Vayera 5775:  Not So Fast

By Rabbi Joshua (eventually known as The Hoffer) Hoffman

 

In the beginning of Parshas Vayera, Avraham is visited by three angels, one of whom tells him that Sarah will give birth to a son.  He tells him, “I will surely return to you in this time next year, there will be life and behold a son to Sarah your wife” (Bereishis 18:10). Although Yitzchok is born to them the following year, Rashi, in the Sefer HaPardes (response section at the end) points out that we don’t find that the angel returned.  What happened?

 

Rashi answers that the angel did return. Where?  At the Akeidah.  He was the angel who told Avraham not to send his hand against the boy. When the angel said that he would return, what he literally said that he would return at that time on a different year.  Rav Mordechai Ilan, in his Mikdash Mordechai, points out that what happened with the angel and Avraham serves as a guidepost for the Jewish people.  Many events happen to a person in the course of his life, and he doesn’t necessarily see the connection between one and the other at the time they occur. They are all, however, connected in the grand scheme of things that God has planned for each individual, and his role in the world, and each one occurs when it needs to in that grand scheme. Thus, the angel that told Avraham that Yitzchok would be born was the same angel who told him to keep him alive.

 

Perhaps we can add that this explanation can help us understand why, according to Rabbeinu Yonah’s count, Avraham had to undergo another test after the great test of the Akeidah.  After Sarah died, Avraham has to go through negotiations with the Bnei Cheis to purchase a burial plot for her even though God had promised him all of the land.  Why was there a need for another test, after Avraham had reached such a high level at the Akeidah?  Many answers have been given to this question.  For example, Rav Betzalel Zolty explained that, many times, when a person reaches a certain spiritual height, he becomes complacent and satisfied at that level. Avraham, however, needed to continue to be active and to grow, and so he was given another test.  Following Rav Ilan, we can suggest part of the test that Avraham had to go through was to realize that events are not necessarily discernibly connected at the time that they occur, but, ultimately, they all play their proper place in God’s plan for us.