Yaakov. תוספות Tosfos there in the גמרא Gemara tells you why, why is יעקב Yaakov the exception? Everyone else when they when they go into witness protection program and get a new name, you're not allowed to use their old name. יעקב Yaakov when he goes into witness protection program, you're allowed to still use his old name. In fact, we predominantly use his old name יעקב Yaakov. We only use his name ישראל Yisrael when referring to him as a father of a nation, the nation of ישראל Yisrael. Why is that? Leave it for another time. But says the אור החיים Or HaChaim, יהושע Yehoshua also, once הושע Hoshea becomes יהושע Yehoshua, you only call him יהושע Yehoshua. But says the אור החיים Or HaChaim, now you understand why. Keep reading. טעם הקפדתו Ta'am hakpadoso יתברך yisbarach, כי כשיקרא לו אברם, מייחס אליו ישמעאל לבן ki k'sheyikareh lo Avram, m'yaches eilav Yishmael l'ven. So now we understand the reason, because if you call him אברם Avram, you're saying that the ישמעאל Yishmael and his descendants are neighbors in the Middle East, they're his legacy. If you call him אברם Avram, you're creating an association between ישמעאל Yishmael as the predominant ambassador of אברם Avram's legacy. That's the violation. והשם אמר כי ביצחק יקרא לך זרע V'Hashem amar ki b'Yitzchak yikareh l'cha zara. God promised that we, יצחק Yitzchak and his offspring would be the ambassadors of אברהם Avraham's legacy. So you have to call him אברהם Avraham. So when our cousin ישמעאל Yishmael says, hey buddy, we are as equally ambassadors, we have as much rights to the land, he was equally our father, we say no. אברם Avram was your father. Our dad was אברהם Avraham. Yeah, biologically we trace ourself back to the same father. Biologically we trace ourself back to the same DNA. But our father changed, transformed himself. Your father was אברם Avram. He left that long ago. Our father is אברהם Avraham. And if we dare call אברהם Avraham אברם Avram, we bring ישמעאל Yishmael back into the picture. We bring them as equal rights. We bring them in as their brothers. וטעם זה אינה ביעקב, וזה הגם שנקרא ישראל V'taam zeh einah b'Yaakov, v'zeh agam she'nikra Yisrael. So now he's gonna answer the question a little bit. This does not apply to יעקב Yaakov. אין קפידא שיקרא יעקב Ein kpeidah she'yikra Yaakov. Why is there a difference? Because when you call אברהם Avraham אברם Avram, you bring ישמעאל Yishmael back to the picture. But if you call ישראל Yisrael יעקב Yaakov, are you bringing anyone back into the picture? No, because יעקב Yaakov is the first who all of his children are כשר kosher so to say. אברהם Avraham has a יצחק Yitzchak and ישמעאל Yishmael. יצחק Yitzchak has a יעקב Yaakov and an עשיו Eisav. יעקב Yaakov has the שבטי קה shivtei kah, has 12, 12 כשר kosher, what's the lack of a better term, sons. So to call ישראל Yisrael יעקב Yaakov, you're not, you're not giving a stamp of approval to anybody, you don't have to worry. But to call אברהם Avraham אברם Avram, you bring ישמעאל Yishmael back into the equation. Beautiful אור החיים Or HaChaim. I think a beautiful אור החיים Or HaChaim. So you understand what was bothering the אור החיים Or HaChaim. Go back to the פסוק pasuk. It bothered him, why does it say ותהר v'tahar? It could have just started ותלד v'teiled. It bothers, why does it say לאברהם l'Avraham? By the way, it's a little bit like chauvinistic. Maybe שרה Sarah wanted a child. What do you mean she's having this kid for אברהם Avraham? She's not having it for אברהם Avraham. Maybe she's having it for himself. אברהם Avraham, she can't want a child for herself? In fact, אברהם Avraham had a child, he had ישמעאל Yishmael. If anything I'd say שרה Sarah was having this child. She's the one who's barren. She's the one who's childless. He has ישמעאל Yishmael. What does it mean?Oh boy, 11:50. So, so the אור החיים Or HaChaim fills in, לאברהם l'Avraham means not for אברהם Avraham the individual, it means for אברהם Avraham the nation, אברהם Avraham the promise, אברהם Avraham the vision of אברהם Avraham and his... So ותהר ותלד שרה v'tahar v'teiled Sarah לאברהם l'Avraham, she conceived and gave birth for אברהם Avraham, for the vision of אברהם Avraham and the future of that nation. Okay, continuing. So אברם Avram gives a name to this child. He calls him יצחק Yitzchak. Calls him יצחק Yitzchak. וימל אברהם V'yamol Avraham, אברהם