OTHE OHRH SOMAYACH TORAHR MAGAZINE ONN THE INTERNET E• WWW.OHR.EDUT

SHABBAT PARSHAT VAYERA • 17 CHESHVAN 5762 • NOV. 3, 2001 • VOL. 9 NO. 4 PARSHA INSIGHTS

other lodgings...” KNOCK, KNOCK When the Torah knocks, all we have to do is to open “For I have loved him (Avraham), because he commands his children and up our doors! his household after him that they keep the way of Hashem...” (18:19) ur Sages promise that if someone is a Torah scholar, and both his son and grandson are also RELATIVE RIGHTEOUSNESS OTorah scholars, then the Torah, like a guest who Avraham said: “Perhaps there are fifty tzadikim in the midst of the constantly comes back to stay at the same hotel, will city; and will You destroy and not forgive...?” (18:24) never leave that family. ome irreligious youth were once detailing how they Given this promise, a great Rabbi of a previous gener- had spent Yom Kippur carousing in bars: “Yeah — Sit was great. We had the time of our lives!” ation was asked why it was that so many Jews have lost their connection to Torah — for “Did David go too?” since our forefathers Avraham, “Nah — not David. He’s a Yitzchak and Yaakov were all tzadik....” Torah scholars, it should be that In certain circles, apparently, the Torah should never have When the Torah one can become a “tzadik” with become estranged from their very minimal qualifications. progeny. knocks, all we have Avraham knew there were no The Rabbi answered with an tzadikim in Sodom, so he experience of his own: “Once I appealed to Hashem to save the was traveling from place to place to do is to open up city on behalf of the tzadikim “in selling a scholarly work that I had the midst of the city” — i.e. com- authored. I arrived at a town I our doors! pared to the rest! Since people knew well and knocked on the saw them as tzadikim, the people door of the boarding house would not understand why they where I always stayed. There were being destroyed, and conse- was no answer. So I turned around and looked for other quently Hashem’s name would be profaned. lodgings. The Torah would tell you the same story — Sources: the Torah knocks on doors and cries out ‘Open up! Let • Knock, Knock: Adapted from the Chafetz Chaim me in!’ But seeing as no-one answers, the Torah seeks • Relative Righteousness: Adapted from Rabbi Zalman Sorotzkin

Ê’Œ „Ê’ ‰‰‡ “‘ ‰ ט š Œ‡˜ €ˆ ‰ š˜Ž „..–..š

1 PARSHA OVERVIEW

hree days after performing brit mila on himself, Avraham promised, a son, Yitzchak, is born to Sarah and Avraham. At Avinu is visited by Hashem. When three angels appear in Hashem’s command, on the eighth day after the birth, Thuman form, Avraham rushes to show them hospitality Avraham circumcises him. Avraham makes a feast the day by bringing them into his tent, despite this being the most Yitzchak is weaned. Sarah tells Avraham to banish Hagar and painful time after the operation. Sarah laughs when she hears her son Yishmael because she sees in him signs of degeneracy. from them that she will give birth to a son next year. Hashem Avraham is distressed at the prospect of banishing his son, but reveals to Avraham that He will destroy Sodom, and Avraham Hashem tells him to listen to whatever Sarah tells him to do. pleads for Sodom to be spared. Hashem agrees that if there After nearly dying of thirst in the desert, Yishmael is rescued by are fifty righteous men in Sodom, He will not destroy it. an angel, and Hashem promises that he will be the progenitor Avraham manages to ‘bargain’ Hashem down to ten righteous of a mighty nation. Avimelech enters into an alliance with men. However, not even ten can be found. Lot, his wife and Avraham when he sees that Hashem is with him. In a tenth and two daughters are rescued just before sulfur and fire rain down final test, Hashem instructs Avraham to take Yitzchak, who is on Sodom and Amora. Lot’s wife looks back and is turned into now 37, to offer him as a sacrifice. Avraham does this, in spite a pillar of salt. Lot’s daughters fear that, as a result of the of ostensibly aborting Jewish nationhood, and contradicting his destruction, there will be no husbands for them. They decide life-long preaching against human sacrifice. At the last to get their father drunk, and through him perpetuate the moment, Hashem sends an angel to stop Avraham. Because of human race. From the elder daughter, Moav is born, and from his unquestioning obedience, Hashem now promises Avraham the younger, Ammon. Avraham moves to Gerar, where that even if the Jewish People sin, they will never be complete- Avimelech abducts Sarah. After Hashem appears to Avimelech ly dominated by their foes. The Parsha ends with genealogy in a dream, he releases Sarah and appeases Avraham. As and the birth of Rivka.

