It seems that I never wrote about Parshah Vayeera (18:1 � 22:24). I apologize; it really is a Tohu Bohu up here.
Anyway, we talked about the expulsion of Ishmael, chapter 21. What I wanted to talk about was how the story seems bizarre; if you stop at the moment when Sarah asks Abraham to throw out Hagar and Ishmael, and Abraham prays over it, you would expect the Lord to intervene not to break up the family but to restore it.
What if Abraham took a little better care of his home life, and it never quite came to that? Could Isaac have grown up with an older brother, wild and a bit of a bad example, but ultimately loving? Can we imagine an Ishmael and an Isaac who can work together on anything other than burying their dead? Can we imagine an Isaac, pried out a bit from under Sarah’s wing, developing a little independence of thought and action?
The actual discussion turned more on the relationship between Sarah and Hagar, and between Abraham and his sons, on the inheritance question and on class. Which was also interesting.
And before leaving Vayeera for Chaye Sarah (23:1-25:18), I should mention that one of our congregation was sufficiently interested to mention to me the next day that in her opinion the Binding of Isaac was a test which Abraham failed, rather than passed. Abraham chooses to kill his son, and from the moment the Lord puts a stop to it, the Lord no longer speaks to Abraham, Isaac no longer speaks to Abraham, and Sarah no longer speaks to Abraham. So if Abraham passed the test, perhaps failing it would have been preferable. That, to me, calls back the expulsion; Abraham follows the Lord’s advice, and although the lad doesn’t die, Abraham loses him.
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-Vardibidian.