Vayetze 2021
The Torah is multifaceted. There are narratives and sub narratives, seeming non-sequiturs, repetitions, and juxtapositions, all of which from a traditional point of view, we believe are significant and rich grist for the interpretive mill. In the story of Abraham's family, I detect an interesting, seemingly subversive, sub-narrative.
In Parshat Lech Licha, Yitzchak is clearly born to replace Ishmael as Abraham's main progeny: “And God said to Abraham, “As for your wife Sarai, you shall not call her Sarai, but her name shall be Sarah. I will bless her; indeed, I will give you a son by her. I will bless her so that she shall give rise to nations; rulers of peoples shall issue from her.” Abraham threw himself on his face and laughed, as he said to himself, “Can a child be born to a man a hundred years old, or can Sarah bear a child at ninety?” And Abraham said to God, “O that Ishmael might live before You!” God said, “Nevertheless, Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall name him Isaac, and I will maintain My covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring to come. As for Ishmael, I have heeded you. I hereby bless him. I will make him fertile and exceedingly numerous. He shall be the father of twelve chieftains, and I will make of him a great nation. But My covenant I will maintain with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this season next year.”
Yet, when Abraham returns from the Akedah, Isaac, his inheritor, does not seem to go with him. Where did Isaac go? The Midrash tells us that while Abraham returned home, Isaac went to a place in the Negev called Be’er L’chai Ro’i. This is the place which Hagar named when she was thrown out of the house by Sarah, and the Medrash assumes that this is where she still lives. The verse states: “And Isaac came from Be’er L’chai Ro’i, and he dwelled in the Negev.” Rashi comments: He went to Be'er L’chai Ro’i to get Hagar to bring her to Abraham so Abraham would marry her, and he (Isaac) dwelt in the Negev near that well (Be’er L’chai Ro’i)”. Later in the text, when Abraham dies and Yitzchak and Yishmael come together to bury him, Rashi comments: Ismael did teshuvah (repentance and return).
Though in the text Hagar and Ishmael are exiled and Sarah is blessed to be the mother of the Jewish nation and Isaac to carry on the covenant, the midrashic tradition tells of a later supersession, in which Ishmael repents, and Isaac goes to live with Hagar, and brings her to Abraham to (re)marry her.
In the eyes of the midrash, what episode in the text changes the direction of the narrative from centering upon Isaac/Sarah to Hagar/Yishmael? The answer is the Akedah, after which the path of Abraham leads back to Sarah and the path of Isaac leads to Hagar. In fact, following Isaac’s marriage to Rivka the Torah tells us
“And it was after the death of Abraham, and God blessed his son Isaac, and Isaac lived in Be’er L’chai Ro’i. Over and over Isaac returns to Hagar’s place, the well of her exile and her home.
In last week and this week’s Torah portion’s we encounter two brothers, Yaakov and Esav, who also are different and at odds. We must remember though that we can not conflate Esav with Yishmael. There is no such subversive narrative of reconciliation and reintegration with Esav. Esav wants to kill Jacob and, though they bury their father together, they never reconcile. Ultimately Esav’s successor is Edom and Amalek, enemies of the Jewish people, while Ishmiel’s successor, according to the Sages, is the Arabs, our kinsmen. Thus, it is no coincidence that there are no Mishnaic Rabbis named Rabbi Esav but there are named Rabbi Yishmael. Yishmael is our brother, may we merit to once again make peace and be integrated with him.
