Parsha of the Week

On the third day after his circumcision, 15 Nisan 2047, GOD appeared to Abraham to pay a visit to the sick. This occurred in Eilonim, the plains of Mamrei; God revealed Himself to Abraham in Mamrei’s territory as a reward for his having advised Abraham to follow God’s commandment to circumcise himself. Abraham was sitting at the entrance to the tent, looking out for travelers to host, but God had made the heat of the day unnaturally intense so that no one would venture out on the roads, thus giving Abraham a chance to rest and recover. Abraham started to stand up in deference to God’s Presence, but God said, “You remain seated and I will stand.”

While Abraham was changing his bandages, he looked up and behold, three men were standing before him. He took note that they hesitated to approach him because he was in obvious discomfort. Therefore, after asking God to wait while he attended them, he ran toward them from the entrance to the tent and prostrated himself on the ground.

In accordance with proper etiquette, Abraham addressed his invitation to the group’s leader (in the singular). But in order not to slight the other two, he first said to all three, “My masters!” and only then proceeded to address the leader: “If I have found favor in your eyes, please do not pass me, your servant, by.”

Abraham thought that these wayfarers were pagans who worship the dirt of their feet; as he did not want an object of idolatry in his home, he said to them, “Let a little water be brought, wash your feet, and recline under the tree.

I will bring a piece of bread so that you can gather strength – for bread staves off hunger longer than any type of other food – and only then will you continue on your way. After all, you have paid me, your servant, a visit, and it would dishonor me if you would take your leave before I have served you a meal.” The angels replied, “Yes, do as you said.” They did not refuse Abraham’s offer of hospitality, since he was a highly respected individual and they wanted to demonstrate that it is improper to refuse an invitation from a person of high social stature. As soon as the angels arrived, the first one healed Abraham.

Now that his wound was healed, Abraham could move about quickly. Abraham hastened to the tent, to Sarah, and said, “Hurry! Take three se’ah [about 24 kg or 53 pounds] of flour and sift it; use some of the coarse flour to scrape the scum off the pot and use the fine flour to bake. Knead the fine flour and make three loaves of bread.”

Abraham then ran to the cattle, took three calves – one tender and choice calf for each guest – gave them to his son, Ishmael, the youth whom Abraham was training in the ways of hospitality, and instructed him to prepare a tongue spiced with mustard for each guest. Ishmael hurried to prepare it.

Abraham served the guests the various dishes as they became ready. He first brought some cream and milk, and when the calf that Ishmael had prepared for each guest was ready, he placed it before them. He stood over them under the tree, attending to their needs. Since they were angels, they could not really eat, but they feigned eating nonetheless, so it should appear as though they ate. They did this in order to demonstrate proper etiquette, i.e., that a guest should always conduct himself in accordance with the customs of his host. While Abraham was serving them, the angels demurely inquired of Sarah as to her husband’s well-being, in order to once again demonstrate proper etiquette.

All three angels then asked him, “Where is Sarah, your wife?” Abraham replied, “Here, in the tent.”

The second angel said: “I have come to deliver a message from God to Sarah: I will surely return to you at this exact time next year, and as sure as you are now alive and well, so will you be alive and well then, but Sarah, your wife, will have a son that day.” Sarah was listening at the entrance to the tent, behind him.

Now Abraham and Sarah were already old and had lived out their natural life spans. All their lives they deeply internalized their experiences. Therefore, the fact that Sarah had ceased having a woman’s cycle was not an incidental event for her; it represented a profound emotional and mental transition affecting her entire life.

She therefore did not believe that the angel’s words could come true. She laughed at herself, saying, “Now that I am withered, will my skin become smooth?! Will my womb carry a child? Will my breasts fill with milk? Besides, my husband is too old to sire a child!” At that very moment, as she was preparing the bread she had baked, her body miraculously became youthful again and fit for childbearing. She menstruated, and therefore the bread was rendered ritually impure. Abraham therefore had no bread to serve the guests.

Sarah’s laughter and words were inaudible outside the tent. GOD said to Abraham, “Your wife laughed! Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Will I really give birth, though I am old?’” God did not mention the fact that Sarah had also referred to Abraham’s advanced age, in order to not upset their domestic harmony.

The angel continued, “Is anything too wondrous for GOD?” He made a scratch in the wall of the tent and said, “If anyone will doubt that the son that will be born to you is really yours, let this scratch attest to the miraculous circumstances of his birth: At the exact time that I designated three days ago, when the sunrays again touch this mark at this time next year, I will return to you, and as sure as you are now alive and well, so will you be alive and well then, but Sarah will have a son that day.”

Hearing God’s accusation, Sarah denied it and said, “I did not laugh,” for she was afraid, but He said to her, “No, you did laugh.” In any case, Sarah’s doubts were quelled as soon as she (a) heard directly from God that she was going to bear a son and (b) saw that she miraculously regained her youth.

