Parshas Vayeira: Talk to Hashem

(I hate to start the parsha off with an apology, but I am going to do so nevertheless. I am adjusting to a very different teaching schedule this year, which means I have to rewire my brain to write earlier, which I have not yet managed. My process, therefore, is a bit more curtailed and off-the-cuff than I would like  - meaning less reading into the words and more conceptual.)

 

It would be easy to jump into all that the parsha has to say about Hagar and Yishmael this week to talk about the situation in the world. This is, after all, the beginning of Yishmael. Indeed, even before Yishmael, we see the root of the problem in Hagar, who, according to the Midrashim, flaunted herself before Sarah as the real wife of Avraham because of her ability to carry a child. Hagar did not see that Sarah’s own spiritual greatness was a contributing factor to the greatness of this family. It is interesting to note that between Yishmael and the sons she bore when she returned as Keturah, the children of Hagar, the population disparity was 7 to 1. But population, or might, did not make right, and Hashem designated only Yitzchak as Avraham’s true heir.

 

Thus has it been proven how easy it is to look at Parshas Vayeira and see deep connections to our life and times in 2024. There is, however, another section of the parsha that seems important to look at, and that is Avraham’s conversation with Hashem about S’dom.

 

One could consider Avraham’s petition to Hashem futile. Afterall, he didn’t stop the destruction of S’dom. S’dom’s destruction was, at that point, inevitable. Every argument that Avraham could prepare was something Hashem had already taken into consideration. Hashem had made His decree, and history was set in motion. So why was this discussion included in the Torah? Indeed, not only was it included, but the Torah goes out of its way to stress how important Hashem felt it was to tell Avraham about that which was about to happen.

 

But everything in the Torah serves a purpose for the future of Klal Yisrael. Throughout the thousands of years of our history, the Jewish people have faced times of immense crisis. Often, we could see the danger coming, but it seemed that the spirals of history were too far in motion to be stopped. We might feel forsaken. We might feel unheard. We might even feel bereft and abandoned.

 

Hashem wants us to be like Avraham, to react and to try to change the world. The dialogue with Avraham tells us that we still have a proactive responsibility to try, to pray, to beseech Hashem. There are no unstoppable spirals; there is only that which Hashem decrees. S’dom couldn’t be spared or redeemed, but still Hashem listened and was mindful of that which Avraham argued. Hashem listened to the possibility, dwindling, that there might be righteous people left, and one must believe that if He could have found a redeeming feature for S’dom, He would have.

 

The year 5784 feels like the beginning of another spiral. So much has happened that feels out of control, out of line with the natural course of history and society… that’s, at least, how it feels. We have davened to Hashem, and yet we still await resolution. We have beseeched Hashem, and the hostages are still not free.

 

Avraham kept inquiring down to the last 10. This is the chizuk that we must take from the parsha. History has a path, Hashem’s path. We won’t always like it; it will sometimes be devastating – in truth - but Hashem knows the far greater plan. Our voices cannot remain silent, because our calling out to Hashem is the core of our relationship; it is our true inheritance from Avraham.