Hot answers tagged vayera
13
Or perhaps you mean the kings of Sodom and its sister cities?
Their names were: Bera, Birsha, Shin'av, Shem'ever, and one whose name is not recorded (Ramban says that this is because he wasn't famous, as he ruled over the small town of Tzoar).
(Gen. 14:2)
The significance of their names, according to Rashi:
Bera - ב' רע, doubly bad - against Hashem and ...
11
Perhaps you mean this Gemara (Sanhedrin 109b)?
ארבע דייני היו בסדום שקראי ושקרוראי זייפי ומצלי דינא
There were four judges in Sdom: Mr. Liar, Mr.Liarar, Mr. Forger, and Mr. Justice-Perverter.
I think the Gemara's indicating they weren't too honest!
10
The Gemara there is discussing verse 24:1:
א. וְאַבְרָהָם זָקֵן בָּא בַּיָּמִים וַי־הֹוָ־ה בֵּרַךְ אֶת אַבְרָהָם בַּכֹּל:
And Abraham was old, advanced in days, and the Lord had blessed Abraham with everything.
The different Rabbis are giving different interpretations how Avraham was blessed.
This didn't happen until after Sarah passed ...
8
I couldn't find the source of our Minhag to give the name only after the Bris and when it started, but I have an idea of why it is like this:
In the case of Yitzchak the name was already known. Hashem gave it to the newborn even before there was a newborn, so there is no need to postpone it as we do today.
8
This is discussed by Abarbanel (Bereshis 22). He explains previous commentators as understanding that Avraham's pain in killing his own son, although less than Yitzchak's pain of actually being killed, would last throughout the rest of his life, and thus would have been much worse than Yitzchak's pain. In his words:
ואם כן יצחק שמסר עצמו לשחיטה עם היות ...
7
The Chumash Shai LeMorah brings the Be'er Mayim Chaim (A commentary on Rashi written by the Maharal of Prague's brother, R' Chaim of Friedberg) says that once G-d agreed to save the 5 cities if there were 45 righteous people, Avraham understood that G-d was willing to be complete the quorum in order to save the city. (as Rashi 18:28 explains).
Once Avraham ...
7
The Tzemach Tzedek, in Derech Mitzvosecha 186b brings this same question in the name of R' Menachem Mendel of Horodok.
He asks it much the same as you did, but he adds that Yitzchak was 37, and if he had wanted to.....:
ובזה ית' מה דקשיא טובא מדוע יחס הכתוב נסיון דעקידה לאברהם הלא יותר היה נסיון ליצחק וכדאי' קושיא זו בזהר שהרי יצחק הי' אז בן ל"ז שנה, ...
6
Iris
Idus
Melach
A summary of why she got the name from the Yalkut Reuvani with the Pirush of Rabenu Ephraim. The Poor would ask for Lechem (bread), and she would give them Melach (salt). So the Poor people davened that she that should become a pillar of salt. Hashem listened to their prayers. She answered "Amen" too, she lacked Chemlah (compassion), ...
5
In a note to the Rada"l's commentary on the Pirkei D'Rebbi Eliezer (Chapter 31), the Rada"l addresses this issue.
He points out the Midrash that Rashi (Bereshit 22:1) quotes:
And some say,“ after the words of Ishmael,” who was boasting to Isaac that he was circumcised at the age of thirteen, and he did not protest. Isaac said to him,“ With one organ you ...
5
The reaoson we do not name children until the Bris is based on the fact that Hashem changed Avraham's name in conjunction with his Bris at age 99. In addition, a boy receives the total Neshama at the Bris, and a person cannot be name until attaining that completion. (See Zohar - Lech Lecha 93a, Ta'amei Minhagim 929)
Perhaps, Avraham knew that Yitzchok ...
4
Avraham was informed Rivka had been born, but Rashi AFAICT doesn't indicate that he knew at the time that she was Yitzchak's match. Yes, the news did make him think of a potential match for Yitzchak, but that doesn't mean that he knew that she'd be such. He needed his messenger to check her (and/or other potential matches) out first. No source.
4
Rashi points out G-d had already told Avraham that He would save all five cities if there were 45 righteous people. Hence Avraham knew that one city could be saved by nine righteous people, so there was no need to ask G-d. And because of Noah, he knew that eight wasn't enough even if they were there, so he stopped asking.
4
Sarah's actions need not be righteous. First, this source is based on a Midrash. The simple text just states that Sarah oppressed Hagar without going into any detail. The goal of the Midrash could be to get you to view Hagar from a sympathetic point of view - it does not necessarily mean to justify the behavior. Secondly, the Ramban ad loc (secondary ...
4
Yishmael was certainly not a Tzaddik in the true sense of the word. This is precisely the reason why Sarah and Avraham sent him away.
So in the dialogue between Hashem and the (prosecuting) angels: why does Hashem say that Yishmael was a tzaddik?
You need to look at the context of the dialogue.
Yishmael was going to die of thirst. Hashem lets the angels ...
4
The text is not just dispassionately telling a story. Each word is pregnant with meaning. That is why the initial command was קַח-נָא אֶת-בִּנְךָ אֶת-יְחִידְךָ אֲשֶׁר-אָהַבְתָּ, אֶת-יִצְחָק, 'Take now thy son, thine only son, whom thou lovest, even Isaac'.
