Tractate Megillah (“Scroll”) was written c.450 - c.550 CE and is part of the Talmud. It discusses the laws of reading the scroll of Esther on the holiday of Purim, as well as the laws of public reading of the Torah and Prophets, public prayer, and treatment and selling of sacred objects and synagogues.
But God said to Avraham:
Do not let it be bad in your eyes concerning the lad and concerning your maidservant;
in all that Sara says to you, hearken to her voice,
for it is through Yitzhak that seed will be called by your [name].
Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki (Rashi) lived in Troyes, France (1040-1105). Rashi’s commentary is an essential explanation of the Tanakh and resides in a place of honor on the page of almost all editions of the Tanakh. Over 300 supercommentaries have been written to further explain Rashi’s comments on the Torah. While quoting many midrashim and Talmudic passages, Rashi, in his commentary, states that his purpose is to present the pshat (contextual meaning) of the text.
שמע בקולה HEARKEN UNTO HER VOICE — we may infer that Abraham was inferior to Sarah in respect of prophecy (Exodus Rabbah 1:1).
Terah begot Avram, Nahor, and Haran,
and Haran begot Lot. Haran died in the living-presence of Terah his father in the land of his kindred, in Ur of the Chaldeans. Avram and Nahor took themselves wives;
the name of Avram’s wife was Sarai,
the name of Nahor’s wife was Milca—daughter of Haran, father of Milca and father of Yisca. Now Sarai was barren, she had no child.
The Zohar (Splendor or Radiance) was composed in Spain during the Middle Ages and is the foundational work in the literature of Jewish mystical thought known as Kabbalah. It is a group of books including commentary on the mystical aspects of the Torah and scriptural interpretations as well as material on mysticism, the nature of God, the origin and structure of the universe, the nature of souls, redemption, the relationship of Ego to Darkness and "true self" to "The Light of God", and the relationship between the "universal energy" and man.
The Rav of the Yeshiva said, it is written (Breishit 11:30), "Now Sarai was barren; she had no child." When it tells us that Sarai was barren, I already know that she had no child. So why [does the verse add], "she had no child"? Rather, here is what the Rav of the Yeshiva said: She had no child born to her, but souls she had born to her, by means of the cleaving with desire. These two righteous ones [Sarai and Avram] birthed souls for converts all the time that they were at Haran, just as the righteous make [souls for converts] in Gan Eden. As it says (Breishit 12:5), "the people [literally 'the soul'] that they acquired [literally 'made'] in Haran" -- they really did create that soul!
Avram took Sarai his wife and Lot his brother’s son, all their property that they had gained, and the persons whom they had made-their-own in Harran,
and they went out to go to the land of Canaan.
They came to the land of Canaan;
God said to Avraham:
As for Sarai your wife—you shall not call her name Sarai,
for Sara/Princess is her name! I will bless her, and I will give you a son from her;
I will bless her
so that she becomes nations—;
kings of peoples shall come from her!
Bereshit Rabbah is a midrash (explanation) on the Book of Genesis written around 500 CE. It covers most of the book (excluding genealogies and similar passages) with verse-by-verse and often word-by-word commentary. Written in Hebrew mixed with Aramaic and occasional Greek words, its style is simple and clear.
וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹהִים שָׂרַי אִשְׁתְּךָ וגו' (בראשית יז, טו), כְּתִיב (משלי יב, ד): אֵשֶׁת חַיִל עֲטֶרֶת בַּעְלָהּ, אָמַר רַבִּי אַחָא בַּעֲלָהּ נִתְעַטֵּר בָּהּ וְהִיא לֹא נִתְעַטְּרָה בְּבַעֲלָהּ. רַבָּנָן אָמְרֵי מָרְתָא לְבַעֲלָהּ. בְּכָל מָקוֹם הָאִישׁ גּוֹזֵר, בְּרַם הָכָא (בראשית כא, יב): כֹּל אֲשֶׁר תֹּאמַר אֵלֶיךָ שָׂרָה שְׁמַע בְּקֹלָהּ.
"God said..., 'Sarai your wife...'" In Proverbs (12:4), it is written, "A woman of valor is a crown to her husband." Rabbi Aha said, "Her husband was crowned through her, but she was not crowned through her husband." Our rabbis taught that she ruled over her husband. In all places, the man gives orders, but here (Genesis 21:12), "In all that Sarah orders you, listen to her voice."