Avraham gave him a circumcision on the eighth day as he was commanded to by God. אברהם Avraham's 100 years old. שרה Sarah says, צחוק עשה לי אלקים tzchok asa li Elokim. God is makht צחוק tzechok. God is making a joke of me. כל השומע יצחק לי Kol ha'shomea yitzchak li. Everyone who hears is gonna laugh at me. So, isn't this a little bit strange? I have a question for you. I have a question for you. I have a question for you. The beginning of the פרשה parsha שרה Sarah gets into trouble. Why? Cuz she laughs. God says she's gonna have a child, and what does she do? She laughs. She laughs. She gets into trouble. By the way, let's look at this for a second. He delivers the message. ותצחק שרה בקרבה לאמר Vatitzchak Sarah b'kirba leimor, שרה Sarah laughs in her heart saying, what are you kidding me? At this point in my age, I'm gonna have a child? God asks אברהם Avraham, why is she laughing? God challenges, he's very upset. ותכחש שרה לאמר לא צחקתי V'techachesh Sarah leimor lo tzachakti, I'm not really laughing. ויאמר לא כי צחקת Vayomer lo ki tzachakt. He calls her out on it. What do you mean you laughed? What are you talking about? So then God answered, fine, we keep going. By the way, how does אברהם Avraham react to the fact that he's gonna have a son? He laughs. And does he get in trouble? No. Not at all. Right? What does אברהם Avraham name the son? יצחק Yitzchak. And he's not in trouble at all for naming him laughter. And now here שרה Sarah says צחוק עשה לי אלקים tzchok asa li Elokim. And there's no problem, we don't see the rebuke. So why in the beginning of the פרשה parsha is she rebuked? And now she's not rebuked for laughing. And if it's such a terrible thing that that she is cynical and laughs when she hears his name, when she hears she's gonna have a child, how could she give the name to that child? That's a terrible name to give to a child. I went to ישיבה yeshiva in Israel for a year with a guy whose nickname growing up was oops. That was his nickname growing up. Why? Because he was a בן זקונים ben zkunim. His nearest, his next, his next oldest, his next oldest sibling was a 10 years older than him, and his nickname growing up was oops. Right? Okay, we don't have to get graphic here, but the bottom line was, what does that mean? It means his parents found out, so we didn't plan that. We didn't plan on that happening. So can you imagine? It's bad enough that they said, we didn't plan on that, what are we gonna do now? But then that was the name. Let's name him, we didn't plan on that, what are we gonna do now? Let's name him oops. That wasn't his legal name, oops, but that was his nickname growing up, the whole community, that was he called oops. Right? So here, שרה Sarah reacts because she laughs. She's rebuked for laughing. Let's give him a name, let's call him laughing, יצחק Yitzchak. אברהם Avraham laughs, nothing happens. Here, שרה Sarah laughs, nothing happens. What's going on? The answer is in אונקלוס Unkelus. The answer is in אונקלוס Unkelus. The answer is in אונקלוס Unkelus. Who is אונקלוס Unkelus? אונקלוס הגר Unkelus HaGer. אונקלוס Unkelus, the משנה Mishna says, אונקלוס Unkelus, the proper translation of חומש Chumash was lost, אונקלוס Unkelus restored it, says the גמרא מגילה Gemara Megillah. אונקלוס Unkelus, who was a convert, through his Aramaic translation provides what we believe, says the משנה מגילה Mishna Megillah, the גמרא מגילה Gemara Megillah, it's מסיני m'Sinai. His is the most authoritative translation of what the text really means. Go back to the beginning of the פרשה parsha when it says that שרה Sarah laughed, בקרבה לאמר b'kirba leimor, she laughs in her heart saying, how does אונקלוס Unkelus translate the word צחק tzchak? In the beginning of the פרשה parsha. Here, פסוק י\"ב pasuk yud beis. פרק י\"ח פסוק י\"ב Perek yud ches pasuk yud beis, chapter 18 verse 12. I'll read it for you. It says, וחיכת שרה במעהא למימר v'chaichas Sarah b'me'aha l'meimar. What does the word חיכת chaichas mean? חייך, חייך Chiech, chaich. Is a smile. Who knew that? Good for you guys. Is a smile. Look at the word, the translate the word here. When it says ותאמר שרה צחוק עשה לי אלקים vatomer Sarah tzchok asa li Elokim. How does the אונקלוס Unkelus translate it here? חדוה עבד לי אלקים Chedva avad li Elokim. What does the word חדוה chedva mean? חדוה Chedva is... Sheva Brachos