Parshat Vayeira 5779-Listen to the Rebbetzin

There is a very curious contradiction between Avraham and Sarah when the news of the future birth is told to them:

Ch.18

יב  וַתִּצְחַק שָׂרָה, בְּקִרְבָּהּ לֵאמֹר:  אַחֲרֵי בְלֹתִי הָיְתָה-לִּי עֶדְנָה, וַאדֹנִי זָקֵן.

12 And Sarah laughed within herself, saying: 'After I am waxed old shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?'

יג  וַיֹּאמֶר יְהוָה, אֶל-אַבְרָהָם:  לָמָּה זֶּה צָחֲקָה שָׂרָה לֵאמֹר, הַאַף אֻמְנָם אֵלֵד--וַאֲנִי זָקַנְתִּי.

13 And the LORD said unto Abraham: 'Wherefore did Sarah laugh, saying: Shall I of a surety bear a child, who am old?

יד  הֲיִפָּלֵא מֵיְהוָה, דָּבָר; לַמּוֹעֵד אָשׁוּב אֵלֶיךָ, כָּעֵת חַיָּה--וּלְשָׂרָה בֵן.

14 Is any thing too hard for the LORD. At the set time I will return unto thee, when the season cometh round, and Sarah shall have a son.'

Ch.17

יז  וַיִּפֹּל אַבְרָהָם עַל-פָּנָיו, וַיִּצְחָק; וַיֹּאמֶר בְּלִבּוֹ, הַלְּבֶן מֵאָה-שָׁנָה יִוָּלֵד, וְאִם-שָׂרָה, הֲבַת-תִּשְׁעִים שָׁנָה תֵּלֵד.

17 Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, and said in his heart: 'Shall a child be born unto him that is a hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear?'

Avraham ‘laughs’ and Sarah ‘laughs’. And yet Avraham is praised and Sarah is criticized for her laughter.Why? Rashi raises the question in ch 17:17:

Rashi :

ויפל אברהם על פניו ויצחק. זֶה תִּ"אֻ, לְשׁוֹן שִׂמְחָה, וַחֲדִי, וְשֶׁל שָׂרָה לְשׁוֹן מָחוֹךְ; לָמַדְתָּ שֶׁאַבְרָהָם הֶאֱמִין וְשָׂמַח וְשָׂרָה לֹא הֶאֱמִינָה וְלִגְלְגָה, וְזֶהוּ שֶׁהִקְפִּיד הַקָּבָּ"ה עַל שָׂרָה וְלֹא הִקְפִּיד עַל אַבְרָהָם:

ויפל אברהם על פניו ויצחק AND ABRAHAM FELL UPON HIS FACE AND LAUGHED — This word ויצחק Onkelos translates by וחדי which signifies joy (“and he rejoiced’’) but the similar verb in the case of Sarah (ותצחק Genesis 18:12) he translates as meaning laughter. From this you may understand that Abraham had faith and rejoiced, and that Sarah had no faith and sneered, and that is why God was angry with Sarah (when she laughed) but was not angry with Abraham.

He sees the laughter as being presented in 2 ways(based on the Targum translation).For Avraham it is a laughter of joy and happiness whereas for Sarah it is a laughter of skepticism and sneering, so God is angry with her.

There are many other answers to this contradiction (see:Chizkuni, Meshech Chochma and others).Rabbi Bernstein zal quoted an answer in the name of the Rebbetzin of R’ Aryeh Levin zal(the ‘Zaddik’ of Jerusalem: d.1970), and she explained the point by linking this story to the story in the Haftara, from Melachim Bet ch.4.

כב  וַתִּקְרָא, אֶל-אִישָׁהּ, וַתֹּאמֶר שִׁלְחָה נָא לִי אֶחָד מִן-הַנְּעָרִים, וְאַחַת הָאֲתֹנוֹת; וְאָרוּצָה עַד-אִישׁ הָאֱלֹהִים, וְאָשׁוּבָה.

22 And she called unto her husband, and said: 'Send me, I pray thee, one of the servants, and one of the asses, that I may run to the man of God, and come back.'