HAFTARA MELACHIM II 3:1 - 37 RIGHTS AND DUTIES INSPIRATION - THE t was not so long ago that the Torah BREATH OF LIFE Iwas the only system in which a cred- O H R N E T itor has absolutely no rights over the n Parshat Vayera, angels promise the physical person of a debtor. The spirit elderly Sarah that she will conceive THE OHR SOMAYACH TORAH MAGAZINE ON THE INTERNET of the Torah insures a poor debtor Iand give birth to a child; similarly, in Published by against the unfeeling or inconsiderate the haftara the prophet Elisha promises OHR SOMAYACH TANENBAUM COLLEGE use of a lien on the debtor’s chattel. a barren Shunamite woman that she will POB 18103, Jerusalem 91180, Israel • 02-581-0315 And even where the protection of the give birth. The child (later to become

General Editor: creditor stops, the obligation on the the Prophet Chavakuk) dies in his youth Rabbi Moshe Newman debtor to love his fellow Jew — the and is resurrected by Elisha, who Editorial & Web Advisor: Rabbi Reuven Lauffer debtor — begins. For we are all the revives him by placing himself on the Associate Editor: children of Avraham and Sarah. Such is lifeless child, implanting his own soul Rabbi Reuven Subar Contributing Writers: the tzedaka of Avraham in contrast to into the boy. Weekly Daf, Love of the Land: the Sodomite insistence on the very This is a lesson for all teachers: One Rav Mendel Weinbach Insights, Overview: last penny which can be wrung out has to “inspire” — to breathe one’s Rabbi Yaakov Asher Sinclair through litigation. own life into his pupils and to give over Web Production: Binyamin Rosenstock of one’s own soul. Nothing less than this will do. Produced and Designed by the Office of Communications Rabbi Eliezer Shapiro, Director

© 2001 OHR SOMAYACH INSTITUTIONS - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED I DIDN’T KNOW THAT! • THIS PUBLICATION CONTAINS WORDS OF TORAH. PLEASE TREAT IT WITH DUE RESPECT. “I will increase your offspring like the stars of the heavens and like the sand on the seashore.” (Bereishet 22:17). OHRNET is available from the following sources: • E-MAIL: Sometimes the Jews are compared to stars; other times they are like the sand. Write to [email protected] for information. When they enjoy peace and prosperity, then their grandeur is compared to that of • WORLD WIDE WEB: Our address is: www.ohr.edu the lofty stars. But even when they are trampled underfoot like sand, attacked by the nations as waves attack the shoreline, they will never be annihilated, just as the waves can never wash away all the sand. • Kli Yakar 2 Historical and textual backgrounds for passages from Tanach for the seven pages of Talmud studied in the course of the worldwide Daf Yomi cycle. WEEKLY DAFootnotes BAVA KAMA 93 - 99

