Rav Yitzchak Breitowitz: Complete Faith in the Signs of Redemption

[Music] Hi everybody. Yeah, good to see you. And before we begin, I actually have a very important announcement to make regarding Yibaneh's activities. This Hanukkah, Yibaneh will have be celebrating its first year in this new building and has undertaken a major campaign to raise funds for the coming year. They need $80,000 for the rent and maintenance of the building and another $120,000 for programming and chessed projects. Yibaneh has already made a huge impact on the community with number one intensive learning programs in the morning and classes almost every evening and an open Beit Midrash all day for anyone in this community. And number two, very popular classes for women three times a week. Number three, it hosts the Rabbinical Council of America Conversion Program in Jerusalem. And number four, it's a long list, chessed projects, single events and exciting educational tours. Number five, communal meals for Shabbat and the holidays. Number six, a successful and inspiring weekday Shacharit minyan. Number seven, a very popular YouTube channel with 17,000 followers and over 3 million views. Number eight, they have contributed over 120 sets of tefillin to soldiers in the IDF who have requested them. And many to soldiers who had never before put tefillin on in their lives. Every contribution does help. Please donate today. Dedications are available and can be viewed on the on the websites. Again, those of you who benefit specifically from Yibaneh have at a minimum a certain debt of hakarat hatov. And certainly in this time where I mean Baruch Hashem, we we were zocheh to see a big big yeshua with the release of the hostages, but we are not out of danger. We're very very far from being out of the woods yet, out of the hot water. We need the rachamim of of Hakadosh Baruchu as we always need the rachamim of Hakadosh Baruchu. And one of the greatest ways of eliciting the opening of the gates of heaven and the sha'arei rachamim is by the rachamim and the chessed that we show to help others, whether it's in the learning of Torah, chessed or the like. So, this is a very very good way to deal with the matzav that that we are in. So, b'ezrat Hashem, may Yibaneh be very matzliach in its fundraising efforts. Now, we have our regular dedications. And once again, as always, praying for the lasting unity of Am Yisrael, which will lead to victory eventually, and for all of those whose health has been affected by the war, a generous contribution was made by Wendy Zolty with the following message, "Thank you, Yibaneh, for your exceptional classes. You are very much appreciated." And finally, penultimately, I'd say, condolences to the Goldschneider Schneider and Goldberg family on the recent passing of Judy Goldberg. That's Rebbetzin Goldschneider's mother, Reb Aaron Goldschneider's mother-in-law. He and his Rebbetzin are very very very good friends and supporters of what Yibaneh represents as well as uh the wonderful Torah and the wonderful kiruv that Rabbi Goldschneider himself engages in. And all of us wish Rebbetzin Goldschneider and the whole family much much nachamah on their on their loss. Finally, a refuah shleimah for Chaim Tzvi ben Rivka. This is unfortunately a a pretty serious case. He's a man who desperately needs a kidney transplant. He has kidney failure. He's been on the list for a long time. On the other hand, because of injuries to his body, he is not able to get that transplant until he overcomes that particular injury. So, he kind of needs a double refuah shleimah, a refuah shleimah that the injury should heal and he will be able to get the transplant and then b'ezrat Hashem, he should get the transplant and that should allow him to continue to live a vibrant life. So, Chaim Tzvi ben Rivka, we should be mispallel for a refuah shleimah. May the divrei Torah that we say may it be a refuah shleimah for him, b'soch sha'ar cholei Yisrael. You know, I I don't want to get into politics. I just keep on smiling when I I don't know if if you heard um J.D. Vance's recent statement about the major problems in Israel are whether Christians have access to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. I wasn't aware that that had been a single problem since 1948. If you know a little bit, not that you need to know, about the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the issue is not Jewish people blocking access. The issue is it's controlled by several different groups of Christians and they violently attack each other all the time. There's the Ethiopian thing and the Coptic thing and the Catholic thing and each of them has a certain territory and if you walk 1 in over the line, they will attack. So, yeah, there is indeed a lot of fighting in that particular church, but it is 100%. I mean, even even Hamas can't be blamed for this one and it's 100% the Christian groups that control control that particular particular church. So, they they should have shalom, too. You know, Baruch Hashem, when Hakadosh Baruchu brings shalom into the world, everybody ultimately ultimately benefits from it. Okay. Uh Sefer Bereishit is maleh kodesh. It is so filled with so many and so many different things. It is so difficult to pick any discrete area to talk about, but I want to start with an interesting thought of the Shem MiShmuel. He's one of the great Chassidic masters. Uh and he has a thought that's actually very relevant to marriage generally. He He explains that according to Kabbalah, uh the avos represent certain archetypes that correspond to the sefirot, the divine emanations that come from heaven. And Avraham corresponds to the attribute of God that is chessed. Because Avraham's primary focus in life was the benevolence and the compassion that he showed to everybody. And that includes both the hospitality. Remember, this parsha is beginning. He's a man of 99 years old. It is the third day after his circumcision. He's pretty weak. And by the way, he did the bris to himself, which adds an extra dimension. And Hakadosh Baruchu wanted Avraham Avinu to take a break. So, he made it hot, extra hot, so that nobody would be traveling that day. But Avraham doesn't get the hint. He still waits outside looking for people that he could bring in. So, finally, as it were, Hakadosh Baruchu sends him three angels to give him an excuse to give them some type of hospitality. So, Avraham represents chessed both in the material way sense and in the spiritual sense. Because the greatest loving kindness we can show