The angel who had announced that Sarah would have a son, having carried out his mission, departed. The other two “men” rose from there and looked out over Sodom, directing their attention to their next mission, which was to destroy the cities of the plain and rescue Lot from the destruction. Once the “men” delivered God’s message to him – and God affirmed their message – Abraham no longer thought they were pagans. But he still thought they were human beings, so when they left, Abraham walked with them to escort them.

GOD said, “Should I hide from Abraham what I am about to do to the inhabitants of the cities of the plain? They are part of the land that I promised him, so I should inform him of My plans. Furthermore, I have made him their ‘father’; should I destroy the children without telling the father?

How can I keep My plans secret from him, seeing that I love Abraham so much that I have promised him that he will surely become a great and mighty nation, and through him all the nations of the world will be blessed?

I have promised him these blessings for I cherish him, and I cherish him because he instructs his children and his household after him to keep GOD’s ways by acting with righteousness and justice so that they will earn My blessings. In fact, when he instructs them to follow My teachings, he adds explicitly, ‘so GOD will be able to bring about for Abraham everything He said concerning him.’”

So, as He said he would, GOD said to Abraham, “Because the outcry from Sodom and Gomorrah has become great, and their sin is very grave,

I will descend – as I did before the Dispersion, in order to demonstrate that a judge should not render a verdict until first carefully examining the evidence – and see: if their deeds have matched the outcry that has come before Me – if they are indeed as depraved as the outcry that I have heard against their misdeeds would indicate, and they have not yet repented – I will annihilate them. If not, then I will know what less-severe punishment to impose on them.”

But Abraham knew full well that the inhabitants of the cities of the plain were corrupt. The men he was escorting turned from the place to which Abraham had accompanied them and headed toward Sodom, while Abraham was still standing before GOD, listening to His words. Abraham understood that these men were on their way to destroy Sodom.

He figuratively “came forward,” i.e., prepared himself emotionally to confront God – to argue sternly with Him, to appease Him, and to pray to Him. Seeing that there was very little time left, he began by arguing with God and said, “Would You in your anger obliterate the righteous along with the wicked?!

There are five cities in this plain. What if there were 50 righteous people in the city of Sodom and its four neighboring cities? Ten people constitute a communal entity; their collective merit should suffice for You to redeem one city; the collective merit of five such groups should suffice to redeem all five cities. But even if their merit is not sufficient to redeem the rest of the people, what about the righteous individuals themselves? Would You still obliterate the place and not spare it for the sake of the 50 righteous people who are within it?” When the angels perceived that Abraham was pleading the case of the cities of the plain, they began to walk at a slower pace in order to give him more time to plead his case.

Abraham then began to appease God, saying, “Furthermore, it would be a disgrace for You to do such a thing – to bring death upon the righteous along with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked fare alike. It will look like You are acting unjustly! Do you want people to think that You also punished the generations of the Flood and the Dispersion unjustly?” To this God replied, “If you wish, I will review the cases you just mentioned in your presence, and you can tell Me if I acted justly or not.” Abraham answered, “No, that would also be a disgrace for You! You do not need to justify Your actions to any creature – neither in this world nor in the afterlife, when our perspective will be broader than it is in this life. Notwithstanding, in this case, do You mean to punish the righteous along with the wicked? Should the Judge of the whole world not judge fairly?!”

GOD said, “I will not hesitate to destroy a city even though doing so will bring about the deaths of righteous individuals who also live there – and this is not being unjust. Their failure to sway the others away from their wicked behavior proves that their righteousness is only partial; they are thus implicated in the wrongdoings of the majority. However, I agree to recognize the collective merit of 10 righteous individuals, as you have requested. Therefore, if I find in Sodom and its four neighboring cities 50 righteous people within the city-cluster, I will spare the entire area for their sake.” So God examined the inhabitants of the five cities, but did not find 50 righteous people among them.

So Abraham responded and said, this time couching his request in the form of a prayer, “I have begun to speak to God on behalf of these people because I myself have enjoyed Your beneficent mercy: I would have been reduced to dust by the alliance of kings and to ashes by Nimrod were it not for You!

What if there were five missing from the 50 righteous people? That would still leave nine for each city, and You could count Yourself as the tenth. Would You destroy the entire city and its four neighboring cities because of the lack of five people?” He replied, “I will not destroy the region if I find 45 righteous people living there.” But God examined the cities again and did not find 45 righteous people among them.

So Abraham spoke to Him again and said, “What if 40 were to be found there, 10 in each of the four cities? You could spare four and destroy only one.” He said, “I will not take action against the four cities, for the sake of the 40 righteous people living therein.” But upon reexamining the cities, God did not find even 40 righteous people among the inhabitants. Abraham then asked God to save four cities for the sake of 36 righteous people, counting God as the tenth for each city. God agreed, but 36 righteous people could not be found, either.

