Toldoth: the good wife

Toldoth ends as Yaakov is sent away to marry a daughter of his uncle Lavan , and NOT marry any of the local girls! Toldoth begins by identifying Yitzchok as the son of Avraham, This identification follows immediately after the genealogy of Ishmael, which in turn followed the list of Avraham’s third family with Ketura. Yitzchok was really the son of Sarah. The mother makes the man.
What kind of mother was Rivkah? A mother who saw that the goal (advancing the right son) was more important than the rules. Yitzchok was blind, Rivkah saw the future. Rivkah always examined the purpose of her life :לָמָּה זֶּה אָנֹכִי

Today is the Yahrzeit for my mother (z”l). She once told me that it is an important skill to be able to tell a good lie. ( She named her daughter Rivkah. ) She used that skill to survive the holocaust. She used it to rescue my father from prison. She used it so that my sisters and I could live and celebrate her Thanksgiving Yahrzeit.

Chayeh Sara: phases of life

The durations of three lives are given in the parsha: Sarah, Avrahama and Yishmael. In each case three numbers are given; and the numbers are separated. Rashi tells us the numbers tells us something about the constancy, beauty and purity of Sarah. But what about the others?
From the years of Avraham and knowing something of his life, we can see that that 100 hundred last years were not like the first 75, which preceded his Gd- guided pilgrimage away from the traditions of his father. Perhaps he was 5 when he broke his farher’s idols?

The idea is that there are phases of life. There are times when the direction of life changes. There is childhood, sometimes a long adolescence ( 70 years for Avraham?) and then some lives.

Change is good, it can take a long ( or short) time.

prior years

Vayerah:Lost

The vision of Vayerah is that people are lost in Gd’s plan.

A year before the birth of Yitzchok, Gd announces that Avrham will spawn a great nation because he will “command his children and his household after him, that they may keep the way of the LRD, to do righteousness and justice” This is the reason that Gd reveals to Avraham that Sodom ( the 5 towns) may be destroyed. This information becomes an opportunity for Avraham to explore and invoke Gd’s mercy. Avraham is lost, he does not know what to do with the information. He makes a decision and he is fearful (yirah) of the consequences of his decision to negotiate with Gd for the lives of the people in Sodom, etc.

Lot is not sure of how to protect the (angelic) strangers that come to visit him. His appropach is so befuddled that the guests are forced to rescue Lot from the mob. Lot cannot find his way through the forest of choices. He settled in the wrong place He had not learned the lesson of Lech Lecha.

Hagar cannot see the well that is in front her until the angel points it out; even though she seems to have been there (15 years) earlier. Her approach to euthanasia is interesting. She wants to spare herself the sight of her beloved son dying. Consider the Power of Attorney!

Finally Gd asks Avraham to do (yet) another bizarre thing. Gd will show Avraham a place where he will offer his son as a burnt offering. Damned if you do; damned if you don’t. Avraham and Gd and the angels find a solution. Avraham proves his loyalty and a ram replaces Yitzchok as the burnt offering: Deus ex machina. It is surprising how often this really is the solution. Enough faith to do the absurd can lead to a vision of the haven.

Do rightousness and justice.