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October 22, 2021 (16 Cheshvan 5782) The Voice of Sarah Dear Friends, This week’s Torah Parashat of Vayera might be seen as a three-act play. The story begins with three angels visiting Abraham and Sarah proclaiming that, even in old age, Sarah and Abraham would finally have a son! Hearing this news, Sarah literally laughs in the face of God, expressing disbelief and skepticism. She says,“After I have become worn, is there to be pleasure for me? And my husband is so old!” Sarah was a skeptic. She doubted the word of God. She questioned God’s promise and laughed at the seeming absurdity of the prophecy from God, the very idea of a miracle. Some people describe her as a woman who exhibited no intimidation or fear of the Heavenly Voice. The second act of Vayera discusses the impending doom of Sodom and Gomorrah. The third act of the Parshat is the well-known tale of the Binding of Isaac. God tests Abraham by telling him to take his son, Isaac, and offer him up as a sacrifice on Mt. Moriah. Abraham answered, “Hineini (I am here).” Abraham is commanded to do the unthinkable, to sacrifice his son, and responds without question. Amazingly, in this third, family-centered act, we do not hear from Sarah, Isaac’s mother. It is as if we walked back into the theater after the intermission, looked down at our Playbill, and noticed that a central character of Act One was suddenly gone. The Parshat offers us an interesting juxtaposition of voices and tone. In contrast to Sarah, Abraham voiced no doubt, no skepticism, no laughing, and no suspicion. The skeptical voice of Sarah is not heard. It is interesting to wonder what would have happened if Sarah had been there for the Binding of Isaac. Would she have seen this test as absurd and questioned her husband’s faith? Would she have laughed and expressed skepticism? What would the mother of Isaac have answered if she had been the one to be tested by God? We can only wonder what would have been in Sarah’s voice. In the Midrash, the rabbis recognize Sarah’s absence. They look at the text and ask: Why does it say, “And Abraham rose up early in the morning.” They question why it says, “Early in the morning” and speculate that Abraham said to himself, “It may be that Sarah will not give us permission to go, so I will get up early while she is still asleep. It is best that no one sees us.” As the curtain descends on this Parshat, our lesson is learned. We must be attuned to hearing a multiplicity of voices: of women and men; of children and the aged; of the native born and the stranger; and of the the skeptic and the believer. May Shabbat offer us the peaceful opportunity to consider the voices of all our holy friends. Shabbat Shalom, Rabbi Eric L. Wasser, EdD
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