Then Abraham said, “Let not God be angry, but let me speak. What if 30 were to be found there? You could spare three cities.” He said, “I will not act against the three cities if I find 30 righteous people there.” But upon examining the cities once again, God did not find 30 righteous people living therein. Abraham then asked God to save three cities for the sake of 27 righteous people, counting God as the tenth for each city. God agreed, but 27 righteous people could not be found, either.

Again, Abraham said, “I would like to speak further to God on their behalf! What if 20 were to be found there? You could spare two cities.” He said, “I will not destroy the two cities, for the sake of the 20 righteous people living in them.” But still, God could not find 20 righteous people among them. Abraham then asked God to save two cities for the sake of 18 righteous people, counting God as the tenth for both cities. God once again agreed, but 18 righteous people could not be found, either.

Abraham then said, “Let not God be angry, but I will speak just this one last time. What if 10 were to be found there? You could spare one city.” He said, “I will not destroy it, for the sake of the 10.” But 10 righteous people living in the cities could not be found, either, so Abraham asked God to save one city for the sake of nine righteous people, counting God as the tenth. God agreed, but nine righteous people could not be found, either.

Seeing that the “defending attorney” had finished his plea, GOD, the “judge,” figuratively departed from the “courtroom” when He had finished speaking to Abraham. Abraham returned to his home.

The two angels were walking so slowly that they arrived in Sodom only at nightfall. The Torah here refers to the angels as “angels,” rather than as “men,” because (a) God does not speak in this part of the narrative, so there is no need to imply that relative to Him, angels are as mundane as “men”; and (b) Abraham was as accustomed to being visited by angels as he was by “men,” whereas Lot was not. Lot was sitting at the gate of Sodom; he had been appointed on that very day as their chief judge, and the court was located at the gate of the city; furthermore, he was on the lookout for guests, as Abraham had trained him in the ways of hospitality. Although Lot was neither one of the founders of Sodom nor a member of its elite, its inhabitants recognized that, being a relative of Abraham, he would be the most likely to render impartial judgments. Lot saw them and rose to greet them, and prostrated himself on the ground.

He said, “Now that I perceive that you are strangers, I would like to invite you to be my guests and serve you as if you were my masters. But now, my lords, be aware that this city is inhospitable to guests, and its inhabitants will harm anyone they see lodging wayfarers. Therefore, please turn aside and take a circuitous route to your servant’s house so no one will notice you entering it. Spend the night, bathe your feet, and then wake up early and continue on your way. Please do not refuse me, for now that we have met, it would be an insult to me if you did not lodge at my house.” Unlike Abraham, Lot was not concerned that the guests might be dirt-worshiping pagans who might bring an object of idol worship into his home. Furthermore, he actually wanted their feet to remain dirty until just before they left in order that, were he to be discovered and accused of having hosted them for several days, it would at least appear that they had just arrived. They replied, “No, we will spend the night in the city square instead.” They had no hesitations about refusing Lot’s invitation, because his social status was not as high as Abraham’s.

He pleaded with them strongly, so in the end they acceded to his request. They turned his way – via a circuitous route, as he had requested – and entered his house. He made a feast for them and because it was Passover – and he had learned from Abraham to observe the commandments that would in the future be given to the Jewish people – he baked matzos for them, and they ate.

The angels asked Lot about the people of Sodom and of the other four cities. Lot replied truthfully that they were wicked people, but at the same time tried to offer excuses for their behavior. Despite their efforts to avoid detection, the people of Sodom noticed them entering Lot’s home. They had not yet gone to bed when the townspeople, the wicked men of Sodom, surrounded the house – led by the young and followed by the old, all the people from every quarter. Even though it was clear that the people who had converged on Lot’s house had come with the intention of doing evil to the guests, no one in the entire city protested.

They called out to Lot and said to him, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that the men among us may know them carnally!”

Lot went out to them, to the entrance, and closed the door behind him.

He said, “I beg you, my brothers, do not commit such a wrong!

Here, I have two daughters who have never known a man carnally. I will bring them out to you, and do with them as you please; but do nothing to these men, for they have come under the shelter of my roof and I am therefore responsible for their safety.”

But they said to Lot, “Get out of the way! We are not interested in your daughters; we want the guests!” Then they said to each other, “Look! He wants to protect the strangers. But he himself is a stranger! This one came here as a sojourner, and he already dares to reprove us?!” They turned to him and said, “Now we will deal with you worse than with them!” They pressed hard against the man, against Lot, and moved forward to break down the door.

So the men inside stretched out their hands and pulled Lot towards themselves into the house, and closed the door.

They miraculously struck the people who were at the entrance to the house with blindness, beginning with the young – for they were the instigators – and followed by the old, so the people tried in vain to find the entrance.