DANGEROUS SUMMONS TWO SIDES OF THE COIN ou are guilty of the injustice done to me,” said hen Hashem commanded Avraham to leave his “Ythe childless Sarah to Avraham when she sensed homeland and family and go to the land which that Hagar, the maidservant she had given to W He would reveal to him, one of the rewards He him as a wife, stopped respecting her after Hagar became promised him was “I shall make great your name.” pregnant. Sarah was outraged that Avraham had remained (Bereishet 12:2) silent as Hagar abused her, and she concluded her charge The Midrash presents one dimension of this greatness with the words “Let Hashem judge between us!” as the fame he achieved through the issuing of a special (Bereishet 16:5) coin. On one side of this coin were the words “zakein” This summoning of Heavenly judgment, says Rabbi and “zakeinah” — old man and old woman — a reference Chanan in our gemara, boomerangs against the initiator, to Avraham and Sarah. On the other side of the coin who is punished by Heaven even before the accused is. were written the words “bachur” and “betulah” — young The proof is that Sarah died before Avraham, who “came man and young woman. to eulogize Sarah and weep over her.” (Bereishet 23:2) Rashi explains that the youths on this other side of The impropriety of summoning Heavenly judgment, Avraham’s coin referred to his son Yitzchak and qualifies the gemara, is only in a situation where there is an Yitzchak’s wife, Rivka. Marharsha, however, suggests an alternative of seeking justice in a court here on earth. alternative approach based on the reaction of Sarah when What alternative existed for Sarah, who is cited as the clas- she heard the visitors inform her husband Avraham that sical example of such impropriety? she would bear a son. She expressed wonder that such Tosefot explains that she had the alternative of bringing an old couple — Avraham was 99 years old and she only her complaint against Avraham before the court of Shem, ten years younger — could be rejuvenated and have chil- the son of Noach. Rabbeinu Nissim (Rosh Hashanah 16b) dren (Bereishet 18:12-13). It was this miraculous rejuve- offers another approach. Even if Sarah had no court to nation which found expression on Avraham’s coin, turn to, she was wrong in not first bringing her complaint advanced age represented on one side and youth on the to her husband before summoning Heavenly judgment other. against him. Although the language of the gemara might suggest that Heavenly judgment improperly summoned by the Avraham’s coin actually bore his likeness and that of his wounded party is a two-edged sword. Hashem declared wife, as is customary even today in coinage throughout that if the victim cries out to Him the outcry will be heed- the world, the commentaries point out that it was only ed and there will be severe consequences (Shmot 22:22- the aforementioned words which were engraved in this 23). The implication is that both the accuser and the coin and not any human likeness. Tosefot explains that it accused will be punished, but the first to suffer will be the accuser. Maharsha points out that in the case of Sarah, her is inconceivable that Avraham’s likeness should appear on husband was punished with the loss of his wife, for the his coin because it is forbidden to make an engraving of greatest tragedy of a person’s death is suffered by the any human likeness. (See Shulchan Aruch, Yoreh Deah bereaved spouse. But her punishment of death preceded 141:4). his punishment, for his grief began only when he returned The same source cited by the gemara for Avraham’s to Hebron and became aware of her passing. coin also mentions a special coin that was issued in An interesting historical footnote to this chapter is pro- Yerushalayim. On one side were written the words vided by Ramban in his commentary on Torah. Sarah’s David and Shlomo and on the other, Yerushalayim the oppression of Hagar, and Avraham’s consent to her action Holy City. which eventually forced her to flee, was improper. As a • Bava Kama 97b result “Hashem heeded her pain and gave her a son (Yishmael) who would be a wild man oppressing the descendants of Avraham and Sarah in so many ways.” OHR SOMAYACH ON THE WEB • Bava Kama 93a www.ohr.edu

3 PARSHA Q&A ?

1. Why did Hashem appear to Avraham after the brit mila? 12. Why did Lot delay when he left Sodom? 2. Why was Avraham sitting at the entrance to his tent? 13. Why were Lot and his family not permitted to look 3. What were the missions of the three angels? back at Sodom? 4. Why did Avraham enjoin the guests to wash the dust off 14. Lot’s wife looked back and became a pillar of salt. Why their feet? was she punished in this particular way? 5. Why did Avraham ask specifically Yishmael, and not 15. In what merit did Hashem save Lot? someone else, to prepare food for the guests? 16. Why did Avraham relocate after the destruction of 6. Why did the angels ask Avraham where Sarah was? Sodom? 7. When Hashem related Sarah’s thoughts to Avraham, He 17. Why did Avimelech give gifts to Avraham? did not relate them precisely. Why? 18. Why was Avraham told to listen to Sarah? 8. What cry from Sodom came before Hashem? 19. Why did Hashem listen to the prayer of Yishmael and 9. How many angels went to Sodom? not to that of Hagar? 10. Why was Lot sitting at the gate of Sodom? 20. Who accompanied Avraham and Yitzchak to the akei- 11. Lot served the angels matza. Why? dah (binding)?

PARSHA Q&A!

Answers to this Week’s Questions! All references are to the verses and Rashi’s commentary unless otherwise stated.

