And God was with the lad, and he grew, and he dwelt in the desert,

and he became an archer. (Bereishit 21:20)

 

An archer - Multiple Interpretations

An archer - roveh kashat - one who shoots arrows with a bow. [He is so designated] because of his occupation, like hamar [donkey driver], gamal [camel driver], tzayad [hunter]. Therefore, the letter shin is punctuated with a dagesh. He would dwell in the desert and waylay the passers-by. That is what is meant by (above 16: 12): his hand will be upon all, etc.

(Rashi ad loc, based on Judaica Press translation)

 

and he grew, and he dwelt in the desert. This describes his doings and his occupation through which he supported himself after leaving his father's home from which he had been sent empty-handed.

 (Akedat Yitzhak by R. Yitzhak Arama, Spain, Portugal, Italy 1420-1494)

 

...Scripture states that God was with the lad, in this way fulfilling that which was said concerning him to Abraham, and that he dwelt in that wilderness and became an archer. After leaving his father's home empty-handed, he supported himself through hunting. That is why his descendants, the children of Kedar, dwell in the wildernesses and are wilderness people unto this day.

(Abarbanel, ad loc)

 

And he became an archer The vocalization of kashat - archer - teaches us that it is not the name of the instrument that he shoots, but rather the name of one who performs a certain action as his profession, as is the case with gamal and hamar, which refer, respectively, to one who leads camels and one who leads donkeys, for Ishmael was a professional and well trained even though there was no one to teach him. Rather [he learnt] with the help of Heaven.

(HaAmek Davar, adloc)

 

And he became an archer - He would draw the bow and shoot arrows and sustain himself through hunting after leaving his father's home empty-handed. For all of this, God glorified him and made him the head of a great nation.

(R. Itzhak Shmuel Reggio - Northern Italy, 19^th century)

 

Ishmael - Expelled or Sent Forth?

A Call for the Solution of the Refugee Problem

Ido Pachter

The passage describing the expulsion of Hagar and her son Ishmael from Abraham's house is one of the most highly charged stories in the book of Bereishit. Abraham, the pillar of loving-kindness, rises early in the morning and casts out his own son to the wilderness, to a place of thirst and death, without escort or protection. How can this be? Where is Abraham's kindness that even showed compassion towards those as wicked as the people of Sodom?

It is not mere coincidence that Abraham's deed bears resemblance to another story that appears soon after; the story of the Akedah. In both instances Abraham wakes up early to sacrifice a son as required by a divine decree; in both cases the son's life is in danger - one threatened by a knife, the other by thirst. In both stories an angel intervenes at the last moment to save the child, just as it seemed that God's promise would be broken. One was saved by a ram, the other by a well. And if many have risen to ask hard questions about the morality of the Akedah, the expulsion of Ishmael should at least provoke astonishment.

Our puzzlement grows in light of the verses which reacquaint us with Ishmael after his father's death:

And Abraham expired and died in a good old age, old and satisfied, and he was gathered to his people. And Isaac and Ishmael his sons buried him in the Cave of Machpelah in the field of Ephron the son of Zohar the Hittite, which faces Mamre, (Bereishit 25:8-9)

Ishmael, the expelled son, returns after Abraham's death to do him a final kindness. What was his part in this deed? Didn't he understand the significance of his own expulsion? Abraham had removed him from possessing his estate!

It seems that the solution to these problems hangs upon the simple yet conventionally unrecognized fact that Abraham never expelled Ishmael from his home. If we read Scripture carefully we will discover that Abraham did not actually fulfill Sarah's original request. Sarah said: Expel this maidservant and her son (21:10), but Abraham's deed is described differently: And Abraham rose early in the morning and took bread and a pitcher of water and gave them to Hagar...and sent her (21:14). Abraham does not expel Hagar - rather he sends her. What is the significance of this difference in wording?

Checking the use of the word "expelled" - garash - in the Torah, we discover that it is always used to describe a traumatic situation of a fatal nature; the intention is to be permanently rid of the expellee. We see this in the case of Adam when he is expelled from the Garden of Eden after his sin, and when the seven nations are expelled from the Land of Israel so that it can be possessed by the Israelites. The verb shalah - "sent" - is used to describe a much more toned-down situation of a completely different character. People are not sent out in order to get rid of them, but rather to give them purpose.

When the sender understands that the one to be sent cannot fulfill his mission in the place he is presently located and in the time allotted him, he actually grants the one sent the opportunity to fulfill his purpose in an appropriate place. Take Noah, for example. He sends forth the dove from the ark so that it can realize its mission. Similarly, Rebecca is sent forth from her father's house in order to raise a family for Isaac, and so on. Thus we find that while the act of sending appears similar to the act of expelling, the two are actually completely different from each other in their inner content and purpose.