The men inside said to Lot, “Can you excuse their behavior anymore? Whom else do you have here besides your wife and two daughters? A son-in-law, or your grandsons and granddaughters, or anyone you may have in the city – get them out of here,

because we are about to destroy this place, for the people’s outcry before GOD has grown great, and GOD has sent us to destroy it.”

Lot had two married daughters who lived elsewhere in the city and two engaged-to-be-married daughters who lived at home. He went out and spoke to his sons-in-law and his daughters’ fiancés, and said, “Get up and leave this place, for GOD is about to destroy the city!” but in the eyes of his sons-in-law and daughters’ fiancés he appeared to be joking.

Although they had arrived the previous night, the angels waited until morning to rescue Lot and overturn the city, since it would be unsafe for Lot to travel at night. As dawn was breaking, the angels urged Lot on, saying, “Arise! Take your wife and two daughters who are here, lest you be obliterated along with everyone else on account of the city’s sinfulness!”

Yet he lingered in order to salvage whatever he could of his belongings. So, out of GOD’s compassion for him, the men grasped him and his wife and two daughters by the hand; they led them out, and left them on the outskirts of the city.

When they had led them out, the angel who was charged with the mission of saving him and his family said, “Forget about your belongings; run for your life! Do not look back nor stop anywhere in the plain, for you are just as deserving of annihilation as they. It is only in Abraham’s merit that you are being saved, so it would not be proper for you to witness their destruction. Flee to Abraham, who is living in the hills, lest you be obliterated along with everyone else!”

Lot said to them, “Please, God, no!

Your servant has found favor in your eyes, and in the abounding kindness you have shown me you have saved my life. But I cannot escape to the mountain where Abraham lives, lest an evil stigma cling to me and I be judged worthy to die. I was considered righteous relative to the inhabitants of Sodom, but I would be considered sinful relative to Abraham.

Please, there is this town called Bela, which was founded more recently than the other four cities of the plain (for they were founded in the year of the Dispersion and it was founded a year later). It is therefore a fitting place to flee to, for it is slightly less entrenched in sin than the other four cities and does not yet deserve to be destroyed. Please let me escape there; in any case, it is smaller and less populous than the other cities, so you shouldn’t mind sparing it so I can survive in it.”

The angel replied to him, “In this matter, too, I have showed you favor: Not only will I rescue you; I will not overturn the town of which you spoke.

But hurry! Escape there, for I can do nothing until you arrive there.” Because the angel had ascribed the ability to overturn the city to himself, which could be construed as a display of arrogance, he was forced at this point to admit that he could not act without God’s consent. The town of Bela was therefore called Tzo’ar [“small”] from then on.

The sun had already risen over the earth when Lot reached Tzo’ar.

Here, too, GOD deferentially consulted with His heavenly court and made sulfur and fire rain down on Sodom and Gomorrah – from GOD, out of the sky. It initially descended as actual rain, to afford them a final chance to repent. When they refused to repent, it became a downpour of sulfur and fire.

In the early morning, God overturned those four cities and the entire plain, together with all the inhabitants of the cities and the vegetation of the ground. They were all situated on one section of the earth’s crust, so God simply overturned that sheet of rock.

Lot’s wife turned around, looked behind him at the destruction, and she became a pillar of salt in retribution for having denied salt to her guests.

Abraham woke up early in the morning and went to the place where he had stood before GOD.

He gazed upon Sodom and Gomorrah and over the whole area of the plain, and he saw a column of smoke rising from the earth, like the column of smoke that rises from a limekiln.

When God destroyed the cities of the plain, God was mindful of how Lot had protected Abraham in Egypt by going along with his pretense that Sarah was his sister, and in recompense, He sent forth Lot from the midst of the upheaval when He overturned the towns in which Lot had been living, even though he deserved by all rights to perish together with them.

Even though God had granted his request to spare Tzo’ar, Lot went up from Tzo’ar and settled on the nearby deserted mountain together with his two daughters, since he was afraid to remain in Tzo’ar because of its proximity to Sodom, and he and his two daughters lived in a cave. By Divine providence, there were casks of wine in this cave.

Lot’s two daughters thought that the whole world had been destroyed except for them and their father, similar to what had happened in the Flood. The older daughter said to the younger, “Our father is old and will soon be unable to father children or will die, and there is no man in the world to marry us in the usual manner.

Come, let us give our father wine to drink, and lie carnally with him, and thus produce offspring from our father.”

That night, they gave their father wine to drink. The older daughter went and lay carnally with her father, but he was so drunk that he was not aware that it was she when she lay next to him. But afterwards, when she arose, he was sober enough to realize that it was she, but he pretended not to know.

