Vayeira 5774: Sarah (Part 2)

At the beginning of this Torah portion, Avraham and Sarah receive three visitors, angels disguised as men. Avraham, although still recovering from his circumcision, rushes to provide hospitality and asks Sarah to bake for the guests. Out of modesty, Sarah remains in the tent and overhears one of the men (the angel Michael) tell Avraham that she will have a son the same time the following year, despite the fact that she and Avraham  are advanced in years and Sarah “had ceased to have the way of the woman.” (She is no longer menstruating.)

And Sarah laughed within herself, saying, “After I have become worn out, will I have smooth flesh? And also, my husband is old.”  (Bereishit/Genesis 18:12)

Rashi notes that Avraham never serves the cakes Sarah bakes; Rashi explains that Sarah’s menses suddenly begins, rendering the cakes ritually impure and unfit for Avraham to serve. Sarah’s miraculously regained youth is the answer to her disbelieving laughter.

Avraham and Sarah move to Gerar where Avimelech is king.  Avraham tells Avimelech that Sarah is his sister, the same thing he tells Pharaoh when the couple passes through Egypt in the previous Torah portion.  This time, instead of sending plagues to protect Sarah from a king’s advances, G-d appears to Avimelech in a dream and tells him that Sarah is Avraham’s wife.

Avimelech wakes and confronts Avraham. This time, the text provides an explanation for Avraham’s calling Sarah his sister. “And also, indeed, she is my sister, but not the daughter of my mother, and she became my wife.” (Bereishit 20:12)  Rashi explains that grandchildren are considered like children, so Sarah is considered Terach’s daughter. Further, Sarah’s father and Avraham’s half-brother, Haran, is Terach’s son, but Haran does not share a mother with Avraham.

“And to Sarah he [Avimelech] said, ‘Behold, I have given a thousand pieces of silver to your brother; behold it is to you a covering of the eyes for all who are with you, and with all you shall contend.”  (Bereishit 20:16) Explains Rashi: “They will cover their eyes so they will not denigrate you, for had I returned you empty-handed, they could say ‘After he violated her, he returned her.’ Now that I had to spend much money and to appease you, they will know that against my will I returned you, and through a miracle.”

“And Avraham prayed to G-d, and G-d healed Avimelech and his wife and his handmaids and they gave birth. For the L-rd had shut every womb of Avimelech’s household, through the word of Sarah, Avraham’s wife.”  (Bereishit 20: 17-18)

The verses announcing the conception and birth of Avraham’s and Sarah’s son, Yitzchak (Isaac), immediately follow:

“And the L-rd remembered Sarah as He had said, and the L-rd did to Sarah as he had spoken. And Sarah conceived and bore a son to Avraham in his old age, at the time of which G-d had spoken to him.” (Bereishit 21:1-2)

Rashi describes an argument recorded in the Midrash (Bereishit Rabbah 53:6) between Rabbi Yudan and Rabbi Chama regarding the length of Sarah’s pregnancy. Rabbi Yudan teaches that Yitzchak is born after nine months so it should not be said that he was conceived in Avimelech’s household. R. Chama contends the pregnancy lasts only seven months, from Rosh Hashana to Pesach (Passover).  

