Today’s Torah portion is called Vayera, G-d appeared. Abraham is sitting at the entrance to his tent after his circumcision, no little surgery for an adult male at any stage, but particularly in those times.
He saw three figures, (men, people, messengers, angels or as we just heard in the haftarah translation, agents), approach, standing near him. Abraham interrupts his visit with G-d, his conversation with G-d and runs, yes, runs, to welcome them.
Fred Rogers from Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood is credited with saying that when things are scary, “Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.” Those figures were the helpers.
The verb here is nitzavim, just like a portion in Deuteronomy, “Atem nitzvavim hayom. You stand here today.” It continues, all of you. Your leaders, chiefs, old people, your wives, your little ones, your water drawers and wood choppers.” All of you. All of us.
We learn two important things from this opening. G-d visits the sick so we should visit the sick. Abraham welcomes guests, strangers, whomever they may be.
But Abraham and Sarah were not perfect people. Far from it. Yet they answered the call to be present, with a simple word “Hineini, I am here.” They are present. We need to be present.
Many times, I am asked in a seemingly impossible situation, “Where is G-d.” Sometimes it is hard to see.
This portion is full of sight and appearance. G-d appears. An angel or a messenger appears. Each messenger only has one responsibility, one action they must complete, one reason they have appeared.
Sometimes it seems impossible to see the good. To see G-d.
Today’s portion has two of the most painful stories in the Torah. Both of these we also read on Rosh Hashanah. I have wrestled with why. How do explain these painful stories to children, in particular.
Perhaps they are about crying over children. Protecting children. Perhaps they are about new beginnings. Finding another way. Finding G-d in the midst of unspeakable tragedy.
Sarah feels threatened by Hagar, worried for her child Isaac and demands that Abraham send them away, put them out of the camp. Abraham is told to listen to Sarah’s voice, and he does. He sends them away with just a skin of water and some bread.
Hagar does not want to look on while her child dies of thirst in the desert. She cries out, “Let me not look on.” How desperate she must have been to not pray, “Save my child”. G-d hears the voice of the lad (not even named here). She cries for her child. G-d hears her pleas.
“Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water. She went and filled the skin with water, and let the boy drink.”
Yet, in the very next chapter, Abraham hears a voice, telling him to take his son, his only son, the one he loves, take Isaac to a mountain G-d will show up and offer him as a sacrifice. Abraham prepares to do exactly that. Abraham who argued with G-d about Sodom and Gemorah, seems willing to do the unthinkable. The rabbis couldn’t understand that and invented the midrash, the dialogue here. Take your son. I have two sons. Your only son. They are each the only son of their mother. The one you love. I love them both. Take Isaac.
So they leave on this three day journey without telling Sarah where they are going or what they are about to do. When Issac questions Abraham, Abraham answers that “It is God who will see to the sheep for this burnt offering, my son.”
When Abraham looked up, his eye fell upon a ram, caught in the thicket by its horns. He saw a ram!
And Abraham named that site Adonai-yireh, whence the present saying, “On GOD’s mount there is vision.”
The message of these two stories is clear. We cannot sacrifice our children.
It is alright to cry. Hagar cried. Sarah cried. Rachel cried. Hannah cried. About our children. About the world. And we cannot stop there. We need to open our eyes. We need to be Mr. Roger’s helpers.
Always, always we have to look for another way. We have to find another way. Don’t give up. Don’t lose hope. Keep searching. The water was there all along. The ram was there. The messengers were there. We need to answer the call to be present with Hineini. I am here.
“To love another person is to see the face of G-d. “ Victor Hugo, Les Mis
Jeff Klepper who wrote the music to Shalom Rav, wrote a son, a bridge between Ahavat Olam and the Sh’ma. If we open up our eyes, maybe in the people who come to help, that is where we find the oneness of G-d.
“Open up our eyes, teach us how to live.
Fill our hearts with joy and all the love You have to give
Gather us in peace as you lead us to Your name
And we will know that You are one. We will know that you are one.”