NOVEMBER 6-7, 2009

THE PARSHA PAGE VAYERA

Samuel Thompson

"Flee for your life, do not look behind you, and do not stand in the entire plain.
Flee to the mountain, lest you perish." (Bereshit 19:17)
Parsha Points
» Avraham visited by three
Angels
» Sarah laughs when she hears
she will conceive in a year
» Sodom is destroyed
» Philistine King Avimelech
takes Sarah
» Sarah gives birth to Isaac at
age 90 (Abraham is age 100)
» Hagar and Ishmael are
banished
» Binding of Isaac
» Rebecca is born
•
SOME LIGHT TORAH- Eliana Light
Sarah does a lot of laughing
in parashat Vayera. First,
she hears God telling her
husband that she will have
a child within the year and
chuckles out of skepticism:
she’s too old for anything
to happen between her and
Avraham! But God calls her
out on it and reminds her
that nothing is too wondrous
for God. Sarah tries to deny
her laughter, embarrassed
that God caught her in an
act of disbelief. But in truth,
she doesn’t believe. So when
she does get pregnant and
gives birth a year later, she
is overwhelmed with joy. It
catches her so off guard that
she can’t help but laugh—
with joy, with surprise. She
names the boy "Itzhak," which
means “God has brought me
laughter; everyone who hears
will laugh with me.” This is
the laughter of happiness, not
of skepticism. Through this
miracle, Sarah began a path
to belief in all miracles.
In the Torah, it is not rare for
barren women to give birth
and for rams to suddenly
appear in thickets, but there
are miracles all around us in
our lives as well—they can
happen when you least expect
them. So the next time you
are faced with a miraculous
situation, I hope that you
burst into joyous laughter!

‫כ׳ חשון תש״ע‬

‫וירא‬
A publication of Hillel at Brandeis
Editors: Chaya Bender, Brian Blumenthal
Contributors: Eliana Light, Jason Henry Simon-Birenbaum, Samuel Thompson