someone is to help them connect to Hakadosh Baruchu. So, you have to understand that even Avraham Avinu's kiruv efforts, his outreach efforts, emanated from the middah of chessed and love and benevolence that he had towards towards everyone. In fact, as a little aside, this is actually why the akeidah, which is at the end of the parsha, the sacrifice of Yitzchak, is always described as the trial of Avraham. It is not described as the trial of Yitzchak. Now, the chara, Yitzchak was would be giving his life. So, the truth is, I I don't know if the question is that strong, really, because the truth of the matter is, most parents, you know, uh it's it would be harder for them to kill their child than for the child to even die. So, one could understand from a human perspective that the akeidah might have been a bigger nisayon for Avraham. But in Sifrei Chassidus, they explain that if Avraham represents chessed and Yitzchak represents gevurah, inner strength, for Yitzchak to give his life al pi Hashem, that is Yitzchak's nature. But for Avraham to do an act of violence against anybody is totally the opposite of who he is and it's totally the opposite of how he perceived God. That's why when Avraham is going to towards the site of the akeidah, Mount Moriah, the Temple Mount, so it says va'yar es hamakom merachok. He saw the place from a distance. So, pashtus, he was at a distance from the place and he saw it. But in Sifrei Chassidus, they say a very beautiful twist. Makom is also a term for Hakadosh Baruchu. And he saw the makom from a distance, meaning he could no longer understand the God that he had given his life to. It didn't that he had devoted his life to, meaning he he served Hakadosh Baruchu because he saw Hashem's mercy, Hashem's benevolence, Hashem's compassion. And now that God is telling him to kill his son. At this point, Avram has to go into obedience, meaning it's not that he's in agreement with the will of God. It's not that the will of God is matching his ratzah. It's totally against everything. But he has to do it anyway. He has to do it anyway. So, Avram represents chesed and Yitzchak represents gevurah, and that's why the Akedah is the nisayon of Avram more than the nisayon of Yitzchak. But we know that it's not just Avram is chesed and Yitzchak is gevurah and Yaakov is called tiferet, which is beauty, and beauty is the synthesis between chesed and gevurah. But the sefarim tell us that we see a parallel in the imahot. If Avram represents chesed, Avram's chesed was counterbalanced with Sarah's gevurah. Sarah was considered to be the tougher one, the stronger one in some ways. That is why when Yishmael had to be expelled because he was a destructive influence, Avram couldn't do it. Avram could just not do it. This is the middah of chesed. Give the kid a break, no matter what. And Sarah played the very, very tough woman. You got to get rid of him. Now, superficially, if we if we didn't have a Torah, we just heard this as a story in uh in whatever Jerusalem Post, we would have said, "Oh, Sarah's a meanie. Sarah's a cruel woman. Sarah is jealous of Hagar because she doesn't, you know, uh because Yishmael was so much older. Yitzchak is already born." But in reality, Hakadosh Baruch Hu said to Avram, "Whatever Sarah, your wife, says, listen to her." Which means Avram's chesed needed a counterbalancing factor. Sarah's gevurah needed a counterbalance of chesed. There needed to be a synthesis. There needed to be an integration, as it were. Uh that is why you find with Yitzchak, what we'll see next week, it's the opposite. Yitzchak represents gevurah, but Rivka represents chesed. So, Avram is chesed, Yitzchak Avram is chesed, Sarah is gevurah, Yitzchak is gevurah, Rivka is chesed with the well and the like. Yaakov is complicated. Yaakov, of course, is already within his own personality is a shiluv, an integration of chesed and gevurah. But, of course, Yaakov also has four wives, so each of them represent different aspects of it. Okay, so this is uh again, just in terms of a basic structure, this is a relatively familiar basic structure of looking at the avot and the imahot. But here's where the Shem Shmuel comes in. When the Torah describes a a loving couple producing life, having a child, so it basically says, "Al ken yazov ish", going back to parshat Bereishit, "a man must leave his father and mother vedavak be'ishto", "and cleave unto his wife", "for hayu levasar echad", "and they shall become one flesh." And Rashi explains from the midrash, they join together and they produce a child that is the product of both of them. So, that one child is a total fusion of father and mother. So, says the Shem Shmuel, ideally, I'm not going to say this happens in every case, but at least for the pivotal creation of Am Yisrael, Avram could not have a child until he incorporated the gevurah of Sarah, and Sarah could not be a mother until she incorporated the chesed of Avram. Their unity had to be such that it wasn't that Avram is this and Sarah is this, but Avram incorporates what is within Sarah, and Sarah incorporates what is within Avram. And that is why we find that Avram could not be zocheh to a child, Yitzchak, until brit milah. Brit milah is an act of gevurah, and let me explain why that is so. You know, the beginning of the parshah, which is the third day after Avram's brit, he's 99 years old, so it says, "God appeared to him in a place called Elonei Mamre." That means the plains of Mamre. Mamre was Avram's a he was a Canaanite, but he was an ally of Avram. And that's really where Hebron is. Elonei Mamre is is a is another term for the area of Hebron. Rashi says though, why is it described as Elonei Mamre? So, Rashi says because Mamre is the one who gave him advice to get a brit. And therefore, Mamre was rewarded by the divine presence appearing in Mamre's land. Meaning, when Hashem told Avram to get a brit, Avram wasn't sure, and he asked Mamre for advice, and Mamre said, "Listen to God." Very, very difficult. I mean, Avram wasn't going to listen to Hashem unless Mamre told him to listen to Hashem. What does it even mean? He asked Mamre for advice whether he should get a brit milah. So, the sefarim explain, Maral explains, other commentaries and Rashi explain that, of course, Avram was going to do what God commanded. That's not the question. But his question is, should I do it publicly or should I do it secretly? Because if I do it publicly, I might be torpedoing my life's work. My life's work is to bring people to God through kindness, hospitality. And