Raize Guttman 10-6-18 (28 Tishrei 5779)

Parsha Vayeira - Chapter 21 – Verses 2 - 6

Unfortunately, there is no recording of this shiur, due to technical difficulty.

I am posting notes below instead.

Verse 2 - And Sarah conceived and bore a son to Avraham in his old age, at the time of which Hashem had spoken to him.
When Hashem had the angel appear to Avraham & tell him that Sarah would have a child it was on Pesach. This angel made a scratch on the wall and said to Avraham, when the sun makes a full year circle, that is when Sarah gave birth. On the 15th of Nissan one year later she gave birth.

Verse 3 - And Avraham named his son who had been born to him, whom Sarah had borne to him, Isaac.
The Torah keeps repeating this over and over to amplify this miracle. Both Sarah and Avraham could not have children and yet Hashem made a miracle. Even the impossible is possible. In the end everything will be good.

Verse 4 - And Avraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as Hashem had commanded him.
8th day of his life is when circumcision is set for every Jewish male.

5 - And Abraham was a hundred years old, when his son Isaac was born to him.
The name Yitzchak means "he will laugh." - in the future. People are going through difficult times and it feels like a 100 years that someone can suffer and yet he will laugh. Also talking about the times of Moshiach when everyone will laugh. Yitzchak helps us get through the pain of life.
Power of laughter, miracles and making the impossible possible.

Yitzchak is made up of 4 letters, the Midrash says of these:
(yud)is the numerical value 10. 10 commandments – he will be the progenitor of the Torah
(yud) is an Abbreviation for y'zeh chek. A law will go out to the world. He will be the father of the nation that will receive the divine law.
(tsadeh) The numerical value is 90. Sarah was 90 when she gave birth to Yitzchak.
(Chet) has the numerical value is 8. Yitzchak has his bris was on the 8th day. He was the first Jew to get his bris on the 8th day (on time). Avraham in contrast Yitzchak his bris when he was 99.
7 is the number of nature, so 8 represents supernatural. A Jew can come past his desires and become holy. He represents the supernatural.
(Kuf) – is 100 – Avraham was 100 years old when Yitzchak was born to him.

Verse 6 - And Sarah said, "Hashem has made joy for me; whoever hears will rejoice over me.”
H filled my life with joy, laughter, happiness after 90 yeas of waiting.

Rashi says we see what an amazingly righteous woman she is. So many people got well & so many prayers were answered. The world was filled with joy in her merit.

Rav Palm says Sarah’s happiness would not be complete if all these problems existed. So, many barren women were remembered with her; many sick people were healed on that very day; many prayers were answered with hers, and there was much joy in the world.

We need to think about other people. A person cannot just think about himself. Happiness only comes through going beyond yourself. Wishing others what you wish yourself.

Nosay B'ol Im Chaveiro (carrying the burden of your friend). Feel the pain and the joy of someone else as if it is your own. Because really we are all one and connected. We are one person with one heart. This is how it was at Har Sinai.

Why is it easier to feel others pain than joy? Because there is no jealousy in pain.
When people have a Simcha do we always run to share in it? There is a bit of jealousy in joy, many times we just don’t want others to have more good than us.

Remember you should love your fellow man like yourself, that is what Torah says. We should wish for others exactly what we wish for ourselves. Hashem had to heal and answer everyone’s teffilos because Sarah could not feel her own joy if others did not feel their joy.