1. 18:1 - Avraham was sick, so Hashem came to “visit” him. 11. 19:3 - It was Passover. 2. 18:1 - He was looking for guests. 12. 19:16 - He wanted to save his property. 3. 18:2 - To announce Yitzchak’s birth, to heal Avraham and 13. 19:17 - As they, too, deserved to be punished, it wasn’t to destroy Sodom. fitting for them to witness the destruction of Sodom. 4. 18:4 - He thought they were among those who worship 14. 19:26 - She was stingy, not wanting to give the guests the dust, and he didn’t want any object of idolatry in his salt. home. 15. 19:29 - Lot had protected Avraham by concealing from 5. 18:7 - To train him in the performance of mitzvot. the Egyptians the fact that Sarah was his wife. 6. 18:9 - To call attention to Sarah’s modesty, so as to 16. 20:1 - Because travel in the region ceased and Avraham endear her to her husband. could no longer find guests. 7. 18:13 - For the sake of peace. 17. 20:14 - So that Avraham would pray for him. 8. 18:21 - The cry of a girl who was executed for giving 18. 21:12 - Because she was greater in prophecy. food to the poor. 19. 21:17 - Because the prayer of a sick person is more 9. 19:1 - Two; one to destroy the city and one to save Lot. readily accepted than the prayer of others on his behalf. 10. 19:1 - He was a judge. 20. 22:3 - Yishmael and Eliezer.

KASHA! (KASHA MEANS “QUESTION”)

How would you answer this question on the Parsha?

“Behold! Three people stood upon him...” (Bereishet 18:2). Rashi explains that these were angels. One angel came to announce Sarah’s birth, one to destroy the city of Sodom, and one to heal Avraham. The angel who came to destroy Sodom, why did he need to visit Avraham first? What was the pur- pose?

ANSWER: Sodom was destroyed because they did not act with kindness and charity to the poor and the stranger. Their sin was multiplied many times by the fact that they lived near Avraham, the pillar of kindness and charity. They should have learned from his example, at least a little. Instead, they treated visitors cruelly as part of their law and culture. So, in order to take away any excuse from the people of Sodom, the angel first needed to experience Avraham’s hospi- tality. Once the angel saw Avraham’s super-human kindness, Sodom could no longer claim that they had no example to learn from.

Do you have a KASHA? Write to [email protected] with your questions on any Parsha!

4 WWW.ASKtheRABBI.ORG

is in motion. There are many correlations between recent THE END, AGAIN historical events and predictions from Tanach (the Jewish Bible). One of the greatest Torah Sages in recent memory, From: H M the Chafetz Chaim (d. 1933), said that we (referring to peo- ple living in his day) are living in “ikveta d’meshicha” — “the Dear Rabbi, footsteps of the mashiach,” i.e., the final period of history I read your reply to “Is this the end of the world?” You seem to before mashiach comes. have said everything, except for “yes” or “no”. Are you being So, yes, the “end” (which is also the beginning) seems kind, and want to soften the blow? We really need to know. most certainly to be near, in relative terms. But near, in Please advise. terms of Judaism’s 4,000 year history, could be ten years from now and it could be a hundred. Or it could be today. Dear H M, Judaism is about the past, knowing what happened to our When do you need to know by? ancestors, and about the present, knowing how to act The temptation is great to hope that the “end” is near, toward G-d and our fellow man. Predicting the future is not because then you can imagine yourself free of all obligations: our thing. While we once had prophets, we no longer do. If the world’s about to end, why send the child-support The Talmudic Sages warned against delving overly much check, show up for your colonoscopy, or invite your broth- into midrashic teachings that deal with the end of days and er-in-law for Thanksgiving? trying to predict it, and the Rambam codifies this view as Religious obligations, too, may suffer: Instead of studying halacha and says that such pursuits are fruitless, as no one Torah and doing good deeds, a person can spend all his time knows what will happen until it happens. Further, he adds, dreaming about the mashiach (messiah), dancing on tables at such pursuits add nothing to a person’s fear of Heaven, every pre-messianic celebration and making sure he is ready which according to Judaism is man’s sole purpose. to greet the mashiach in a happy though drunken stupor. (This is an exaggeration, I hope, but you get the point.) Sources: In our article [Ohrnet Lech Lecha] we showed that there • Hilchot Melachim 12:2 are definite indications that the process of “the end of days” • Koheles 12:13

RECOMMENDED READING LIST

RAMBAN SFORNO 18:7 The Love of Kindness 18:2 The Love of Kindness 18:13 For the Sake of Peace 18:22 Persistence 18:15 Sarah’s Laughter 19:8 Lot’s Reasoning 19:8 Lot’s Disgrace 19:11 The Nature of the Wicked 22:1 The Meaning of a Trial 19:37-8 Meaning Well 22:16 The Promise of Eternity

Pray‰Œ™…˜‰ for the peace…Œ™ of Jerusalem…Œ€™

5