now they're going to get to be discovering, "Well, you know, there's something else you got to do in order to have a covenantal relationship with God." I'm going to drive people away. Maybe they'll think I'm crazy at worst, or at best, they'll think God is a God that demands mutilation. And therefore, Avram actually had a cheshbon that, yes, I will do whatever Hashem commands, just as the Akedah, he would do whatever Hashem commands, but he was thinking, "Maybe I should do it privately because milah is the opposite of chesed. Milah is an act of gevurah." And Mamre's chiddush was to sanctify the divine name, you do it publicly. You don't be ashamed of what the Torah and the mitzvot of what Hashem's will says. So, it turns out, Shem Shmuel says, that Avram needed to incorporate an act of gevurah within his personality in order to be zocheh to a child, in other words, the middah of Sarah. And Sarah had to do an act of hospitality to orchim, the angels, which was the middah of chesed. And only when Avram incorporates Sarah, and Sarah incorporates Avram, are they now basar echad. And when they are basar echad, they are now ready to have this this child. You know, it's um reminiscent of Well, well, this is ideally the way a marriage would work, in which each one incorporates the mailus of the other one. So, let's say an introvert marries an extrovert, for example. So, the idea here is that the introvert can become a bit more able to relate to other people, and the extrovert can become a little more reflective and thoughtful. Each one becomes a better person by bringing out qualities which would otherwise be dormant and unactualized except for the interaction. Of course, uh it can sometimes work in a negative way. Each one gets the negative aspects. There's a famous story of George Bernard Shaw, who was a great great wit, and Isadora Duncan, who was a famous ballet dancer, a bit of a flirt, and at a dinner Can I I can't say this in aramaic, I can say it in Hebrew. Uh but at a dinner, uh Isadora Duncan said to uh Shaw, he says, "You know, we ought to get together because uh with my looks and your brains, we can produce beautiful, beautiful children." So, Shaw said to her, "Well, that's great. What's going to happen if they have your brains and my looks?" He says, "We're going to be in big We're going to be in big trouble." So, that can happen, too. The shiluv can sometimes be accentuating the negatives. But I In fact, uh John F. Kennedy once remarked, when he was asked about um you know, he was from Boston. When he was asked about uh how he liked Washington, living in Washington, D.C., so he said, "Washington, D.C. is a city of southern efficiency and northern charm." Now, you have to know the United States a little bit uh to get to get the joke. We normally say, you know, the north was known for efficiency, New York, at least in the olden days, not so much today, and the south was known for a slower pace of life that had more charm. Right? So, we talk about northern efficiency and southern charm, that's a compliment. But when you say northern charm and southern efficiency, that's kind of the worst of of both uh of both worlds. But this is the hora of the Shem Shmuel that there needed to be a shiluv. There needed to be an integration that Avram needed a Sarah-type action, and Sarah needed an Avram-type action, and that created the ultimate unity, which would then allow them uh to produce uh a Yitzchak, the founding of of of Am Yisrael. So, that was a number one I wanted to make. Now, a second point is indeed a bit of a perplexing issue, uh the issue of Sarah's laughter. Uh we know uh by the way, there is a whole side point here. It says Avram served you know, served them uh meat. In fact, he actually slaughtered three whole cows just to give them the tongue. Three tongues. So, you see how generous he was. But, it does mention chemah v'chalav. Chemah, although in modern Hebrew chemah is uh butter, but uh in Tanakh chemah is not butter, chemah is cream. So, you got chemah v'chalav, cream and and milk. So, you got a big problem. We have a tradition that the avos kept the Torah even before it was given. And uh last week we talked about this, at least after bris milah, for sure. Like the Marsha says, you'll remember. So, how could Avram serve the angels um meat and and milk? He thought they were people. Basar v'chalav. Well, one answer actually um I was thinking I think I one answer might be, well, they're actually angels. He thinks they're people, but they're certainly not Jews. So, Jews uh non-Jews are allowed to eat meat and milk. But, not not really so, because even though a non-Jew is allowed to eat meat and milk, I as a Jew cannot serve it to them because I would be getting the benefit of being hospitable. And basar v'chalav is not only prohibited to eat, it is even prohibited to get benefit. So, you can't give it as a gift. You can leave it anonymously cuz they're not going to know, but but to give somebody a gift, give a a gift of uh meat and and milk is a problem because the gratitude that you get by giving the gift, same thing with chametz to Pesach, uh is considered to be a a benefit. So, the answer they give is very very poshit. In the sequence of the pasuk, it first says, he first gave them the milk, and then he gave them the meat. So, you know, kinami, uh when you have milk first, uh there is no no problem. Okay. Uh but, here's the thing. When Avram Avinu was commanded at the age of 99, just 3 days earlier, 3 days before this event, God said, number one, your name is changed to Avraham, the father of a multitude of nations. Number two, you have a commandment of bris milah with details. And number number three, Sarah, your wife, shall give birth in 1 year to a child. And Hashem even says, and you shall call him Yitzchak. He shall laugh. He's the only one of the avos who is given a name directly by God. Now, uh Yaakov's second name, Yisrael, is from Hashem, but the first name, Yaakov, is not. Yitzchak is named directly by God. So, the pasuk says, vayipol al panav. Avram fell on his face and laughed. Avram laughs. Yeah, I'm sorry, I misstated it. Afterwards, Hashem is called his name Yitzchak, etc. Now, Sarah, 3 days later, we have these angels who we think are people, and uh they're telling Avram, you know, we have a message from God in three uh 1 year from now, 1 year from now, your wife shall give birth to a child. And Sarah is in the tent. Sarah is not out there, but she's hearing it from inside the tent. And it says, vatitzchak Sarah b'kirbah leimor, Sarah