Rashi continues, citing Talmud (Bava Metzia 87a): “‘In his old age' means that Yitzchak’s facial features are like those of Avraham [so that despite Avraham’s advanced age of 100, no one could say Yitzchak is not Avraham’s son.]” “And Sarah said, ‘G-d has made joy for me; whoever hears will rejoice over me.” (Bereishit 21:6) The Midrash (Bereishit Rabbah 53:8) tells that when Yitzchak is conceived, barren women become pregnant and people are healed. The blind recover their sight; the deaf, their hearing; and the insane, their sanity. “And she [Sarah] said, ‘Who would have said to Avraham that Sarah would nurse children?’” (Bereishit (21:7) Rashi writes that “children” is plural because in addition to nursing Yitzchak, Sarah nurses all of the babies of the noblewomen. “All those who convert in the world and all those who fear G-d are from among those who nursed from Sarah.” (Pesikta Rabbati) “And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Avraham, making merry. And Sarah said to Avraham, ‘Drive out this handmaid and her son, for the son of this handmaid shall not inherit with my son, with Yitzchak’…And G-d said to Avraham…‘Whatever Sarah tells you, hearken to her voice.’”  (Bereishit 21:9-12)  Rashi explains that G-d tells Avraham to listen “to the voice of the holy spirit within her.” He writes: “We learn from here that Avraham was inferior to Sarah in prophecy.” The end of this Torah portion recounts how G-d tests Avraham by asking him to sacrifice Yitzchak. He is spared at the last moment. The following portion, Chayei Sarah (life of Sarah), tells of Sarah’s death. Some commentators, including Rashi and the Midrash (Bereishit Rabbah 58:5), connect the near-sacrifice with her death. Writes Dr. Lisa Aiken in To Be a Jewish Woman: “Upon hearing that her only son was ready to give up his life at G-d’s command, she felt that her life’s work in raising him had been completed. Her soul was so attached to G-d that it simply left her body once it fulfilled its last mission on earth.”    “And the life of Sarah was one hundred years and twenty years and seven years; [these were] the years of the life of Sarah. And Sarah died in Kiryat Arba, which is Chevron (Hebron), in the land of Canaan, and Avraham came to eulogize Sarah and to bewail her.” (Bereishit 23:1-2) Avraham purchases the Cave of Machpela for her burial. Some attribute to Avraham Eishet Chayil (Woman of Valor), the song of praise from Mishlei (Proverbs) that husbands recite to their wives at the Sabbath table. Others say that just the first line refers to Avraham’s and Sarah’s relationship: “Her husband’s heart trusts her.” During Sarah’s lifetime, three miracles happen on her behalf: her candles burn throughout the week; her bread stays fresh; and G-d’s presence, the Shechina, hovers over her tent. These miracles disappear when Sarah dies. They are not reinstated until Rivka (Rebecca) becomes Yitzchak’s wife.

Lech Lecha 5774: Yiskah/Sarai/Sarah (Part 1)

Our foremother Sarah is introduced at the conclusion of the previous Torah portion, Noach.

“And Avram and Nachor took themselves wives; the name of Avram’s wife was Sarai, and the name of Nachor’s wife was Milkah, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milkah and the father of Yiskah.” (Bereishit/Genesis 11:29)

Rashi contends that Sarai and Yiskah are one and the same. He writes:  “Yiskah – this is Sarah because she would see (suchah) through Divine inspiration, and because all gazed (sochin) at her beauty. Mrs. Nechama Rubinstein on chabad.org points out that both explanations refer to sight. She writes: “The first being a spiritual sight that Sarah herself possessed clearly affected the way she perceived the world; and the second, regarding how the rest of the world perceived her.”

Mrs. Rubinstein explains that Yiskah is a childhood name, which changes when the young woman understands tzniut (modesty) and she no longer allows people to admire her. The name she chooses for herself is Sarai. Interestingly, Rashi writes that “alternatively, Yiskah is an expression denoting princedom (n’sichut) just as Sarah is an expression of dominion (s’rara) [from Talmud, Megillah 14a].”

Be’er B’Sadeh explains why Torah only mentions Milkah as Haran’s daughter. Rather than calling Sarai the daughter of Haran, the text calls Haran the father of Yiskah. Writes Rebbetzin Chana Bracha Siegelbaum: “This alludes to the fact that Haran is inferior to Yiskah, since it is only in her merit that Scripture publicizes his name.” She explains that Haran’s and Milkah’s hearts are divided as to whether they should worship idols or G-d, whereas Yiskah has clarity of vision and is not influenced by her father. 

In this week’s Torah portion, G-d tells Avram to go to a land that G-d would show him. “And Avram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother’s son, and all their possessions that they had acquired and the souls they had made…” (Bereishit 12:5)

The previous portion (Bereishit 11:30) states that Sarai is barren and childless, so who are the “souls” they acquired? Rashi remarks that these are the people Avram and Sarai “brought under the wings of the Shechinah. Avram would convert the men and Sarai would convert the women.” Avram and Sarai are equal partners in the mission of bringing monotheism to the world. To this day, converts to Judaism are called sons and daughters of Avraham and Sarah.

