Learning is a vital part of our ethos and vision and we would like to respond to our members needs and requirements. Initially the Dayan has established a programme offering weekly sessions for both men and women but please do let us know if you would like any additional learning sessions and we will do our best to find you a suitable chavruta.
Shiurim & Adult Education
THOUGHTS ON VAYERA BY AMI JACOBS
Ami is Ann & Gerald Barnett’s grandson. He was a student at HaKotel Yeshiva and is now serving in the IDF.
There are many fascinating events we come across in this week’s parsha that require a tremendous amount of explanation. To name a few; why angels come to visit Avraham, how Avraham could (seemingly) be arguing with Hashem (who is all knowing) about Sedom, why Lot’s wife was turned into “a pillar of salt” and most obviously the Akaida. We also have the story of when Hagar is sent away with Yishmael into the desert despite Avraham being distressed about doing so. Rashi adds this was because Yishmael was committing one of the three cardinal sins and Sara didn’t want to have him around Yitzchak. Soon after their water ran out so Hagar placed Yishmael beneath “one of the trees” and “sat at a distance” in order that she would not see the “death of the child” and she cried.
I once heard Rav Roser explain that there are three different types of cries by mothers: Hagar, Eim Sisera and Rachel.
Hagar’s cry was a cry of giving up of hope and seeing the reality as what it was without believing it could be changed in any way. She looked at reality too bluntly.
Eim Sisera (the mother of Sisera) in Shoftim 5:28 cries out, waiting for her son, Sisera, to return from battle. The song depicts her standing by a window, peering through and anxiously waiting for her son to return from battle even though Sisra should have returned already. She makes various excuses of why he hasn’t returned yet like “they must be dividing up the spoil” from the war. Eim Sisra lived in a false reality. One in which she would not look at what was going on around her and see what was really going on.
However, we then have Rachel’s cry. She cries, in Yirmiyahu 31:15, for her children (Am Yisrael) who are now going in to exile due to the Babylonians. Not because she sees the situation as hopeless like Hagar, nor because she has false hope of the situation turning around in an instant like Eim Sisera. Rather it is because she sees very clearly what is going on but davens that one day the situation will improve and that Am Yisrael will return to Eretz Yisrael. This is the Jewish perspective. We don’t lie to ourselves or hide away from the truth, we do something about it.
Shabbat shalom.
Learning Opportunities