is laughing to herself, saying, acharei baloti, after I have become withered and shriveled, ha'y soli ednah, shall I have rejuvenation of the flesh? And then that you know, and then she said, v'adoni zaken, and my husband is too old anyway to have a kid. Now, the angels, again, Avram doesn't yet know that they're angels, say, of course, at this point he probably guessed, lamah zatzechaqah Sarah? Why is Sarah laughing? Saying that she's too old to have a child. Now, the Gemara does point out that when the angels tell Avram, why is Sarah laughing, they do change a little bit the words that Avram said that Sarah said. Sarah said, she did say I'm withered and I'm shriveled, but then she said my husband is too old. And they said, why did she say she's too old to have a child? Well, she didn't say she's too old. Uh she said Avram is too old. So, the Gemara in Bava Metzia derives from here that we see from here that you are allowed to lie in order to preserve shalom bayit. Meaning, if she would have said, or if the angels would have said to uh Avram, your wife said you're too old to have a kid, perhaps that would have hurt Avram's feelings a little bit. So, they change it from you're too old uh to she's too old. Okay. But, the question still remains. Hashem tells Avram, you're going to have a child. Avram laughs. There is no criticism. Sarah overhears that she's going to have a child. Sarah laughs. The angels criticize her. And the angels go on and say, ha'yipalai me Hashem davar? Is there anything that's beyond the ability of Hashem? So, a big question is, why is Avram given a free pass on his laughter when Sarah Imeinu is criticized for her laughter? And the same word is used, except for a masculine and feminine. In the case of Avram, it says vayitzchak. And he laughed. In the case of Sarah, it says vatitzchak, which just means and she laughed. It's the same word. It's not like a different type of laughter. So, there are a few different answers to this. I just want to give you a a short catalog of of some answers. Answer number one is given in the Midrash. And the Midrash says that indirectly Hashem is rebuking Avram as well, but because of his kavod for Avram, so it's like the wife gets thrown under the bus, so to speak. In other words, Hashem is rebuking Sarah, but Avram should understand that the tochacha is directed to him as well. It's an indirect way of giving mussar to Avram, but there's In other words, Hashem has honor of Avram, he doesn't want to give him a direct criticism. That's what the Midrash says. That's answer number one. Answer number two is actually very very fascinating, and it's it's based on Targum Onkelos. Now, again, just be sure everyone knows, uh Onkelos was um a ger. He was a nephew of one of the Roman emperors. He became Jewish at a time when his life could be in danger for doing that. He became a talmid of uh Rabbi Eliezer. He was a colleague of Rabbi Akiva. And Onkelos uh translated the Torah into Aramaic, uh which was even for the Jewish people in Eretz Yisrael the common spoken language. Many Jews in Eretz Yisrael were not that conversant with Hebrew. Aramaic, which is language of the Gemara, is a Semitic language that is very very close to Hebrew, but it is a different it is a different language. And uh as a result, uh from his time onwards, when the Torah was read in shul, after each verse was read, they would read the Aramaic Targum. So, people would understand this. Uh over time, this minhag got discontinued except among the Teimanim. To this very day, to this very day, uh kriat haTorah is twice as long in a Teimani beit kenesset because every pasuk is followed by Targum. Uh interestingly enough, although the Torah can only be read by people who are bar mitzvah, the Targum can be recited even by a child. So, this is one of the ways the Teimanim can involve children in the synagogue service, that the children read the Targum out loud. Now, there's also a a din in the Shulchan Aruch that one should read the parashah of the week, shnayim mikra, you read every verse twice, and read the Targum once. Now, today, many people say that since we don't really understand Aramaic, uh the point is any translation would be good enough. It doesn't have to be Targum itself, but certainly in the time of the Gemara, Targum and Targum Onkelos. Now, there are other Aramaic translations of the Torah that are within our mesorah, the Targum of Yonasan ben Uziel, which may or may not have been written by Yonasan ben Uziel per se, but those Targumim are midrashic amplifications. Targum Onkelos is a very very literal translation. Onkelos does not bring in midrashic elaborations. And because of this, one of Onkelos's unique strengths is consistency of translation. Meaning, it when the same word appears many times in the Torah, right? There are words that appear many many times, Onkelos is normally very very consistent in the same translation, which means in other words, except when he isn't. Whenever he translates the same word in a different way. Now again, you have to know Unkelos pretty well to even catch on to this, but if you study it and you have and you see this, there has to be a good reason. So fascinatingly, one of the comparatively rare cases where Unkelos uses a different Aramaic translation for the same word, by Yitzchak what Yitzchak, is exactly here. With Vayitzchak, Avram fell on his face and he laughed, the Targum uses the word Vachadi. Chadi means he rejoiced. And with Sarah, it says Vatigachek, she scoffed. Obviously, the Targum is bothered by this question. Why is Avram's laughter kosher and Sarah's laughter bad? Laughter is laughter. The answer is laughter is not laughter. There are different types of laughter. There is a laughter that is a laughter of joy and pleasure, and there is a laughter that's a laughter of scoffing and doubt. So the Targum says, Avram's laughter was joyous, meaning he believed. Sarah's laughter was scoffing, not going to happen. And that's why Sarah is is criticized. All right, that's fine. But but this still raises a whole bunch of questions. Number one, Avram is getting the message from Hashem. So yeah, Avram laughs in full belief, joyous belief. Sarah, well, that's another question. Did did Avram tell Sarah about the conversation that happened 3 days before? What's going on? Meaning, this is not the first This should not have been the first time that Sarah is hearing she's going to have a kid from the three angels. Hashem told Avram this very thing 3 days before. Did he tell his wife? Oh, honey, forgot, you