When a famine forces Avram and Sarai to move to Egypt, Avram suddenly recognizes Sarai’s extreme physical beauty and realizes that the Egyptians would take advantage of her. (Bereishit 12:11) Until this point, according to Midrash Aggadah (Tanhuma Lech Lecha 5), Rashi writes, “he did not recognize her [beauty] because of their modesty…The simple meaning of the verse is ‘the time has come when we must be concerned about your beauty. I have known already for a long time that you are of fair appearance, but now we are coming among the brothers of Cushites, and they are not accustomed to a [fair and] beautiful woman.’”

Writes Rebbetzin Chana Bracha Siegelbaum in her book Women at the Crossroads: “The relationship between Avram and Sarai was profoundly spiritual. Avram was only aware of her inner beauty and holiness. Its outer physical manifestation was not important to him. Likewise, Sarai did not feel self-important because of her attractiveness.”

“And it came to pass when Avram came to Egypt that the Egyptians saw the woman, that she was very pretty.” (Bereishit 12:14)

Rashi notes that the text should say “when Avram and Sarai came to Egypt.” He understands from this that Avram hides Sarai in a trunk. Avram has instructed Sarai to stretch the truth and tell the Egyptians (if they open the trunk) that she is his sister. (She is actually his niece, daughter of his deceased brother, and therefore his father’s granddaughter, and also his father’s daughter-in-law.)  As her “brother” he would ask for a large dowry the Egyptians would not be able to afford. (As her husband, he would have been killed.) Pharaoh’s princes, however, pay the dowry and take Sarai to Pharaoh’s palace. (Bereishit 12:15) G-d protects Sarai’s purity by afflicting Pharaoh and his household with great plagues. (Bereishit 12:17)

Avram and Sarai leave Egypt accompanied by an Egyptian handmaid, Hagar. They dwell in Canaan for ten years and Sarai and Avram still are childless. “And Sarai said to Avram, ‘Behold now, the L-rd has restrained me from bearing; please come to my handmaid; perhaps I will be built up/I will have a child from her.’ And Avram hearkened to/heeded Sarai’s voice.” (Bereishit 16:2)

Avram recognizes Sarai’s divine inspiration. He marries Hagar and Hagar conceives. As soon as she becomes pregnant, Hagar begins belittling the infertile Sarai. Sarai complains to Avram and he tells her he trusts her to do with Hagar as she feels fit. Sarai banishes Hagar and Hagar flees. (Bereishit 16:4-6) Hagar gives birth to a son named Ishmael. (Bereishit 16:15)

When Avram is 99 years old and Sarai is 90 years old, G-d appears to Avram and says, “Your name shall no longer be called Avram, but your name shall be Avraham [Abraham], for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations.” (Bereishit 17:5)  

G-d also changes Sarai’s name. “Your wife Sarai – you shall not call her name Sarai for Sarah is her name. And I will bless her, and I will give you a son from her, and I will bless her, and she will become [a mother of] nations.” (Bereishit 17: 15-16)

Writes Rebbetzin Siegelbaum: “The [name] change is connected with their ability to have children. The Hebrew words for man and woman are ish and isha. The letters that distinguish them are yud and heh. Kli Yakar explains that Hashem exchanged the masculine letter yud of Sarai’s name with the letter heh, in order to empower her with feminine energy and enable her to give birth. Hashem created the world with the letter heh. Therefore this letter is endowed with the power of procreation (See Rashi on Bereishit 2:4).”

“The yud has the numerical value of ten whereas the heh is equal to five. Thus the yud in Sarai’s name equals the sum of both the heh for which it was exchanged and the heh that was added to Avram’s name. The heh with its birthing power was added to Avram’s name from the yud of Sarai to indicate that it was Sarah’s merit that caused both of them to give birth to the progenitor of the Jewish people.”