Here, the innocent child is turning to his father, whom he trusts, and asking this question. This also ...
3
I see no contradiction.
Both Avrohom and Lot were intrinsically against idolatry.
Avrohom therefore insisted on washing the feet before coming in.
The Sodomites were most likely to exact a penalty on Lot for entertaining guests. So there was a danger in washing the guests’ feet. If their feet were still dirty it would seem like they had only now ...
3
Some unsourced thoughts (I can break these into separate answers if that's better):
Abraham thought Sarah was too old, but G-d didn't want to embarrass him in front of his guests. Instead, he chose to embarrass Sarah (who is guilty of the same thing) because she was not face-to-face with the angels.
Abraham could hear Sarah laughing and Abraham suspected ...
3
Midrashim list all sorts of bad things Yishmael was doing that caused Avraham to expel him. How, then, was he considered a tzadik "baasher hu sham", when the angels were protesting his being saved? I recently saw (I forget in whose name) the suggestion that he had repented in the throes of his suffering. (Cf. the halacha that someone who betroths on ...
3
My own thought: There is no indication that when God spoke to Avraham about Sarah laughing he was in any way angry at Sarah (it does not say v'yichar af, not does it ever say that Sarah was punished). Furthermore had God been angry at Sarah why wouldn't he have spoken directly to her (as he did with, say Miriam and Ahron)?
Rather, God was in fact ...
3
Pirkei D'Rebbi Eliezer (Chapter 31) says that Yishmael came in from the desert to visit Avraham. (The Rada"l says that was when Yitzchok and Yishmael argued about whose circumcision was more meritorious - see here) and that night, according to one explanation of the Rada"l, G-d appeared to Avraham and told him to sacrifice his son.
3
Ephraim Stulberg, in an interesting article on the subject of the division of Aliyot (available here), suggests that as an extension of the theme of ending on a good note, the 'divisors' tried to end aliyot with dramatic and uplifticing messages as a climax to the aliya. His examples are: Gen 9:17, 13:4, 13:18, 19:20, 28:22, 33:5, 33:20, 42:18, 49:18, Ex ...
3
According to Mordechai Halperin, in "הקדמת קריאת שם היילוד אשר מילתו מתעכבת עקב מחלה", our Minhag of naming the child right after the Berit Milah is mentioned neither in the Talmud( Shabbat 137b) nor in the Mishneh Torah( in the beginning of Hilkhot Milah Ch. 3).
Moreover, both Ba'al ha-Itur( mentioned by the Tur Yoreh De'ah 265), and the Abudraham( in ...
2
We learn she suddenly became Nidah in Bava Metzia 87 (Rashi).
From the Torah Temima we learn that the Kos Shel Bracha doesn't have to be of the Birkat Hamazon (Benching?). (He brings an opinion of Rabbi Akiva at Brachot 44a that whatever you eat if this is his "mezono" you mevarech with wine- but we don't follow this opinion).
So what they did is that first ...
2
Firstly, I would like to add to the question:
Rashi on Bereshis 25:20 says that after the akeida, Yitzchak waited to marry Rivkah for 3 years
המתין לה עד שתהא ראויה לביאה שלש שנים ונשאה:
He waited for her until she would be fit for marital relations-three
years-and then married her. — [From Gen. Rabbah 57:1;
From here it's pretty clear that ...
2
1)They thought there was no one left in the World(Ibn Ezra and Kaspi,Rashi and Rashbam)
2)Radak says they thought no one would marry them since they came from the destroyed cities they would be outcasts
3)Seforno has the Most intriguing answer they held themselves to have a great Yichus and there was no one good enough left to Marry.
2
Your question assumes that the Torah is written in chronological order, but it is not.
When the Torah names places, the names given are the names that the Jewish people knew them as when Yehoshua took over Cannan. Sometimes, it will tell you the old name, so as to give you a story and lesson about the name changing, but in general, if there is no special ...
2
Lot surveyed the whole land and chose Sodom. (Gen 13) He presumably wouldn't have done so if they had such a reputation, let alone stayed if he was actually subject to such treatment.
MORE importantly - Lot arrived in Sodom at a time when he was extremely wealthy (Gen 13). Its very possible that the angels were targeted because they were seen as ...
1
wouldn't their disappearance be good for everyone
Well, the well-being of everyone is independent of their existence. One's fate is sentenced on Rosh-Hashana, for Tzadik or Rasha, or on Yon Kippur for Beinoni. That sentence applies till next year (with measured dynamics :-) ).
(including themselves)
If they're doomed for Gehenom, their own sake is ...
1
@Michoel: regarding your first question:
If I understand correctly, your're asking the following:
The first Rashi says that Lot was 'not particular' about idolatry, however the second Rashi implies that Lot was particular about this, just that danger that it could bring caused him to change from his usual behavior.
Well, I have to agree with @Avrohom ...
1
God "asked"( it seems to me it was a rhetorical question) Avraham why Sarah laughed, i.e. ridiculed the idea that she'd ever have a child( see Rashi on 17:17 s.v. va-Yipol Avraham al Panav va-Yitzchaq), to rebuke her for her lack of faith in his ability to deliver on his promise to give her a child. If He had said nothing, Sarah would remain unaware of ...
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