know, forgot a you know, so Ramban actually says, amazingly enough, amazingly enough, that Avram was so busy with getting ready for the circumcision that he just never got around to it. So if that's the case, Sarah is hearing it for the first time. So now, here's a problem with that. Sarah is not hearing a message from God. Sarah is hearing a message from three people, three angels, but they look like people. They look like Arabs. They look like Bedouins. So why should she think it means anything? Meaning, even if we go with the Targum, that Sarah is skeptical, that Sarah is non-believing, she shouldn't be criticized because she has no reason to think this is a message from God, unlike Avram, who heard it from God. And if you go with the Ramban, that Sarah did not hear this from Avram at all, and she's only hearing it from these three guys that show up, what credence should she give? So the Ramban says a very, very interesting thing. The Ramban says, never turn down brachas that are offered to you. You never know whom Hashem designates to be the channel of bracha. You hear a bracha from an ignorant person, you hear a bracha from a you hear a bracha from people who you think are not worthy of giving brachas. She should have said amen. She should have said, may it come to pass. She should not disparage it. Now this is the famous Maimonides Chazal, Al tihi birkas hedyot kal b'einecha, even the bracha of a simple man should be treated very, very seriously. Say amen, say amen, say amen. They tell a story, although I think the family says it's not true, so I am I feel a little guilty telling stories that family says it's not true, but okay. Uh but the story makes a point even if it's not may not be factually true. That um in Bnei Brak, uh there was a young woman who was getting a little bit older and still had not found her shidduch. She was approaching 30, which in Bnei Brak is the equivalent to being 95. Uh so no shidduch. So the father was very, very worried, very, very concerned. He went to the Steipler, Rav Chaim Kanievsky's father. Used to say Rav Chaim Kanievsky was the Steipler's son, now we whatever, but the Steipler was Rav Chaim Kanievsky's father, a great, great uh one of the great gedolei hador. He was the Chazon Ish's brother-in-law. Uh he married the Chazon Ish's sister. And the person said, I'm so worried, when will my daughter get a shidduch? So the Steipler asked him a very strange question. When your daughter was born, did you make a kiddush in honor of her birth? So he said he didn't because it wasn't so customary that people made the kiddushes for the birth of a daughter in those days. So the Steipler said, that's your problem. Because when you make a kiddush, everybody goes over to you and say, may you be zocheh to take your daughter to the chuppah. And you know, you're you're you're you're going to hear it so many times that you might even get sick of it. You know, you know, one one after the other after the other. One of them may have been the designated one to be the conduit of bracha, and you missed it, and you deprived your daughter of that bracha. So he says, what what can I do? He says, well, make a kiddush now, maybe Hakadosh Baruch Hu will make another shaliach to be a conduit of bracha. So the story goes, he made his wife his daughter is approaching 30, he's making a kiddush in honor of her 30th birthday. I don't know exactly what they called it, uh in honor of her birth that was 30 years ago, uh whatever, and people gave him mazel tov, may you take your daughter to the chuppah, and lo and behold, as the story goes, a week later, whatever. Okay, again, I don't know if it's true, but but it's it's tied into the Ramban's idea. That even if Sarah thought that these angels were nobodies, she should have accepted the bracha and should have said, ken yehi ratzon, may it be Hashem's Hashem's will. So the Ramban is good, it's a very nice pshat, but the problem with the Ramban is it's predicated on the assumption that Sarah simply did not know what did not know what Hashem told Avram. And and say he was just too busy. It's a little It's a little bit of a difficult I mean, imagine if we would be in that situation, uh you know, husbands would get in a lot of trouble for simply, oh I forgot to tell you this you know, really important bit of bit of information. So I want to share with you a third explanation. I'm sorry, a fourth explanation. I mentioned the Medrash, Targum Unkelos, uh Ramban, which means again, no, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, uh to to classify this correctly, Ramban is building on Targum Unkelos, okay? You know, you understand this? In other words, Targum Unkelos says, Avram's laughter was joy, Sarah's laughter was skepticism. That's Unkelos. Ramban is explaining that by saying Avram was joy because he's hearing it from God, Sarah was skepticism because she's hearing it from uh entities that she thinks are Arabs, but there's still a taina on her because she should have said amen, ken yehi ratzon. So Ramban is not a separate explanation, Ramban is essentially building on Unkelos, that Avram's laughter is joy and Sarah's laughter is skepticism, uh which is partially justified, but ultimately not completely justified, because she should have acknowledged the bracha. So let me mention uh yet a third explanation. We have the Medrash, we have the the Unkelos with the Ramban's augmentation. Uh the third explanation is from the Or HaChaim HaKadosh. The Or HaChaim, Rav Chaim ben Attar, was a a rav from Morocco who came to Yerushalayim and became one of the great great gedolim. He's one of the It's a little bit of a mystery why certain gedolim get the appellation of HaKadosh, the holy one. Like we normally don't say Rashi HaKadosh. We do say Or HaChaim HaKadosh. I I I don't really have a complete explanation for it, but be it as it may, in many circles he is known as the Or HaChaim HaKadosh, the author of a great, great peirush on the Torah. And the Or HaChaim turns things exactly uh upside down. He actually says, Avram laughed because he 100% believed in Hashem's promise, so his laughter was a laughter of joy. And Sarah laughed for the same reason. She 100% believed in Hashem's promise, and she laughed for joy. According to the Or HaChaim, the laughter of Avram, which is not like Unkelos, the laughter of Avram and the laughter of Sarah was exactly the same. That's point one. Point two is and of course it's obvious that Hashem told that Avram told Sarah everything that Hashem told him. So now we were