Let us return to the story of Ishmael's expulsion. Sarah wanted him expelled so that he would not share Isaac's inheritance, and Abraham does finally accede to her wish. Abraham removes Ishmael from his home, but (and here is the turning point where Sarah's demand takes on a new character when performed by Abraham) he only does so after God approves of the move and promises that also the son of the handmaid I will make into a nation, because he is your seed. That is to say: It is Ishmael's destiny to found a great nation as had been promised - but this will take place in another land. The current location, where Isaac dwells, is not also Ishmael's place, and in that sense Sarah was right when she demanded that they be separated. That being so, if Abraham wanted Ishmael to fulfill his purpose of becoming a great nation, he had to send Ishmael to another place - to the wilderness - where he could realize his destiny.

Abraham can only act upon Sarah's request after receiving this promise, but now his act takes on a completely different character. It is no longer an expulsion, but rather a sending forth. A sending-forth aimed at having Ishmael fulfill his destiny in the appropriate location.

According to this reading, far from being immoral, Abraham's act should be seen as embodying great wisdom and inner rectitude. What better witness do we have for this than Ishmael himself, who by returning to bury his father teaches us of Abraham's deeper intention in sending him out?

The ancient Isaac and Ishmael bear a message for today's Isaac and Ishmael. The War of Independence sprang from the disagreement regarding the brothers' living side by side. Sarah's cry and demand that Ishmael be expelled were realized. With Israel's victory in that war thousands of Arabs left their homes, they were "expelled" from their lands. The sons of Isaac came in their place to inherit their lands. The hope of those refugees to return quickly to their villages following the expected victory of the Arab armies and the destruction of the State of Israel was quashed and continues to be negated by Israel's continued flourishing.

From then up to this day there are refugees who remain in their original condition, lacking reasonable means of sustenance and developed infrastructure. They lack proper citizenship and equality, and their numbers continue to grow. The refugees' unbearable circumstances has served for generations as a political weapon, enflaming Palestinian national aspirations and delegitimizing Israel, thus not only endangering our own existence and any solution to our conflict with the Palestinians, but endangering the existence of all humanity.

For years the State of Israel preferred to turn a blind eye to the refugees' continuing plight, leaving the organization charged with their care - UNRWA - to be responsible for their lives. When this agency recently marked the sixtieth year of its existence, it could not take credit for the resettlement of a single refugee. At the same time, all the world's other refugees are cared for by a different agency - the UN High Commission for Refugees - which sees to their rehabilitation within a few years; some in the land of their origin, some in the lands of their refuge, and some in third countries. So far, UNHCR has been successful in its efforts, working in many different countries, from Africa to Europe, and, in recent years, Iraq.

The State of Israel must act promptly to rehabilitate the refugees, to convert them from deserted "expellees" to people who were "sent," people possessing their own purpose and hope, thus neutralizing the Middle East's great powder keg. The State of Israel must bring the refugee problem to the world agenda and act for their rehabilitation. The State of Israel must convince the world to do here what it has proven it knows how to do everywhere else on earth.

Are we capable of this? Will we be able to take responsibility for our kin, the sons of Ishmael, and be true to the path of our father Abraham? This is the true challenge of our parasha.

Ido Pachter studies at Yeshivat Birkat Moshe in Maale Adumim. He is an ordained rabbi, has a BA in education, and is a member of the Israel Initiative, idopachter@gmail.com

 

 

He lifted up his eyes and saw: here, three men... - The responsibility of protection and escort is more important than concern for physical needs and the reception of the Holy Presence

The reward for escorting guests is greater than everything and it is a law enacted by our father Abraham and the way of loving-kindness that he practiced. He would feed passers-by and give them drink, and accompany them. Receiving guests is greater than receiving the Divine Presence, for it is written, And he saw, here, three men, but escorting guests is even more important than receiving them. Our Sages said: "Whoever does not give escort is as one who sheds blood."

(RaMBaM, Mishneh Torah, Hilkhot Avelut 14:2)

 

Our hands did not shed this blood - Did it really occur to anyone that the elders of the Law Court are murderers?! But [the meaning of this is that], "We did not see him, and we sent him off without food and without escort." And the priests say Atone for your people Israel.

(Rashi Devarim 21:7, based on Sifri Deavrim)

 

Then the elder said to the younger: "Our father is old and there is not a man on earth to consort with us in the way of all the world."