The Rebbetzin notes that while Avraham was the father of many nations, Sarah alone was selected to be the mother of the Jewish people. From this we learn that Jewish descent follows the mother.

http://www.chabad.org/theJewishWoman/article_cdo/aid/765186/jewish/The-Three-Faces-of-Sarah.htm

http://www.breslev.co.il/articles/torah_portion/chanas_blessing/yiskah.aspx?id=14071&language=english

Published in honor of the bat mitzvah of Molly Noskin.

  

Noach 5774: Naama

“You [Noach] shall come into the ark, you, and your sons, and your wife, and your sons’ wives with you.” (Bereishit/Genesis 6:18)

The wife of Noach is not named here, but Rashi, citing the Midrash (Bereishit Rabbah 23:3), identifies her as Naama through the genealogical information in the previous Torah portion.  This provides a great deal of insight and information.

“And Lemech took himself two wives; one was named Ada and the other was named Tzila…And Tzila, she, too, bore Tubal-cain…and Tubal-cain’s sister was Naama.”  (Bereishit 4:22)

Naama’s father, Lemech, is a fifth-generation descendant of Adam and Chava’s son Cain. Lemech marries two women at once, Ada to bear his children and work in the house, and Tzila to remain beautiful, child-free and available to Lemech. Despite Lemech’s plans, Tzila does bear children.

Rashi characterizes Lemech’s behavior as part of the morally reprehensible practices that cause G-d to send the flood and destroy everyone in the world but Noach and his family.  Writes Rashi: “So was the custom of the generation of the flood, one [wife] for propagation and one for marital relations. The one who was for marital relations would be given a potion of roots to drink, so that she should become sterile, and he would adorn her like a bride and feed her delicacies, but her companion was neglected and was mourning like a widow.”  

Writes Rabbi Ari Kahn on aish.com: “To divide the [wifely roles of mother and lover] is to objectify women based on utility. This is not the ideal to which the Torah ascribes, not the ideal toward which mankind is meant to strive.  A wife, a partner, a helpmate – a soulmate – is both a mother and a lover.”

It is a common misconception that all of the descendants of the murderous Cain (who killed his brother, Hevel/Abel) and the immoral Lemech (who ends up murdering Cain) are destroyed in the flood.  However, this fails to account for the marriage of Noach, a descendant of Adam and Chava’s son Shet (Seth), to Naama. (Shet, incidentally, is conceived as a replacement for his murdered brother, Hevel, who dies childless. Naama’s half-brothers, Yaval and Yuval, and her brother, Tuval-cain, are named for Hevel.)

Writes Rabbi Kahn: “Naama was not ‘incidentally’ the sister of Tuval-cain. She was the final link in the chain which began with Cain and is traced through Lemech, who bestowed upon his children the legacy of Hevel. This very Naama will facilitate the merger of the genealogical lines: a descendant of Cain, a stand-in for Hevel, she marries Noach, a descendant of Shet, himself a replacement for Hevel…Even after the great flood which purges the world of sin and restores purity and equilibrium, Naama carries the line of Cain into the world. Naama, the wife of Noach, survives; the line of Cain lives on.”

Why is the line of Cain preserved? Is it Naama who redeems the line? Our Sages have differing opinions. “Rabbi Abba bar Kahana said, ‘[She was called Naama] because her deeds were ne’imim, pleasing. The Rabbis said …the name [Naama] denotes that she sang, man’emet, to the timbrel in honor of idolatry.”

The later Midrash and the mystical Zohar relate that Naama is the most beautiful woman in the world, so much so that she causes the angels to fall for her, for they think she is one of them. “The sons of G-d saw how beautiful the daughters of men were.” (Bereishit 6:2)

Is Naama a temptress/seductress, or the fitting wife of the most righteous man of his generation? Rabbi Kahn points out what we learn about Naama from our opening verse (Bereishit 6:18).  He writes: “The syntax of this verse is curious: rather than stating ‘you and your wife, your sons and their wives,’ the order of the relationships seems unnatural: ‘you, and your sons, and your wife, and your sons’ wives.’ Rashi learns from this syntax that conjugal relations were prohibited on the ark; the men and the women were segregated.” (Talmud Bavli, Sanhedrin 108b)  By preserving abstinence and holiness on the ark, Naama rectifies the sins of her father Lemech and becomes worthy to be the progenitor of the new world that arises after the flood.

http://www.aish.com/tp/i/moha/64722247.html

Bereishit 5774: Chava

“And G-d created the human being in His image; in the image of G-d He created him; male and female He created them.” (Bereishit/Genesis 1:27)

Why does Torah jump from the singular “him” to the plural “them” when describing the first human being?  Writes Rebbetzin Chana Bracha Siegelbaum: “This change from singular to plural indicates the transition from the spiritual realm, where man and woman were one inseparable being, to the physical realm where mankind became split into two different genders, each with its own unique physical and spiritual attributes.”

