Vayera - Formed Through the Fire

you're listening to the weekly partial podcast recorded with hashem's never- ending assistance in Israel 5776 2015 this week's para is and we have the promise God promises hasem promises to to Abraham and to Sarah his wife that they're going to have a miraculous child y Isaac everyone who hears about it will laugh which is the meaning of his name and Sarah is going to be 90 years old Abraham is going to be 100 years old and together they will have this amazing child who will be the forebearer of the Jewish people the miraculous people who throughout history have defied defied all the odds and here we are it's a g it's a it's an amazing joke so to speak it's an amazing laughing experience that the Jewish people still exist to this day despite all the odds and I'd like to focus in on a very specific point within the paraa which at first glance seems to be very strange very odd the Torah tells us the whole story with the whole sequence of events where as we said reveals to a that he's they're going to have a child there's a whole story with that with the Mal with the angels and then those angels go off to sidom to destroy sidom and we've spoken in the past what's the connection why the same Angels why is this happening at the same time that's not our discussion for now but the Torah gives that whole story finishes off with the story of Lo and his daughters which is the wrapup of the story of the destruction of Sodom and then the Torah goes on before telling us of the birth of Y before telling us about this amazing miraculous event the Torah interjects a story which sounds very familiar which we seem to have heard before and in fact the mes indeed connects this story to the previous time where we had this type of story in last week's para and that story is where abam and Sarah find themselves in a location find themselves in a place where the people of that place see the beauty of saru see the beauty of our matriarch of Sarah and they go and they they whisk her away to the palace and she's immediately made into the princess the queen of the king of that location and last week's para it was Pharaoh it was in MIT in Egypt and this week's para it's with it's interesting to note all the differences between the two stories but that's not going to be our Focus for now but what I would like to point out is the first thing is a question and then I'd like to get into the magish and and try to understand there some some points there asks some questions there the first point is a simple question the Torah interrupts the story we were just talking about the story and of of AR ainu being told and Sarah being told that they're going to have a child miraculously the Torah is going to go on and tell us the the rest of that story which is that indeed she does have this amazing miraculous child named y but before that it interrupts the to is interrupting with the story of a going down and S being captured why indeed is it that this story interrupts also there's two parts of this question because on the one hand the Torah many times is sequential the Torah tells us the stories in the order that they happen but sometimes the Torah is nonsequential and whether we say that it's sequential or not I I I would guess as we're going to see as we're going to speak about in the idea the the foundational idea we see here I would guess that indeed this was sequential this actually happened in the interim between the time that they received the blessing or the the information that they were going to have this miraculous child until she indeed conceived and had the child in the interim this story happened with AI but whether or not that's actually true that it is sequential it still begs the question if it's sequential so then why indeed did this happen first before she actually conceived and had a child that's first of all and indeed it sounds that way from the midash and they talk about the fact that y looked exactly exactly like said that no one should think that she had conceived with a but whether or not it's sequential we can still ask why would the Torah put this story before the the birth the conception and birth of Y also looking back looking back at the previous time where there was such a story first of all like what is the significance of the story it's like a strange story why is it so important to us to know that that s man was beautiful the Torah tells us this about tells us about Rifka about Rebecca about Rachel why is it so important for us to know that what's the significance to know everything that Hashem does everything that's written in the Torah is written there for reason but everything Hashem does as well is intentional is is for a reason it's for a purpose there's a reason why our our matriarchs were so beautiful and it's not just because oh it's a nice thing that they were beautiful the Jewish people start with beautiful people both physically and spiritually it's not just that there's something deeper here what's the significance of the fact that was so beautiful number one and number two what is the significance why does Torah feel so important for us to know that indeed as a result of this beauty she's multiple times taken captive and brought to be the queen of some some great Monarch so for a moment I'd like to look at a medish which repeats itself it's a twin medish that we find both in this week's paraa in regards to the story with as well as the par last week with parro the measure says like this I'm said the Mish is explaining why was it that the Servants of pharaoh and the