Vayeira: L’ ilui Nishmas Avraham Zev ben Yaakov – Dr. Abe Chames
Chofetz Chaim on Parshas Vayeira
In Parshas Vayeira, the passuk states, “Vatomer l’Avraham gareish ha’amah hazos v’es b’nah- So she (Sarah) said to Avraham, ‘Drive out this slavewoman and her son” (21:10). Yitzchak and Yishmael were half-brothers who grew up together. Yishamel had a very different temperament and character make-up than Yitzchak's, and eventually Sarah could not continue to watch her son be (possibly) negatively influenced by Yishmael. She therefore asked Avraham to remove him and his mother from the house. The Chofetz Chaim tells us that had Yishmael been brought up alone with Yitzchak, he wouldn’t have grown up to be the wild man that he was.
Ones surroundings have great effects on their personality and character development. Because Yishamael attached himself to a group who could have potentially negatively influenced Yitzchak, Sarah (who was greater than Avraham in navi’us) realized that the danger to Yitzchak was too great to allow Yishamel to be around him. Even though there was a possibility that Yitzchak would positively influence Yishamel, she understood that there was an equal possibility that Yishmael would negatively influence Yitzchak first. This is why Sarah wanted to chase Yishamel out of the house and also why Hashem told Avraham to listen to her. There is an idea known as Ma’asseh avos siman l’banim- Events that happened to our forefathers are signs for us, their descendents. We can learn from this instance in the Torah that we must take extra caution in making sure that our surroundings and our friends are not going to have adverse effects on our lives and our continued service to Hashem. If we try to acquaint ourselves only with people who will have a positive influence on us and will help us grow, than we can be sure that we are on the right path to becoming better people and a better nation.
Good Shabbos. |