we say... גילה רינה דיצה וחדוה gila rina ditza v'chedva... וחדוה v'chedva was in there somewhere. חדוה Chedva. חדוה Chedva is one of those words. What does that mean? Smile? Joke? No, חדוה chedva means joy, happiness. According to אונקלוס Unkelus essentially, he's translating the word צחוק tzchok differently in each of those locations. Because a person could smile for one of two reasons. There's a smile whose source is cynicism and skepticism, and there's a smile whose source is joy and jubilation. In the beginning of the פרשה parsha when שרה Sarah's criticized, it's because she's cynical. God says you're gonna have a child. She's cynical. I'm having a child, do you know how old I am? You out of your mind? Have you seen my old man? Are you crazy? I'm having a child. The smile in the beginning of the פרשה parsha is a smile of cynicism and skepticism. God says, you're cynical? There's no room for cynicism in Judaism. There's no room for cynicism. Cynicism is toxic, it's negative, it's destructive. Now יצחק Yitzchak's born, she says, צחוק tzchok, this is צחוק tzchok, let's name him יצחק Yitzchak. Why? Because she's learned her lesson. Now that same צחוק tzchok, that same smile, is not the smile of cynicism, of חייך chiech, it's the smile of חדוה chedva, of joy, of jubilation. It's the smile of of incredible happiness. So that's what's going on there. Oh boy, are we out of time? There's so much to talk about. What? So what's going on in this פסוק pasuk? Let's end by going through this פסוק pasuk then, פסוק ו' pasuk vav. She says everyone's gonna יצחק לי yitzchak li. By the way, how does רש״י Rashi understand it? ישמח עלי Yismach alai, they're all gonna be happy for me. I would have read the פסוק pasuk the same way she said it in the beginning of the פרשה parsha. שרה Sarah says צחוק עשה לי אלקים tzchok asa li Elokim, God's made a joke out of me. כל השומע יצחק לי Kol ha'shomea yitzchak li. They're all gonna laugh at me. I'm gonna show up at mommy and me, every other woman at mommy and me is gonna be 22 years old and I'm gonna be coming in in my walker. I'm gonna have a specially rigged up wheelchair with a baby stroller attached to it. That's how I'm gonna come into mommy and me. They're gonna make a joke of me. God's made a joke that I'm that I'm an old lady having a baby, they're all gonna laugh at me. That's how I would have read the פרשה parsha. But רש״י Rashi thanks to אונקלוס Unkelus understands no. What does it mean? ישמח Yismach, they're gonna be so happy for me. ומדרש אגדה הרבה עקרות נפקדו עמה V'Midrash Aggadah harbeh akaros nifkedu imah. Why? Because at the moment שרה Sarah became pregnant, so did every barren woman. הרבה חולים נתרפאו בו ביום Harbeh cholim nitrapu bo bayom, and many people who were sick were healed that day. הרבה תפילות נענו עמה Harbeh tefillos na'anu imah. Her prayers were answered with many others. ורב צחוק היה בעולם V'rav tzchok hayah ba'olam. So there was so much joy in the world because people understood that it was in her merit that all of this blessing was showered on the world. So רש״י Rashi's reinterpreting, not reinterpreting, he's giving us the proper interpretation of the פסוק pasuk. The proper interpretation of the פסוק pasuk is, the whole world is gonna be so happy for us. How did רש״י Rashi know that? Aside from the מדרש Medrash he's quoting? אונקלוס Unkelus. אונקלוס Unkelus is saying צחוק tzchok here is not a cynical smile, צחוק tzchok here is joy. שרה Sarah was no longer being cynical, שרה Sarah was being genuine and saying they're all gonna be so happy for me, I am so happy. We gotta stop here, there's so much more to talk about. So they wean יצחק Yitzchak. Why is weaning יצחק Yitzchak worthy of a party? Why is it that when יצחק Yitzchak has the party, that שרה Sarah all of a sudden remembers, I don't like the way הגר Hagar is and ישמעאל Yishmael. What's the connection between the party, יצחק Yitzchak being weaned, ישמעאל Yishmael being a problem? Why is she entitled to exile him? What's bothering אברהם Avraham? Is it bothering him about יצחק Yitzchak or is it bothering him about ישמעאל Yishmael? How does God appease that? There's a gazillion things to talk about here, but that's ברוך השם baruch Hashem why we have next year. Have a fantastic day and a great שבת Shabbos. תנ״ך בשנה Tanach b'shanah, don't forget to sign up.