Servants of aik were also struck with the neim with the with the difficulties and the punishment that pharaoh and a were to be struck with so in explaining this the me says that the Servants of pharaoh and the Servants of a came and forced her they they forced her onto the bed upon which she was going to have to be together with the Monarch so now that entire night Sarah was lying flat on her face and she was praying and she was saying Master of the world amazing thing listen to this prayer the prayer is very powerful and there's something very deep in this prayer she said God Abraham when he left when he went out from his birthplace so he had a promise from you he had received an open Revelation and you had promised him that I'm going to take you to this land and all will be well and I says Sarah I went with trust with faith I didn't have an open Revelation I didn't have that I didn't have the guarantee that abam had I trusted that if it's good for my husband it's good for me and therefore I came out with faith so she was saying that there's a certain deeper connection that she had there was a certain greater sacrifice that she made made because she didn't have that open Revelation and nevertheless she went and she followed the word of Hashem and now what happens so she's saying in a certain sense I've done something greater now in this particular circumstance Abraham is the one who's outside of the pot meaning he's outside that boiling place he's not the one who's been placed into the place of challenge but here I am I'm right here in the Boiling Pot I'm in that place that that challenging place that place of difficulty so she was in a certain sense saying I don't understand what's going on or she was saying to please I have a please help me out save me so God responds her and says everything that I'm doing for you I doing this and in fact the measure says how do we know that indeed it was all for her in the story of pharaoh so everyone says that everything was because this matter of Abraham's wife Sarah so we see that everything was for her everything was done on her behalf that's the Mish says now there's aot in the Mish which I'm going to get to in a moment that the talks about but just in the the simple understanding of what's going on in the Mish which I'm going to try to develop as we continue to speak here is somehow Hashem is saying to her somehow this is for your good this difficult this challenge that you're experiencing this seemingly horrible deed this horrible experience that she's going through that she's been been captured and that she's going to be taken to be the queen and all that entails this is all for her good somehow now in explaining this so the says what was the understanding of the response of God this that I'm doing is not a result of the promise meaning AR ainu had had been promised something and S went along with that promise and she she had that Faith like we said but Hashem says to her this has nothing to do with that whole business Hashem says you know you think sometimes a person thinks that what's greater if someone has and completely trusts in hasem that everything's going to be well not because they're just Blind Faith but they've seen it and they have a promise from God and they they're completely trusting in God is that greater or perhaps when a person has faith and they feel challenged in their faith and they need to pray they need to ask Hashem for help maybe that's greater so the mes as understands it is saying that that Hashem is responding and saying the greater thing is prayer I'm sending you through this challenge because I want to hear your prayer I know yesu Abraham indeed had that promise but there's something greater about going through a challenge and indeed praying as a result that there's a greater reward or there's a greater spiritual accomplishment when a person praise and trusts in God more so than when a person has a promise from God and therefore knows directly from with his with his with his senses that that everything's going to be okay and the result will be as the said that that there's going to be a greater Kem a greater sanctification of God's name that's going to result now that's but in looking at the simple in looking at the simple understanding of the M the Mish says something which needs explanation the Mish is saying that this thing was done for your sake that the challenge that is understanding it to be that this is something that you have done well you've done something greater than Abraham but that's not what the M says the M says I'm doing this for you I'm you are going through this challenge somehow it's going to benefit you yes everyone is going to say that it's done because of you that's where gets the idea of that there's a the sanctification of God's name because everyone's talking about the fact that this happened because of SAR but on a deeper level there's something here that's happening to her benefit and the question is what or how is there a benefit what is the understanding of the fact that going through this challenge going through this difficulty which is like I mean an the most amazing challenging thing that a woman could possibly go through so what is the understanding of it what's the depth of this idea and in thinking about this and looking at this in a broader way trying to understand this in light of the questions that we've asked a a very amazing thing there's an amazing thing here that we we start to see right before this this story happens right before she's about to be remembered by Hashem and she's about