The weekly reading for the week of 20 Cheshvan, 5767 - November 11, 2006 Parashah: Vayera Genesis 18:1 to 22:24; Haftarah: 2 Kings 4:1-37; Mei Kituvim: Proverbs 8:1-36; Brit Chadashah: Luke 1:26-38



Parashah Lite Edition (Focuses on one verse or idea anywhere in the readings below)

The Bagel: Life's disappointments.

"So Abraham rose early in the morning and took bread and a skin of water and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, along with the child, and sent her away" (Genesis 21:14).

Why couldn't it work out? A family argument had ensued. Ishmael and Hagar were out! Sarah insisted and G-d sanctioned. A family scwabble it was, but it was also the destiny of nations. G-d, the Sovereign, had ordained the creation of the line of Ishmael and the line of Isaac. These brothers became neighbor nations. It took a disappointment to separate them into nations.

For Hagar it appeared as one of life's harsh disappointments. Her security as the wife of Abraham and mother of Abraham's child vanished because of Sarah's intransigence. Sarah was right, of course, because these brothers could not remain together. Perhaps, in the greater scheme of things, there would have been a violent rivalry that meant the supersession of Ishmael over Isaac as these boys attained adulthood. We just don't know what their future in the same household would have meant?

For Hagar it was hard and somewhat unjust, to be turned out like that. But G-d who decreed the move also provided a way for Hagar and Ishmael to live out their destinies. Though Ishmael was not in the orbit of Abraham to receive his inheritance, yet he remained a descendant of Abraham. This was something that life's disappointments could not take away.

Cream Cheese: G-d can be a home away from home.

• Torah:
  Genesis 18:1 to 22:24.
  
• Haftarah:
  2 Kings 4:1-37.
  
• Mei Kituvim:
  Proverbs 8:1-36.
  
• Brit Chadashah:
  Luke 1:26-38..