כג  וַיֹּאמֶר, מַדּוּעַ אתי (אַתְּ) הלכתי (הֹלֶכֶת) אֵלָיו הַיּוֹם--לֹא-חֹדֶשׁ, וְלֹא שַׁבָּת; וַתֹּאמֶר, שָׁלוֹם.

23 And he said: Wherefore wilt thou go to him today? it is neither new moon nor sabbath.' And she said: 'It shall be well.'

כד  וַתַּחֲבֹשׁ, הָאָתוֹן, וַתֹּאמֶר אֶל-נַעֲרָהּ, נְהַג וָלֵךְ; אַל-תַּעֲצָר-לִי לִרְכֹּב, כִּי אִם-אָמַרְתִּי לָךְ.

24 Then she saddled an ass, and said to her servant: 'Drive, and go forward; slacken me not the riding, except I bid thee.'

כה  וַתֵּלֶךְ, וַתָּבֹא אֶל-אִישׁ הָאֱלֹהִים--אֶל-הַר הַכַּרְמֶל; וַיְהִי כִּרְאוֹת אִישׁ-הָאֱלֹהִים אֹתָהּ, מִנֶּגֶד, וַיֹּאמֶר אֶל-גֵּיחֲזִי נַעֲרוֹ, הִנֵּה הַשּׁוּנַמִּית הַלָּז.

25 So she went, and came unto the man of God to mount Carmel. And it came to pass, when the man of God saw her afar off, that he said to Gehazi his servant: 'Behold, yonder is that Shunammite.

כו  עַתָּה, רוּץ-נָא לִקְרָאתָהּ, וֶאֱמָר-לָהּ הֲשָׁלוֹם לָךְ הֲשָׁלוֹם לְאִישֵׁךְ, הֲשָׁלוֹם לַיָּלֶד; וַתֹּאמֶר, שָׁלוֹם.

26 Run, I pray thee, now to meet her, and say unto her: Is it well with thee? is it well with thy husband? is it well with the child?' And she answered: 'It is well.

This is the famous story of Elisha reviving the 'dead' child of the Shunnamite woman, whom he had promised a child to (initial link to the story of the parsha) and now that child had seemingly died of sunstroke. She tells her husband that she must go and beg mercy from Elisha so that he can pray for the child to revive. The husband is skeptical and she goes alone. Elisha sees her coming and sends his servant to meet her to find out why she is coming. He asks her if all is well and she replies in the affirmative. If her son has died, how can she say ‘all is well’ when clearly all is not well?

Rebbetzin Levin zal explains that we are talking here about the performance of a miracle.The Shunnamite woman is teaching us that as long as the reality is not verbalized, then a miracle is possible. So when she is asked about her situation she says that all is well. However, if she had verbalized that her son had died, then no miracle would be possible after this point.

With Avraham, when he ‘laughed’ it was וַיֹּאמֶר בְּלִבּוֹ ‘and he said in his heart’ thereby not verbalizing the impossibility of the situation, according to the rules of nature. The miracle at this point was still possible. However Sarah, when she heard the news, ‘And Sarah laughed within herself, saying’ whereby she actually verbalized the impossibility of her having a child. At this point God became angry as a miracle was now not going to happen on the basis of the original revelation seen in the pesukim in ch.17  In order to make the miracle come about a new revelation was needed and that is exactly what happens in ch.18. After the rebuke, God tells them again that she will be blessed with a child, and the miracle is now possible again.(this becomes another link between the parsha and the haftarah in terms of  the lesson about miracles as witnessed in Tenach).

With this insight we also see the tremendous faith that the people(such as Rabbi and Rebbetzin Levin, who lived in the Machaneh Yehudah area) had, to live in Jerusalem in the years before the establishment of the State of Israel.This insight of the Rebbetzin speaks volumes about her own emunah and bitachon and she can inspire us to come closer to God in this way. There are so many stories about their marriage and life together (as found in the excellent biography by Simcha Raz) and this should be compulsory reading for everyone, to really understand how a Zaddik (and his Zaddeket) functioned with humility and faith. They were truly the Avraham and Sarah for their generation and an inspiration for us all.

Shabbat Shalom          Cherry Hill NJ/SCW   Oct 2018