(Bereishit 19:31)

 

She who began the harlotry ended with harlotry - Their mother began the harlotry, [as it is written], Then the elder said to the younger: "Let us serve our father drink..." The next day came and the elder sister told the younger... She taught her harlotry. That is why God took pity on the younger and did not make her known [as someone who slept with her father], but only [wrote] she lay with him, while regarding the elder it is written, she lay with her father. That one began the harlotry, and her daughters continued after her, for it is said, Then the people began to whore after the daughters of Moab.

(Tanhuma Balak 26)

 

R. Tanhuma said in Shmuel's name: It is not written, "that we may preserve a child of our father," but, that we may preserve seed of our father: viz the seed that comes from a different source, which is the King Messiah.

(Bereishit Rabbah 51:8, Soncino translation)

 

It could be that Lot's daughters were naïve and unthinking, both because of their youth and because they had been born in Sodom and never left it. The people of Sodom were not hospitable to visitors; they had nothing to do with anyone else, leaving Lot's daughters ignorant of geography and of the existence of other nations under heaven. When they saw the great destruction of Sodom and its satellite towns, and that they had to flee Tzoar as well, they believed that the entire world had been destroyed in a flood of fire. That is why they thought their father had hidden in a cave - because no city of refuge survived. And so, they did what they did out of good intentions, in order to preserve life on earth. The Sages praised their deed, and said:

"A person should always hasten to perform a commandment. In reward for having preceded her younger sister by one night, the elder merited [having her descendant] become king over Israel four generations before her [sister's descendent became king over Israel]" (Nazir 23b-24a).

(Reggio ad loc)

 

You Shall Walk in His Ways

R. Hamma son of R. Hanina said: What is the meaning of, You shall follow the Lord your God (Devarim 13)? Is possible for man to follow the Shekhina? Is it not written For the Lord your God is a consuming fire! (Devarim 4) But [the meaning is] "follow the attributes of The Holy One, Blessed Be He; just as he clothes the naked, as is written, The Lord God make for man and his wife garments of skin and they wore them (Bereishit 3), so should you clothe the naked; The Holy One, Blessed Be He, visits the sick, as is written. And the Lord appeared to him at the Oaks of Mamre (Bereishit 18), so should you visit the sick; The Holy One, Blessed Be He, consoles the mourners, as it is written, After the death of Abraham, the Lord blessed his son Isaac (Bereishit 25), so you should console the mourners; The Holy One, Blessed Be He, buries the dead, as is written, He buried him in the valley (Devarim 34), so you should bury the dead.

(Bavli, Sotah 14a).

 

It was taught in a Braita: Visitation of the sick has no limits. What does "has no limits" mean?... Abaye said: That even an adult should visit a child. Rabba said: Even a hundred times a day. R. Aha bar Hanina said: Whoever visits a sick person takes away one sixtieth of his sorrow.

(Bavli, Nedarim 39b)

 

Our Rabbis taught in a Braita: We are to support the indigent gentile along with the Jewish poor, and we visit the gentile sick with the Jewish sick, and we bury the dead of the gentiles along with the Jewish dead - for the sake of peace.

(Bavli, Gittin 61a)

 

Ishmael, Son of the Slave Woman, Remains the Son of Abraham

The matter was exceedingly bad... because of his son - Even though he was the son of the slave woman, he was his son, and he loved him, because he was his firstborn and he had pity upon him as a father pities his children, and he walked in a good path, for he grew up with him and he taught him the way of God, for he even taught others and guided them in the right path, all the more so [would he teach] his own son, and he [Abraham] was displeased that he be driven from his house; he did not admonish his wife out of considerations of peace in the home, as we wrote regarding Hagar (Bereishit 16:6). And he was saddened over the matter and he tolerated his wife's quarrel until the matter came before him.

(ReDaK, Bereishit 21:11)

 

How should one regulate oneself with these temperaments so that one is directed by them? One should do, change one and change one's actions which one does according to the intermediate temperaments and always go back over them, until such actions are easy for one to do and will not be troublesome for one, and until such temperaments are fixed in one's soul. This way is known as the way of the Lord, for the reasons that the Creator has been called by them and that they are the intermediate characteristics which we are obligated to adopt. This is what Abraham taught his sons, as it is written, For I know him, that he will command his children, et cetera. One who goes in this way will bring upon himself good and blessings, as it is written, ...that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which He has spoken of him.

(RaMBaM, Hilkhot Deot 1:7, Immanuel O'Levy translation)

 

There is no "preventative" punishment

Where he is - He is judged according to what he does now, and not according to what he will do in the future. The ministering angels accused and said: "Master of the Universe, you raise up a well for one whose seed is destined to kill your children with thirst?!" He replied: What is he now... a good person or a wicked one? "

They replied: "A good person."

He said to them: "According to his current actions do I judge him," and this is [the meaning of] where he is.

(Rashi, Bereishit, 21:17)

 

 

 

 

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