to conce receive and have this miraculous birth we look back at the story in in what happened immediately after the whole story with this with this challenge with Pharaoh that she was taken she was abducted what happens immediately after that is that and SAR become exceedingly wealthy before they had come down they didn't have this great wealth they didn't have this great fortune and and andak and the sheep and the cattle Etc this all came as a result of them coming down to Egypt I believe that what we see here is an amazing deep idea and we need to understand why this is true and perhaps we'll give a little bit of a hper a little explanation as to why but what we see here is that in order to receive an amazing amount of good in order to receive the wealth the the the prosperity that Abraham and Sarah were about to receive they had to go through this Challenge and the challenge the difficulty and the depth of the difficulty created somehow a spiritual vacuum which would draw to them this wealth which for Aram and SAR was a spiritual wealth besides for being a physical wealth it gave them the opportunity first of all because of his great wealth he would be somebody who would be greatly respected not just for his spiritual teachings but also for his for his stature as a wealthy person and that would lend Credence to the spiritual teachings that he was going to say the Second Story which is our story in order for her to be able able to have this incredible Miracle occur to her that she would be able to conceive in her old age at the age of 90 to be able to have that child and to be able to bring the Jewish people into the world I mean this is the most seminal event in all of reality in all of the world's history in order for that to occur she had to go through an incredibly challenging difficult situation which not coincidentally had everything to do with the power of conception she was being threatened in in the the area of relations in the area of marital relations something that's really very interesting here is that the the concept at its core is that a person many times in order to reach something good in order to reach a certain level of prosperity or a certain level of spiritual accomplishment there is a difficulty and a challenge that must be gone through that that they must Traverse in order to receive that good now what's interesting is that at the very beginning this is something that they already knew about this is something that they were already aware they had already received the blessing that and the statement and the prophecy that they were going to receive this goodness that they were going to have this child but there's a moment when it seems like that's not going to happen it seems like she's been taken she's been abducted and the dreams and the hopes are dashed that's how it seems but somehow that very idea where it seems that everything is lost is part of getting what's really good and you see this this theme you know it repeats itself all over it's for sure true as far as is and The Binding of Isaac it looks like he's going to be lost he has to be brought as a Corbin has a sacrifice Etc but that opens the possibility of him being able to continue the line of CLA Isel miraculously and have that possibility of marrying Rebecca which occurs immediately after that story and of course the question becomes what is the I why why is it why does it have to be that way why does Amel have to endure great suffering in in order to be able to receive good why is a human being an individual need to endure great suffering in order to receive great good and I think in trying to understand it it comes back to the concept of what happened in the Garden of Eden with Adam and with Adam and Eve they ate from the they ate from the the tree of knowledge of Good and Evil and the result of that eating is that everything is everything is confused everything is mixed up the world is no longer in a space in a Transcendent state where everything is good but rather the world comes down we have descended to a place where for every good thing that there is in the world there's a bad thing for every bad thing in the world that there is there's a good thing we have forces and counter forces there's a Kal Isel and there's an amalik there's the power of good and there's the power of evil and in order for good to come into the world and this is something we've spoken about previously we've spoken about specifically in the context of the destruction of sim which is happening concurrently with the story of of know of them conceiving there is evil in the world that needs to be gone through or destroyed or experienced vanquished in order for the good to be experienced in order for that good thing that amazingly good thing to come into the world and it's the result of the world being in a state of duality in a state where it seems that there is evil and the evil is there so that we have that free choice so that we have that ability to choose between good and evil but the result of it also is that whenever there's anything good it always has to be counterbalanced by something bad and the result of that is C according to how much good the experience is meant to be there also has to be a payment you have to pay they have to there's there's like there's no such thing as a free thing in this world there's no free rides in the world that we exist within at this time I had a discussion with somebody yesterday today about this idea and and how you know everything you know there is a something called Hashem gives there's a storehouse