TORAH SPARKS
Parashat Hayyei Sarah
November 25-26, 2016 26
Heshvan 5777
Annual (Genesis 23:1-25:18): Etz Hayim p.
127-141; Hertz p. 80-89
Triennial (Genesis 23:1-24:9): Etz Hayim p.
127-132; Hertz p. 80-83
Haftarah (1 Kings 1:1-31): Etz Hayim p.
142-145; Hertz p. 90-92
The Shirley & Jacob
Fuchsberg Center
8 Agron Street, P.O. Box
7456, Jerusalem, Israel 94265
Tel:
972-2-625-6386 Fax: 972-2-623-4127
Kissing Cousins and more
Esther Israel, CY Talmud and Bible Faculty
Marrying within the family can
be logical assuming you like the family. You know what you’re getting, both
genetically and value-wise, and you’re not adding many new relatives (in whom
you may not be interested).
This week’s parashah,
Hayyei Sarah, is named after the “recently” deceased Matriarch Sarah.
You may have missed the announcement of her marriage to Avram three weeks ago,
at the end of Parshat Noah. Gen. 11:29 reports the marriages of the
brothers, Avram and Nahor, sons of Terah: the first to Sarai, and the latter to
Milka. Milka, incidentally, is the daughter of their deceased brother, Haran.
In other words, Nahor marries his niece. Funny thing, the Torah calls her
“Milka, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milka and Yiscah”. The
Midrash equates Yiscah with Sarai, thereby having the brothers marry their two
nieces, sisters. That would explain the funny repetition above it’s coming to
point out something about Yiscah.
Further on, in Gen. 20:12 (Parashat
Vayera), Avraham tells the Philistine king, Avimelekh, that his wife Sarah
is actually his sister by father, but not by
mother. If she were indeed
his brother’s daughter, that might be what
Avraham meant by referring to
her, albeit very loosely, as his paternal sister!
In our parashah Avraham
sends his servant to find a wife for his son, Yitzhak. The right wife,
according to Avraham, must be from his family in the “old country,”
even if one has to travel weeks to find her. Indeed, the bride found is Rivka,
the granddaughter of Avraham’s brother, Nahor. Therefore, she is Yitzhak’s
first cousin once-removed.
A generation later Yitzhak
sends his son, Ya’akov, to Lavan, the brother of his wife Rivka. Why? To find a
wife, of course! And, outdoing the others, Ya’akov marries not one relative,
but two the two sisters, his first cousins Rachel and Leah.
When Ya’akov is sent to Haran
to find a wife, Esau realizes he erred by marrying “foreign”
Canaanite women. He tries to make amends by taking another wife, from the
family this time: he marries his paternal Uncle Yishma’el’s daughter Mahalat.
However, he misunderstood: in this story, the boys from Avraham’s line must be
matched with girls from Nahor’s line.
Avraham and the carriers of
“Avraham’s blessing” – granting the right to the eventual inheritance
of the land and the blessing of offspring – are those who need to continue the
family by innermarrying . By that point in the story it is already clear that
it is Ya’akov who bears “Avraham’s blessing”, and Esau probably need
not innermarry . Similar analysis tells us that marrying into Yishma’el’s line
will not advance the plot. The Children of Israel are the blend of Avraham and
Nahor: we are full B’nei Terah.
Rashi quotes Midrash to
explain Leah’s “soft”/weak eyes: they were damaged by her crying over
what she understood to be her fated marriage, to her elder cousin Esau (whereas
younger Rachel would marry the younger Ya’akov). This Midrash considers the
possibility that Esau, too, might have married into Nahor’s line.
The Torah does not express
concern with possible genetic complications (of which information was lacking)
of repeated marriages within one extended family. Strangely, there is not even
concern for those relations that will later in the Torah, not yet given, be
defined as incest. It is not within the scope of this blurb to try and work
that out. However, points to ponder
A Vort
for Parashat Hayyei Sarah
Rabbi Daniel Goldfarb, CY Faculty
On Abraham was old, a veteran of many days [ba
b yamim] (Gen 24:1), R Mordechai HaKohen (Israel, 20th) tells
of R Yakov )Lorberbaum) from Lisa (1770 1832, Poland) who
heard that there were residents in town who were unhappy with him. He invited
them in and asked them to detail his deficiencies or misdeeds. God forbid,
Rabbi, they said, you are a Talmid chacham and a true believer. It s
just that you are young, and our city deserves a more mature rabbi. Don t
worry, R Yakov assured them. I understand the problem and I promise I ll
work to correct it m yom l yom, every day.
Table
Talk
Vered
Hollander-Goldfarb, CY Faculty
In this Parasha we have 2 main stories: The
death of Sarah that leads to Avraham purchasing land in Canaan, and finding a
wife (Rivka Rebecca) for Isaac (Yitzhak).
1) After Sarah dies Avraham insists on buying
land, not accepting it as a gift. He even has a specific plot in mind: The cave
at the edge of the field of Efron the Hittite. How does Efron respond? Read
carefully: In vv. 10-11 he says one thing, and in v. 14 he seems to say
something else. How do you explain this change?
2) After buying the land and burying Sarah we
are told that Avraham is old and/ (but?) God had blessed Avraham with
everything (24:1). What kind of things do you think that God gave Avraham that
he would consider a blessing?
3) Avraham sends his senior servant to find a
wife for Yitzhak. The servant takes
10 of his master s camels and all
his master s goods with him (24:10). What do
you think is the purpose of this part of the
caravan? For whom might this part of the caravan be significant?
4) As a sign of the appropriate wife for
Yitzhak the servant chooses she who, when asked to give water, will give me
and offer to water the camels as well (24:13-14). What will such behavior tell
about the woman? Why is such an offer on her part extraordinarily generous?
(Think about the physical work involved in this offer.) Does this behavior
resemble anything that we have seen in Abraham?
5)
Rivka (Rebecca) agreed to travel back with the servant to marry Yitzhak. As
they approach and she sees Isaac for the first time, she descends from the
camel (24:63-66). What does she ask the servant? What does he answer and how
accurate is his answer? Why do you think he answered as he did?