The next day, the older daughter said to the younger, “Last night it was I who lay carnally with my father. Tonight, too, let us give him wine to drink, and you go and lie carnally with him, and we will produce offspring through our father.”

That night, they again gave their father wine to drink. Even though Lot was aware of what had transpired with his daughter the previous night, he did not refuse to drink from the wine again the next night, because of his inner allurement to illicit relations. This time, the younger daughter got up and lay carnally with him, but again, he was so drunk that he was not aware that she had lain down or arisen.

Thus, Lot’s two daughters conceived from their father. Although they were both guilty of committing incest, the older daughter was the instigator; the younger one had simply followed her lead.

The older daughter gave birth to a son and named him Moab [“from father”]; he is the ancestor of the people of Moab until the present day.

The younger daughter also gave birth to a son and named him Ben-Ami [“son of my kindred”]; he is the ancestor of the people of Ammon until the present day. The older daughter was not ashamed of her behavior and therefore gave her son a name that explicitly publicized her act. In contrast, the younger daughter was ashamed and thus tried to obscure her sin in a less blatant name for her son.

After the cities of the plain were destroyed, travelers no longer had reason to pass through Hebron. In addition, Lot fell into disrepute once his daughters’ pregnancies became evident, because it was obvious he had committed incest with them. For both these reasons, Abraham journeyed from there in that same year to the Negev and then settled between Kadeish and Shur, coming to finally sojourn in the Philistine city of Gerar.

As had happened in Egypt, Abraham was asked about Sarah, because her youth had been restored to her and she was not yet pregnant. Abraham said of Sarah, his wife – without asking her permission – “She is my sister.” Abraham did not ask Sarah’s permission to say she was his sister this time, for he was sure she would refuse in light of her unpleasant experience in Egypt. So Avimelech, king of Gerar, sent messengers and had Sarah brought to him. But when he tried to molest Sarah, an angel prevented him from touching her. Furthermore, at Sarah’s behest, God blocked all the secretionary channels of the bodies of the king and his entire household (i.e., of the excretory and reproductive organs, as well as of the ears and the nostrils).

God came to Avimelech in a nocturnal dream, saying, “You are going to die from this affliction on account of the woman you took, for she is a married woman and you will be guilty of adultery if you have relations with her.”

Since Avimelech had not come near her, he said, “God, would You put to death even an innocent nation? Am I to conclude that You also causelessly wiped out the generation of the Flood and punished the generation of the Dispersion as well?

Did her husband not say to me, ‘She is my sister’? And she herself also said, ‘He is my brother.’ And everyone else I asked – her servants, her camel-drivers, and her donkey-drivers – also replied that they were brother and sister. I did so, i.e., took her for myself, with an innocent heart, with no intent to sin. I am with blameless hands, for I have not touched her.”

God said to him in the dream, “I, too, knew that you did this with an innocent heart, but you cannot claim that your hands are blameless, for I Myself spared you from sinning against Me by sending an angel to keep you away from her. It is precisely because I knew that you did not intend to do anything wrong that I did not allow you to touch her.

Now, return the man’s wife. Do not fear that he will not want to accept her back or that he will hold your actions against you and not pray for you, for he is a prophet and therefore knows that you did not defile her and that you are innocent. He will therefore pray for you and you will live. But if you do not return her, be assured that you will die – you and all that are yours.”

Avimelech got up early in the morning. He called for all his servants and discreetly told them all these things, and the men were terrified.

Avimelech summoned Abraham and said to him, “What have you done to us? What wrong have I done you, that you should bring such great guilt upon me and my kingdom? You have brought upon me things that do not normally happen! Such an affliction is unheard of!”

Avimelech then asked Abraham, “What did you see that made you do this thing?”

Abraham replied, “Look, when a traveler arrives in a city, people usually ask him what he would like to eat or drink, not whether his female companion is his wife or his sister! I therefore said to myself, ‘There is simply no fear of God in this place, and they will kill me on account of my wife if I disclose her true identity.’

In any case, she really is my sister. Because she is the daughter of my father but not of my mother, it was permissible for us to marry, and she became my wife.” Although Sarah was in fact Abrahams’s niece, not his sister, people often refer to grandchildren as their grandparents’ children, so just as Abraham earlier called his nephew Lot his “brother,” he similarly called his niece Sarah his “sister.” Thus, he did not technically lie to Avimelech.

“When God made me wander from my father’s house, and I knew we would pass through lands inhabited by wicked people, I said to her, ‘There is a favor that you can do for me. Wherever we go, say about me: “He is my brother.”’”

Having lost the argument, Avimelech realized that he needed to make amends for his behavior. He took flocks, cattle, bondmen, and bondwomen, and gave them to Abraham to placate him, so that he would pray for him, and returned Sarah, his wife, to him.

Avimelech said, “My land is here before you. You may settle wherever you please. Do not be afraid of my subjects, for they are moral people and will not molest your wife.”

