The weekly reading for the week of 20 Heshvan, 5764 - November 15, 2003 Parashah: Vayera Genesis 18:1 to 22:24; Haftarah: 2 Kings 4:1-37; Brit Chadashah: Luke1:26-38


The Bagel: The becoming of the real and the ideal. The collection of readings for this week of Parashat Vayera testifies of three miraculous events. There are three women with three problems, who experienced G-d's hand of deliverance and power. Sarah's reaction was laughter. This expression doesn't mean it was funny. Sarah's problem was the lifelong inability to conceive and give birth. But Adonay explicitly said that she would conceive and give birth to a son by her husband Abraham. Sarah's reaction was not doubt either. She and Abraham left Ur by the call of G-d and knew His divine power. It was laughter at impossibilities. Most of the time the ideal and real never match, but here the ideal came down to invade and conquer the real. The real became the ideal - Sarah gave birth to Isaac. G-d could laugh as well hence Isaac "he shall laugh," perhaps by extension: "he shall at the enemies at the gate." Isaac was the next link in the promise of a perpetual generation, like Chesed (Hebrew word for grace, loving kindness, etc.) that lasts to a thousand generations.

The unnamed Shunammite woman was also afflicted with an inability to bear children. When Elisha came, he made promise and prophesied that she would bear a son. This happened. But then tragedy struck. The boy, who had grown into a young man, died suddenly. There could've been a sense of a different type of humor, a mock. Did G-d give her a son just to take him away as though to tease her? Was the promise really a pretense? She was distressed. But in her trouble she did not doubt or deny the L-rd. She brought her distress to Adonay at the feet of Elisha. G-d raised her son from the dead through Elisha. Not only did the real become the ideal, but the real sustained its ideal condition by the hand of G-d.

When we arrive in the time of the Brit Chadashah, Miriam also had a problem. How could she give birth to a child without a man? Her questioning was not trying to avoid an exercise in futility. What the angel proposed was none other than the ideal becoming the real. This was far beyond what normal relations could produce. She was to become the channel for the coming of the Messiah. In this One person of Yeshua would be a perfect match: the ideal always shown in the real. In Yeshua transcendence became immanent, the far away G-d became near to us, the divine and the human are manifested by Him. Miriam rejoiced and accepted her privileged task, even though it meant future slander and isolation. We can participate in G-d's ability to touch us and transform us by faith. We can have our own real becoming the ideal in words and deeds that are born of the Ruach Ha Kodesh, the Holy Spirit.


Cream Cheese: Problem reaction solved by Miracle action.


The weekly reading for the week of 20 Heshvan, 5764 - November 15, 2003 Parashah: Vayera Genesis 18:1 to 22:24; Haftarah: 2 Kings 4:1-37; Brit Chadashah: Luke1:26-38