hm gives free gifts even if a person doesn't deserve it person gets free gifts so to speak hasem is for certain people if a person let's say is he doesn't he doesn't take personally or he doesn't allow the insults of others to get to him he forgives the people he completely lets it pass so hasem also lets all of his sins pass it's as if gives it out for free but in order to get to that place of free of of the free lunch so to speak of of receiving the good that God wants to give for free a person has to pay the price to get there it's like in this world we live in a world of masle we live in a world where there's good and bad and sometimes a person is stuck in in a place which is negative which is difficult which is challenging but it's possible to get to a higher realm where all is good where a person only sees the good but in order to get to that space a price has to be paid somewhere that price could be because I went and I had an embarrassing experience that price could be where I went and I asked M I asked forgiveness from somebody for for something I did wrong which is also an embarrassing experience the price could be paid through a challenge in my life it could be it could be through through an illness having for bid there's all kinds of ways that a person can pay the price I can also pay the price through chuva by repenting coming back to God saying God I'm sorry for all the evil things that I've done I'm sorry for the negative behaviors that I've done I'm sorry and I can pay the price but I have to pay the price and in order to experience that's it's an amazing thing it's a deep idea but it's because of the world that we exist in as a result of the as a result of the sin of that first man as a result of that we live in this world where we have Duality and so for every good thing that comes into the world there has to be an experience of the negative and who was able through her through her prayer to be able to experience that goodness to be able to to not have to you know she thank God there was no interaction on a physical level between her and a or between her and Pharaoh so she was saved from that through her prayer through that depth of of of B that she was able to get to through nullifying herself to God and that's the prayer and that's what the AOS is speaking about but when the medra says everything I'm doing is for you what hasem is saying is that in this world the only way for you to get to that P which is the next verses the only way for a and S to get to that amazing wealth which will help them accomplish their spiritual goals is only through this challenge the challenge itself is for her benefit because now she's going to have this amazing experience she's going to be the matriarch the forebearer of the entire Jewish people she's going to birth miraculously to that amazing laughter to Y to Isaac and it's not a coincidence that Sarah is beautiful the beauty itself is something which represents the encompassing idea the idea that there's a greater good that will come out of this beauty but the beauty itself the Tyra whenever it talks about it the Tyra speaks about the fact that it attracts some evil to her but the evil itself is really as we said is to bring something good into the world an amazing good into the of the world and I just want to leave you with one last idea which is very n to us which really touches us and that is what the measure says in yakon the yakon speaks about this amazing end Days End of Days scenario where Paras Persia destroys the entire world somehow they destroy the entire world and the Jews are running back and forth where do we go where do we go it's a medish it's explicit it's a you know at least 2,000 years old this Mish and after the destruction and after the uncertainty of the Jewish people Hashem says to them don't worry everything that I've done is for you the same exact Lan same exact language all that I've done was only for you all of the challenges all of the danger all of the difficulties are in order to experience an amazing good when we look at the difficulties of course we can't completely explain them we don't understand you look at the difficulties the Jewish people have gone through throughout history we can't understand it but there's a there is some understanding that there is an amazing good that comes out whenever we have challenges we don't ask for challenges but the challenge is somehow that challenge and according to how great the challenge is that challenge creates a spiritual vacuum which allows an intense good to come in afterwards which counterbalances the intense Challenge and the difficulty and the hardship that was entailed by going through that challenge the good that comes out is so amazing and so deep and so beautiful and so miraculous that it it's so important to understand that it comes because of the challenge that a person went through I want to bless you and please bless me back that Hashem should help us not to have to go through so many challenges but if we do have to go through challenges if we do have to experience difficulties Hashem should help us to understand and to know that everything that we're experiencing is is ultimately for our good and hasem should help us to see in retrospect all of the amazing good things that do come into our lives as the result of these great challenges thank you so much for listening have a wonderful shabas this podcast was made possible through the gracious donations of listeners like you for more podcasts like this please visit www.wag.com or search on iTunes Ari goldwag [Music]