To Sarah he said, “As a token of my esteem for you, I have now given your ‘brother’ 1000 pieces of silver. Let this gift and gesture of respect serve you figuratively as a cover over the eyes of all those with you who would look askance at you because of this incident, preventing them from doing so. The fact that I had to go to such expense to mollify you shows that I did not abuse and discard you, but that I was forced by Divine intervention to give you up. For anyone who may, in the future, cast aspersions on your behavior in this episode, it will serve as proof of your innocence.”

Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Avimelech and the members of his household of their secretionary blockages, including his wife and bondwomen, so that they relieved themselves,

for GOD had blocked every orifice of the members of Avimelech’s household on account of Abraham’s wife Sarah, and at her behest.

But before God healed Avimelech and the members of his household, GOD had already remembered Sarah as He had said to Abraham that He would: she became pregnant. This is indeed the rule: When someone needs something and prays for that same thing for someone else, God provides his needs first. GOD did for Sarah as He had spoken to Abraham: she bore a son.

Thus, Sarah conceived, and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the appointed time of which God had spoken, 15 Nisan 2048.

Abraham named the son who had been born to him – whom Sarah had borne him – Isaac,

and Abraham circumcised his son Isaac on the eighth day after his birth, as God had commanded him.

Abraham was 100 years old when his son Isaac was born to him.

Sarah applied the meaning of Isaac’s name – “laughter” – to her own experiences surrounding his birth. She said, “God has brought me happiness; whoever hears will be happy for me and happy with me.” And so it was: Many previously barren women gave birth at the same time as Sarah, many sick people were healed that day, and many prayers were answered that day; thus, many people were happy along with her. Among the numerous miracles that accompanied Isaac’s birth was that Abraham retained his potency after this until the end of his life.

Abraham held a feast to celebrate Isaac’s birth. In order to prove that Sarah had not given birth to Isaac, all the mothers of infants among the guests brought their babies but not their wet nurses, and asked Sarah to nurse them. Miraculously, Sarah was able to nurse them all. In recognition of this miracle, she said, “Who is He who said to Abraham, ‘Sarah will nurse many children’? Only Almighty God could have made this promise and fulfilled it, too! For I have given birth to a son in his old age!”

The child grew up and at the end of two years was weaned, and Abraham held a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned. All the esteemed leaders of the generation attended, including Shem, Ever, and Avimelech.

Sarah saw that Ishmael, the son whom Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Abraham, had also fallen into degenerate behavior, including idol worship, illicit carnal relations, and even murder.

She said to Abraham, “Cast out this bondwoman and her son, for the son of this bondwoman will not inherit together with my son, Isaac! He would be unfit to inherit along with any son of mine, even if my own son had no other merits of his own. And he would be unfit to inherit along with as fine a boy as Isaac, even if he were not my son. All the more so is he not fit to inherit along with he who is both my son and Isaac!”

The matter of Ishmael’s wicked behavior greatly distressed Abraham. He was grieved over the idea of sending his son away.

God said to Abraham, “Do not be distressed about the boy and your bondwoman. Whatever Sarah tells you, heed her voice, for her prophetic insight is superior to yours. She has foreseen correctly, for, as I have already told you, it is through Isaac that you will have descendants who will be considered yours with respect to receiving the blessings I have promised you.

But I will also make the son of the bondwoman into a nation, as I have also told you, for he is also your offspring.”

Abraham rose early in the morning, took bread and a leather flask of water, and gave them to Hagar. He did not give them expensive vessels, for he resented his son for having betrayed him. Sarah’s disparaging report of Ishmael’s wicked behavior aroused God’s attribute of justice against him (this is called “casting an evil eye on someone”), and he became sick and could not walk by himself. Abraham placed the food on Hagar’s shoulder together with the child, and sent her away. In sending her away, Abraham granted her her freedom, so she no longer had the legal status of a servant. She left and wandered in the desert of Beersheba. Dejected over being banished from Abraham’s household, she gradually reverted to the idolatrous beliefs with which she was raised.

Because Ishmael was sick, he drank more water than usual. When the water from the leather flask was used up, she cast the child under one of the bushes.

She then walked away and sat down at a distance, some bowshots away, for she said, “Let me not look on as the child dies.” When the child became deathly ill, she sat at a further distance and burst out crying. Ishmael also prayed for mercy.

God heard the boy’s voice, rather than his mother’s, for the prayer of a sick person is more efficacious than the prayers others offer up on his behalf. But the ministering angels protested God’s intention to answer Ishmael’s prayer, arguing that it was not fair to rescue him from death by thirst when his own descendants would, in the future, cruelly kill Jews by thirst. God answered them that since Ishmael himself is not guilty of his descendants’ crime, he cannot be held responsible for it. So an angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What troubles you, Hagar? Fear not, for God has heard the boy’s voice, considering only where he is with regard to his own moral merit, not judging him for the future deeds of his descendants.