a little perplexed. Now now we're So what's the problem with Sarah? Meaning according to the Orach Chaim, number one, Avram told Sarah what God told him. So she's not getting this information for the first time from the angels. And number two, her laughter is not the laughter of skepticism. It's the laughter of joy. So if all of that is true, what does Sarah mean when she says, "After I am withered, shall I have rejuvenation?" She believes. And what do the angels mean when they say, "Why is Sarah laughing?" Says the Orach Chaim, a fascinating point. Laughter is when something the good news is so real to you that it induces almost an involuntary reaction. For example, I'm Let me give you an I mean I can I I I can't say I know this for for firsthand, but I could imagine this type of scenario. Let's imagine that a parent gets news that their hostage son is going to be released in 2 days. They're going to be very very happy. But that type of news is not going to induce a spontaneous laughter. You still have worry. You still have doubt. You still have hesitation. Very very happy. But you know, it's not going to When you see your child, that's when laughter, laughing and crying will come out. Says the Orach Chaim, Avram's faith in God's promise was so strong that as soon as God made him the promise, it was as good as physical reality. He laughed. Now Sarah heard that information, too. And of course she believed it. But it wasn't real enough to her to induce laughter. So when did she laugh? So we we have to add this. There is a chazal that says that at the moment that the angels told Avram that Sarah was going to have a child, Sarah had her period. She did regain. And when she said, "After I have withered away, shall I be rejuvenated?" She's not doubting. She's expressing a sense of wonderment wonderment. How could it be after I've withered away, I rejuvenate? And she laughed. So listen to the Orach Chaim. It's such a fascinating twist. When the angels say, "Why is Sarah laughing?" they're saying, "Why is she laughing now and didn't laugh before? Is it because she had some element of doubt? Again, I think the the hostage mashal is a good mashal. When Sarah gets the news, she's like the parent that said, "Oh, your son is going to come out in 2 days. I'm very very happy, but you know, I'm not I'm not sure enough that it's going to I'm going to break out in laughter." So the kineah of the Orach Chaim is that the angels are not criticizing her laughter. They're criticizing her for not laughing before. Okay? And according to the Orach Chaim, when Sarah says, "After I have withered, shall I be rejuvenated?" she's not questioning anything. She's just looking at her body. Meaning Avram to for Avram, his faith was equal to physical reality. Sarah needed the physical experience of reality to make it real to her. And that's kind of the subtle difference the Orach Chaim says between Avram and Sarah. Now again, it's still with everything it's still difficult because we do we do find many mamarei chazal that go in the other in the other direction, that Sarah's faith was greater than Avram's faith. Certainly we can find mekubalim in that direction. But at least the way the Orach Chaim understands the laughter, in in a very subtle way, in a very subtle way, Avram's faith was greater because the faith was equal to a reality. You know what it reminds me of a gemara in Bava Basra. The gemara in Bava Basra talks about Rabbi Yochanan, the great Rabbi Yochanan, who was teaching that le'atid lavo, when the Mashiach comes and the geulah comes, the walls of Jerusalem shall be reconstituted with jewels, meaning the walls of the city shall be diamonds and rubies and emeralds that will go up many many feet, ad le shamayim. So a certain talmid was listening to this description and he was say thinking to himself, "Ah, this this really can't be. This will never happen." And then the gemara discusses he was taking a sea voyage and there was a storm and they got lost at sea. And in some distant place he actually saw floating on the top of the ocean huge slabs of jewels which would eventually be used for Yerushalayim. And when they got rescued, baruch Hashem, he comes back to Rabbi Yochanan. He is so excited. He says to Rabbi Yochanan, "Rebbi Rebbi Rebbi, it's true it's true it's true. Everything you said is true." Thinking that the rebbi would be so excited. And Rabbi Yochanan said, "You mean until you saw it, you didn't believe it?" So it mentions Rabbi Yochanan looked at him and he burnt up and the whatever that expression means. We sometimes find in the gemara. It's not clear that it that it's necessarily literal. But he looked at him and he became like a pile of bones, gal she umatzmos, uh etc. Because emunah should be at least as real. That That Somebody once asked the Kotzker rebbi on Sukkos. Right, we have the ushpizin. We are visited by Avram, Yitzchak, Yaakov, Moshe, Aharon, Yosef, David. Every day, by the way, every day all of them come. It's not just different people. All of the ushpizin come every day, but one is the leader for that day. Right, so you All seven ushpizin come every single day. So somebody asked the Kotzker rebbi or somebody told the Kotzker rebbi, "You know, there's another chassidishe rebbi." I don't know why they told the Kotzker rebbi another chassidishe There's another chassidishe rebbi who says he sees the ushpizin every time they come." And the Kotzker rebbi said, "Huh?" Says, "I'm even better. I believe that they're there even though I don't see them. To me, the emunah is more real than your eyes. Eyes can have optical illusions." Emunah is ultimate reality. What do they say? They say about the I don't want to make a Chabad joke, but but uh but they they say the Gerer rebbi once said something something that Again, I'm not sure if it's Chabad or not, but but there was a group of chassidim that continued to give a rebbi an aliyah after the rebbi was nifter. I actually I don't think it's Chabad, but they would call the rebbi for shlishi. And no no bracha was heard. Right, but they would call for an aliyah. Uh so the Gerer rebbi said So they said, "What do you think of it?" So the Gerer rebbi said, "I would be more convinced if they would have do it if the rebbi would do hagbah, lift up the Torah. Then we would have Then we would have conclusive uh conclusive proof." But okay. Um but that's the idea of emunah being a reality. Emunah being a reality. And uh it's an important point, you know, because uh obviously Hashem has shown us many many beautiful signs of