Weekly Wisdom - Vayera
by Ronen Gradwohl, graduate of Or HaLev’s Tiferet Teacher Training
Abraham had two sons, Yishmael and Yitzhak, and each name comes from the story of his birth.
Hagar, pregnant and alone in the desert, meets an angel who tells her she will have a son. He is to be called Yishmael, "G-d hears," because G-d has heard her suffering. Hagar accepts and trusts the message, and goes back home.
When G-d tells Abraham that Sarah will have a son, Abraham laughs, and when Sarah hears the news, she laughs too. The child is named Yitzhak, "he will laugh."
In these two birth stories, we might hear two different responses: trust and acceptance in the first, doubt and questioning in the second.
Later, these two responses return, but reversed. When Abraham is told to send Yishmael away, he is deeply troubled. But when he is told to sacrifice Yitzhak, he rises early the next morning and goes, without a word of protest.
Faith and acceptance. Doubt and challenge. We need both, and either one, taken too far, can become dangerous.
Sometimes the skillful response is to question, to push back, to challenge. And sometimes it's to trust, to accept what is, and to meet it with kindness, care, and curiosity.
When something difficult comes up, perhaps we can pause for a moment, turn inward, and ask ourselves: What does this moment invite: acceptance, challenge, or some combination of both? We can become aware of the sensations and feelings in our bodies, and maybe an answer will arise from within.