Rise, lift up the boy, and grasp him with your hand, for I will make of him a great nation.”

God then opened her eyes and she saw a well of water. She went and filled the leather flask with water and gave the boy to drink.

God was with the boy and he grew up; he lived in the desert and became an archer, robbing travelers as God had said he would.

He settled in the Paran Desert, and his mother took him a wife from among the girls of her homeland, Egypt.

At that time, after Sarah gave birth, Avimelech, accompanied by Pichol, chief of his troops, said to Abraham, “God is with you in all that you do. Besides having a child in your old age, you survived the destruction of the cities of the plain, and even prior to that, you vanquished Kedorla’omer’s confederacy of kings.

So now, swear to me here by God that you will not deal falsely with me, nor with my son, nor with my grandson.” (His concern did not extend any further in time than two generations.) “The same kindness that I have shown you, welcoming you in my land, you will show to me and to the people of the land in which you have sojourned.”

Abraham replied, “I will swear.”

Abraham then disputed with Avimelech over the well of water that Avimelech’s servants had seized.

Avimelech said, “I do not know who did this thing, nor did you tell me, nor did I hear about it until today.” In order to determine who dug the well, they decided that they would each approach it separately; the one before whom the water would rise would be assumed to be the one who dug the well. The water rose before Abraham.

Abraham took flocks and cattle and gave them to Avimelech, and the two of them made a treaty.

Abraham then set aside seven ewes of the flock.

Avimelech asked Abraham, “What are these seven ewes that you have set aside by themselves?”

He replied, “You are to accept these seven ewes from my hand, as your acknowledgment that the test we performed is conclusive testimony that I dug this well.”

That place was therefore called Beersheba [“Well of the Oath”], for there the two of them made an oath.

When they had made this treaty in Beersheba, Avimelech and Pichol, chief of his troops, departed and returned to Philistia.

Abraham opened an inn in Beersheba. He also planted an orchard in Beersheba in order to provide him with fruit to serve his guests. There he proclaimed the name of GOD, God of the Universe. He also induced others to proclaim the name of GOD.

Abraham sojourned in Philistia for one year more than he had lived in Hebron, i.e., for 26 years (2047–2073). After this, he moved back to Hebron.

After these words, in the year 2085, God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!” and he replied devotedly, “Here I am. I am ready to do Your bidding.”

He said, “Please pass this ultimate test, so that no one will think that your devotion to Me is limited. Take your son.” Abraham answered, “I have two sons.” God said, “I mean your only one.” Abraham said, “They are both only sons: Ishmael is the only son of Hagar, and Isaac is the only son of Sarah.” God said, “I mean the one you love.” Abraham said, “I love them both!” God said, “I mean Isaac.” God deliberately spoke ambiguously at first (a) in order to give Abraham time to realize the weightiness of His words and not agree too hastily, thereby forfeiting the merit of full, willful consent, and (b) in order to make the command more impressive and grant him reward for each expression He used. God continued, “Take him and go away to the land of Moriah. Take him up there and prepare him as an ascent-offering on one of the mountains that I will designate to you.” God did not explicitly tell Abraham to sacrifice Isaac – although that is what Abraham thought He meant – since He merely intended to see if he would be willing to do so.

Abraham did not hesitate for an instant, although he was puzzled how this command fit into God’s larger plan for him and for the world. In his eagerness to fulfill God’s command, he got up early in the morning and, out of his extreme love for God, saddled his donkey himself, rather than having one of his servants do so, even though no one actually rode upon the donkey; it was used only to carry the wood and tools. He took his two young men, Eliezer and Ishmael, with him, together with his son Isaac, because a person of significant social stature should always be accompanied by at least two attendants, so that if one of them needs to be excused to relieve himself, the other is still there to attend to him. At this point, Abraham only told Isaac that God had told him to offer up a sacrifice to Him, without mentioning that he was to be the sacrifice. Abraham chopped wood for the offering, and rose and set out for the place that God had told him.

From Hebron to the land of Moriah is less than a day’s journey, but it was only on the third day of the journey that Abraham raised his eyes and saw a cloud hovering over Mount Moriah and understood that he was seeing the appointed place from afar. Here again, God did not show Abraham the place immediately in order that no one would be able later on to accuse him of having made a hasty decision.

Abraham said to his young men, “You stay here with the donkey, while I and Isaac, the young man, go a short distance over there.” To himself, Abraham said, “When I get there, I will see how God intends for me to fulfill my mission without an heir or successor.” He continued to Eliezer and Ishmael, “We will prostrate ourselves in prayer and then return to you.” In using the plural, he unwittingly prophesied that he and Isaac would both return.