redemption side by side with suffering and deprivation. Uh but it's the emunah we have in biat Hamashiach, the emunah we have in geulah, that can give us strength, give us comfort, allow us to persevere even through the difficult times. Because the reality of geulah is at least as real, more so than the sorrows that we're facing. Right, we think physical reality is real. And you know, spiritual beliefs are are you know, not re not realities. It It It's really the opposite. Spiritual realities is what is realities. And the physical is the illusion that covers up the underlying underlying reality. This is a yesod of the Orach Chaim. Now I I want to end with two shorter horavot that are not connected to this at all. Again, there's so many things in the parsha. We have of course the destruction of Sodom and Amora. So I want to make two quickie points about Sodom and Amora being destroyed. Uh point number one is the Torah mentions they were ra'im v'chata'im, they're evil and sinners. And of course we do see uh they tried to kill Lot, etc. And do sodomy. So it's commonly thought that the primary aveira of Sodom and Amora was some type of homosexual relationship. And indeed, there are macoras that say that homosexuality was primary avera. That's why sodomy became the word for homosexuality because it was certainly the Christian tradition that this was the avera of Sodom. But again, it has sources in chazam. But it's interesting if you look in the book of Yechezkel where before the churban byis rishon Yechezkel of piashem is describing the Jewish people as being even worse than Sodom and Amora. He does not mention homosexuality at all. He mentions cruelty, lack of compassion, lack of rachamim, not taking care of the poor. Which means that the avera that is explicitly identified as the failure of Sodom and Amora is the the lack of compassion for those people in need. That is what the navi Yechezkel says. So here, there's a very interesting question. The people of Sodom and Amora were not Jewish. They were bnei Noach. They were Gentiles. Gentiles are not obligated in the Torah and the Torah hadn't been given yet anyway. Gentiles are only obligated in the seven commandments of Noach. And if they violate any of the seven commandments of Noach, they're culpable. But they're not obligated in anything beyond the seven commandments of Noach. So let me ask you, where does it say in the seven commandments of Noach that there's a mitzvah to give charity, a mitzvah to give tzedaka, a mitzvah to give chesed? A Jew, at least we as a Jew, we have in the Torah mitzvahs of tzedaka and chesed. do not have mitzvahs of tzedaka and chesed. So how could Sodom be destroyed for not doing something which they were not commanded by Hashem to do? So this question is actually asked uh by Rav Nissim Gaon from the time of the Gaonim, even before the Rishonim, Rebbi Nissim Gaon. And he gives philosophically a fascinating answer. Something that's very very relevant to a lot of issues. He basically says that there are different sources in the world for why you're obligated to do something. Revelation is one source. God spoke. In the case of the Jews, that's the revelation of Sinai. In the case of non-Jews, it's the revelation to Noach or even other marishon. Meaning divine command. But then he says, there's a second source of obligation. And that is the conscience that a decent human being has. Again, for those of you that have a legal background, this is essentially a philosophy based on natural what's called natural law. There are certain postulates that a good, normal, decent person is supposed to get. And if you don't get it or you don't act upon it, Hashem holds you accountable. Says Rav Nissim Gaon, Sodom was destroyed because they should have figured out that you help people in need. That you don't ignore the vulnerable. You don't allow them to suffer. Oh, there's no specific commandment to that effect? Rav Nissim Gaon says, so what? You should have figured it out. Now, this is quite astounding because normally a frum Jew kind of starts with the philosophy that I do what Hashem commanded me to do and I don't bring in other things. And yet Rav Nissim Gaon says, now he's talking about Noachides, but l'chatchila the same logic applies to a Jew as well. And Rav Kook talks talks about this a lot. The role of natural morality in the life of a religious Jew. Now now granted, granted, when natural morality contradicts revelation, we got to go with revelation. So a person might say, oh, how can we kill Amalek? You know, it's it's cruel, it's genocide. If the halacha says we do it, then we have to believe God knows better than us. How can I stop two homosexuals from getting married? Again, if I only had my own natural morality, I might say, sure, let them do what they want. So it is true that natural morality cannot be your conclusive guide when there's revelation and halacha to the contrary. But Rav Kook warns us and I think it's based on Rav Nissim Gaon, although he does not quote Rav Nissim Gaon, that it's very very important that your commitment to halacha not cause an atrophy of natural morality and decency which will supplement halachic norms. That's why for example, you know, uh people always ask questions uh about are you allowed to cheat the government? Are you allowed to cheat a non-Jew? Are you allowed to cheat a non-religious Jew? And people get into subtleties and and find distinctions. But the problem sometimes is that if we're overcome with technicalities, we're not the type of people that Hashem wants us to be. I mean, I think of I mean I think about Moshe Feinstein, you know, would Rav Moshe Feinstein, you know, steal from a or whatever. He certainly knows all the ins and outs and all of the technicalities. But you just don't do it. You don't do it. That's not the type of person Hashem wants to create. And Rav Kook warns. It's quite amazing. Rav Kook was a master of shas and poskim. Uh he wasn't he wasn't just a nice guy. I mean, he was an absolute master of shas, poskim, and halacha. But he warned. It's very controversial. That sometimes if one is so involved in the technicalities of the halachic system, the natural, healthy morality atrophies. And one has to be careful to preserve that natural morality. And Rav Nissim Gaon says, that is why Sodom was destroyed. Because they didn't violate any commandment specifically, but they should have figured it out. So that was one point that I wanted to share with you. Another point that the Ramban makes, which is also a little little scary, uh