The Rebbetzin contends that the equal status of man and woman is clear from the fact that both are manifestations of G-d’s image. G-d is One, and therefore has no higher or lower image.

“And the L-rd G-d said, ‘It is not good for man to be alone; I will make a helper to match him.’” (Bereishit 2:18)

A fundamental Torah principle is that man and woman together complete each other. The Hebrew for “helper to match him” is ezer k’negedo. Ezer means “helper.” K’negedo has multiple meanings: opposite, against, facing, contrary to, matching, parallel and in opposition. Writes the Rebbetzin: “The common denominator of all these expressions is equality. You can only be an opponent if you are an equal player…The reason woman perfects man in the game of life is that she is his equal match.”

Dr. Lisa Aiken in her book To Be a Jewish Woman explains that as long as the first person was self-sufficient and had everything provided to him/her, s/he was essentially a taker.  She writes: “In order to imitate G-d…[he] would have to be a giver.”  The first person needed someone to whom s/he could give, and likewise, someone from whom s/he could receive.

“And the L-rd G-d built the rib/side that He had taken from the man, into a woman, and He brought her unto the man.” (Bereishit 2:22)

It is generally understood that G-d created the first woman from the first human being’s rib. The Hebrew word used is tzela, which actually means “side”.  Notes the Rebbetzin: “Her coming into being through man’s side enabled their relationship to be that of equal partners, walking through life side by side.”

The Hebrew vayiven (and He built) has the same root as the Hebrew word bina, understanding and comprehension. Dr. Aiken writes that women are endowed with the bina of people’s emotions and of relationships. The Midrash (Bereishit Raba 18:1) says that “she was given more intuition than man.” Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz puts forth that this extra intuition leads her to curiosity. This curiosity becomes dangerous rather than helpful when it exceeds boundaries, as when the first woman eats fruit from the prohibited Tree of Knowledge and persuades the first man to join her. (Bereishit 3:6)

G-d makes changes to woman after this: “To the woman He said, ‘I shall surely increase your pain and your travail [of childbirth]; in pain you shall bear children. And to your husband will be your desire/passion, and he will rule over/dominate you.’” (Bereishit 3:16)  

Dr. Aiken explains that G-d introduces ten adaptations: uncomfortable menstrual cycles; painful first intercourse; difficulty child rearing; excessive bodily shyness; uncomfortable pregnancy; painful childbirth; monogamy; sexual longing for husband; difficulty requesting sexual intimacy; desire to stay home. (Talmud Bavli, Eiruvim 100b)

Writes Dr. Aiken: “In general, the changes heighten women’s awareness of their potentials for nurturing and how they can be misused…Since [the first woman] was the embodiment of all female souls that would ever exist, her female descendants would have the role of correcting the errors that she had made. The changes would help ensure that women would rectify [the first woman’s] failing.”

After G-d describes the changes to both woman and man, the first woman, known as Ha-Isha (the woman) receives a name.  “And the man named his wife Chava (Eve) because she was the mother of all life.” (Bereishit/3:20) Chava bears Cain and Hevel (Abel).  At age 130, she gives birth to Shet (Seth). In the course of her exceedingly long lifetime, Chava has many other children but these are the only ones named in Torah.

In addition to meaning “mother of all life,’’ Chava also means “conversation.” Chazal (our Sages) teach that women were given greater linguistic potentials than men in order to create connections with people that can nurture and repair the world.

http://www.breslev.co.il/articles/torah_portion/chanas_blessing/without_her__nothing.aspx?id=13986&language=english