Abraham took the wood for the ascent-offering and placed it on his son, Isaac. He took the fire and knife in his hand, and the two of them walked on together, with equal enthusiasm to perform God’s commandment, even though Abraham knew he was on his way to sacrifice Isaac, but Isaac as yet had no inkling of this.

Isaac said to Abraham, his father, “My father!” and he replied, “Here I am, my son.” Isaac said, “The fire and the wood are here, but where is the lamb for the ascent-offering?”

Abraham replied, “God will see to a lamb for an ascent-offering, and if He does not, then you, my son, will be the offering.” Even though Isaac now understood that he was to be sacrificed, he, too, did not question God, and thus the two of them walked on together, father and son with equal enthusiasm.

When they came to the place that God had told him, Abraham built the altar there and arranged the wood. He then bound Isaac, his son, tying his hands and feet behind him, and placed him on the altar, on top of the wood.

Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son. At that moment, the heavens opened, the ministering angels saw this heartrending scene, and cried. Their tears fell into Isaac’s eyes, and this later impaired his vision.

An angel of GOD then called to him from heaven and said affectionately, “Abraham! Abraham!” and he replied, “Here I am.”

The angel said, “Do not raise your hand against the young man to slaughter him!” When he heard this, Abraham thought he finally understood God’s contradictory statements: first, God had promised him that Isaac was to be the one to continue his lineage; then He told him to kill Isaac. When the angel instructed him not to slaughter Isaac, Abraham thought that God never really intended him to kill Isaac, but merely to draw some blood from him. So Abraham said to the angel, “Very well; I will only wound him and draw a small amount of blood.” But to this, the angel replied, “No, do nothing to him!” Hearing this, Abraham thought he had failed the test and been deemed unworthy of sacrificing Isaac. So, God said to him through the angel, “I never intended you to sacrifice Isaac nor draw any blood from him; it was merely a test. For now that you have passed this test and I know that you fear God – since you did not withhold your son, your only one, from Me – I have a fitting response for Satan and for all those who wonder why I display so much love to you.”

Abraham was not content to have simply passed the test; he also wanted God to seal the blessings he earned with the force of an oath. He knew that this called for a sacrifice, just as had been the case with Noah after the flood. Abraham raised his eyes, looking for an animal to sacrifice, and he caught sight of a ram running toward him. This very ram had been designated to be offered up in Isaac’s stead ever since the six days of Creation, but Satan, frustrated by the fact that Abraham had passed this test, caused the ram to become entangled by its horns in a thicket. Undaunted, Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up as an ascent-offering in his son’s stead.

Abraham named that site “GOD will see,” praying, “May God select this place as the site of the Temple, where His presence on earth will dwell and where He will manifest Himself to His people.” Since God indeed had designated this mountain for this purpose, it is said to this day, “On GOD’s Mountain, Mount Moriah, He can be seen.” He further prayed, “May GOD always see and remember the binding of Isaac and consider its merit sufficient to atone for the Jewish people’s sins and to save them from punishment, so that it be said in all generations, ‘to this day, it is as if Isaac’s ashes can be seen on the altar that Abraham built on GOD’s mountain,’ serving as atonement for the Jewish people.”

After the sacrifice, the angel of GOD called to Abraham from heaven a second time,

and said, “GOD declares, ‘I have acceded to your request to seal the successful conclusion of this test with an oath. By Myself I swear: Because you did this thing, and did not withhold your son, your only one,

I will bless you and bless your son, and greatly increase your offspring: they will be so numerous that you will not be able to count them, just as it is impossible to count the stars of the sky and the grains of sand on the seashore, and your descendants will take possession of their enemies’ cities.

All the nations of the world will be blessed through your descendants – because you heeded My voice.’”

Abraham returned to his young men, and together they set out and went to Beersheba. Abraham remained for a short time in Beersheba.

Abraham said to himself: “If I had slaughtered Isaac, he would have died childless. It is time for me to marry him off. I will search for a wife for him from among the daughters of my confederates, Aneir, Eshkol, and Mamrei.” It was after these words of Abraham’s that Abraham was told by God: “There is no need to search for a wife for Isaac from among the daughters of your confederates, for just as you will have 12 great-grandchildren who will be the progenitors of the chosen people, eight from their father’s wives and four from his wives’ servants, Milkah, too, has borne eight sons to your brother, Nachor:

Utz, his firstborn; Buz, his brother; Kemu’el, the father of Aram;

Kesed; Chazo; Pildash; Yidlaf; and Bethuel.

Bethuel has a daughter, Rebecca. She is worthy and fit to be Isaac’s wife. Milkah bore these eight sons to Nachor, Abraham’s brother.

And his concubine, whose name was Re’umah, also bore children: Tevach, Gacham, Tachash, and Ma’achah.” When Abraham heard from God that Rebecca had been born, he cancelled his search for a wife for Isaac.