is that uh there were actually four cities that were destroyed. Uh Sodom, Amora, Admah, and Zevoim. Four cities. Uh now those four cities actually had a fifth city that was part of the same metropolitan area and that's Zoar. So it's Sodom, Amora, Admah, Zevoim, Zoar. But Zoar was not destroyed because Zoar is located in Egypt. So of the five cities, four are in Eretz Yisrael and they were destroyed. Zoar, which was in Mitzrayim, was not destroyed even though it was equally evil. And the Ramban even says, all of Egypt was more evil than Sodom. Sodom were not the worst people in the world. The Mitzrayim were worse. So how come Hashem doesn't destroy them? So the Ramban says, Eretz Yisrael cannot bear sin. Eretz Yisrael has a natural repulsion to avera and therefore averos that can survive in Chutz La'Aretz somehow invite a retaliation or a punishment in Eretz Yisrael. Again, I don't want to get into into specifics. I just wanted to share the Ramban that this is the Zohar's ad kedei kach that in the 19th century, there were some poskim who were anti-aliyah because they basically said, if you're not righteous, better not to come. Okay, we don't pasken we don't pasken that way, but there was such an undercurrent that you're in the palace of the king. Things you can do in the street are not acceptable in the palace of the king. And the Ramban says that we see from Sodom. That we see from Sodom. Okay. Uh the final point I want to share with you and I almost I almost never never, as you know, I almost never read a passage, but I want to read you a short short passage from Shimshon Raphael Hirsch uh on a pasuk which superficially would seem not to have any particular significant message, but Rav Hirsch has a great great great comment on this. After the destruction of Sodom, this is in perek So the pasuk says, Avram traveled from that area and he went to the south. He went to the Negev. Going south, you know, Sodom Sodom is where the Dead Sea is. So he went further south. Vayeishev bein Kadesh u'veain Shur. He dwelled between two cities, Kadesh and Shur. Meaning he dwelled in a between two cities. And then it says, vayagor bigrar. And he lived in Gerar. Gerar was a Philistine city and this is when Avimelech takes Sarah for a wife. So Rav Hirsch focuses on the notion is, well, where did he live? Did he live between Kadesh and Shur? Or did he live in Gerar? That's not the same thing. And note the change in verb. Vayeishev, which is permanent residence, and vayagor is to be a stranger. So, it seems to be saying Avram had two homes. His permanent home was between Kadesh and Shur. But, occasionally he would spend some time in the Philistine capital of Gerar. That's Vayashev versus Vayagur. What's going on? So, I'm going to read you uh something. This is um from a Shimshon Raphael Hirsch. Now, Hirsch, as you know, wrote his commentary in German. And it's been translated and um this is the most recent. It's been translated three or four times by different translators. This is the most recent translation. So, if any of you happen to know a Hirsch by heart, it may not match the translation that you have. But, let me just read it to you. It says, "Avram settled between Kadesh and Shur, but he also sojourned, took up temporary residence in Gerar. What were the reasons for these two contrasting actions? We have seen that initially Avram wanted to isolate himself and his household from the atmosphere and society of the cities, get away from the corrupted uh degenerate cities of the Canaanites. For this reason, he settles in the desolate south and only gradually establishes ties with the cities, finally settling among his allies Aner, Eshkol, and Mamre in Hebron, who related to him with respect and esteem. But, now we see him in his waning years returning to the south. He settles between Kadesh and Shur in an isolated, uninhabited area near the wilderness, which is a complete wasteland. At the same time, however, he does seek sporadic contact with city life and occasionally stays in Gerar, the capital of the Philistine kings. What do you get the picture? Now, why is that so? Unless we are totally mistaken, we would venture to say that what prompted Avram and Sarah to change their place of residence was the expectation of the imminent birth of their son, Yitzchak. Yitzchak should not I'm sorry, Yitzchak should be educated in isolation, away from the degenerate cities, away from negative influences. So, Avram goes between Kadesh and Shur. He's raising his child in a wilderness. But, now listen to this. On the other hand, complete isolation, which denies the student all contact with people who think differently and whose aims and way of life differ from his own, is a dangerous educational mistake. A young person who has never seen a way of life other than that of his parents, never had an opportunity to compare his parents' lifestyle with that of others, and never learned to appreciate the moral contrast between the two, he will never learn to value, respect, and hold fast to the ways his parents have taught him. He will surely fall victim to outside influences in his first encounter with them. But, as one who fears the fresh air and closes himself in his room, will surely get a cold as soon as he goes outdoors. So, Avram essentially wanted to create a hermetically sealed environment with occasional forays into the outside world so that Yitzchak should be a Yeah, it's kind of like uh the theory of vaccination, right? You got to expose yourself a little bit to the disease. Now, the truth is that Hirsch's uh words are very, very, very wise words. Uh when you try to kind of immunize your child, let God reign, from anything on the outside, then the child never develops an immunity response. And as soon as he is exposed to it, which inevitably he will be, he or she will be, they'll be totally thrown off kilter, will not have the tools, will not have the resources to deal with them. Therefore, Avram kind of combined wilderness life with occasional forays into the city to be able to have Yitzchak see what the other side was like. Um something to think about is something that is we live in Israel. Uh something to think about in how we we raise our own own children. So, uh I wanted to share that Hirsch's educational observation with you. It's a pasuk that people don't even I mean, it's not a a famous pasuk. It's not even a pasuk that people pay any particular attention to, but Hirsch derives a very powerful lesson from it. So, thank you and have a good uh shavua tov. Shavua tov. [Music]