Tractate Berakhot (“Blessings”) was written c.450 - c.550 CE and is part of the Mishnah. It discuss the laws of prayers, focusing on the Shema, the Amidah, and blessings, including those recited in the context of eating.
and Avram went down to Egypt, to sojourn there,
for the famine was heavy in the land. It was when he came near to Egypt that he said to Sarai his wife:
Now here, I know that you are a woman beautiful to look at. It will be, when the Egyptians see you and say: She is his wife,
that they will kill me, but you they will allow to live. Pray say that you are my sister
in order that it may go well with me on your account, and I myself may live thanks to you.
so the woman was taken away into Pharaoh’s house. Now it went well with Avram on her account:
sheep and oxen, donkeys, servants and maids, she-asses and camels, became his. But YHWH plagued Pharaoh with great plagues, and also his household, because of Sarai, Avram’s wife.
What, now, have you have done to me?
Why did you not tell me that she is your wife? Why did you say: She is my sister?
—So I took her for myself as a wife.
But now, here is your wife, take her and go! So Pharaoh put men in charge of him, who escorted him and his wife and all that was his.
Tractate Bava Metzia ("The Middle Gate") was written c.450 - c.550 CE and is part of the Talmud. It mainly focuses on interpersonal matters that are not connected to damages, such as disputed property, usury, returning lost objects, guarding, renting, borrowing, and responsibilities of workers and employers.
So Avimelekh king of Gerar sent and had Sara taken. But God came to Avimelekh in a dream of the night and said to him:
Here, you must die because of the woman whom you have taken,
for she is a wedded wife! Avimelekh had not come near her. He said:
My Lord,
Would you kill a nation, though it be innocent? Did he not say to me: She is my sister,
and also she, she said: He is my brother!
With a whole heart and with clean hands have I done this.
What have you done to us?
In what did I fail you,
that you have brought me and my kingdom into such great fault?
Deeds which are not to be done, you have done to me! And Avimelekh said to Avraham:
What did you foresee, that you did this thing? Avraham said:
Indeed, I said to myself:
Surely there is no awe of God in this place;
they will kill me on account of my wife! Then, too, she is truly my sister, my father’s daughter,
however not my mother’s daughter—so she became my wife. Now it was, when the power-of-God caused me to roam from my father’s house,
that I said to her:
Let this be the faithfulness that you do me:
in every place that we come, say of me: He is my brother.
Rabbi Moses ben Nahman (1194–1270), commonly known as the Ramban, wrote his famous commentary in Spain, c.1246 - c.1286 CE. He usually begins his comments with Rashi’s explanation and then expounds further with insights from Kabbalah and Oral Tradition. His comments include respectful criticism of Rashi, Ibn Ezra and Rambam.
וישלח אבימלך ויקח וגו' הנה זה פלא שהיתה שרה אחרי בלותה יפה עד מאד יקחוה המלכים כי בהלקחה אל פרעה אם היתה בת ששים וחמש אפשר שהיה עליה תארה אבל אחרי בלותה וחדל ממנה האורח פלא הוא.
AND ABIMELECH, KING OF GERAR, SENT AND TOOK SARAH. It is wondrous that Sarah, after being worn with age, was extremely beautiful, fit to be taken by kings. When she was taken to Pharaoh, though she was sixty-five years old, it is possible that she still had her beautiful appearance, but after being worn with age and the manner of women had ceased with her, that is a wonder!
I will return, yes, return to you when time revives,
and Sara your wife will have a son!
Now Sara was listening at the entrance to the tent, which was behind him. And Avraham and Sara were old, advanced in days;
the path of women had ceased for Sara. Sara laughed within herself, saying:
After I have become worn, is there to be pleasure for me? And my lord is old!
Now why does Sara laugh and say: Shall I really give birth, now that I am old? Is anything too wondrous for YHWH?
At that set-time I will return to you, when time revives, and Sara will have a son. Sara pretended [otherwise], saying:
No, I did not laugh.
For she was afraid.
But he said:
No, indeed you laughed.
Tur HaAroch is a commentary on the Torah, written c.1280 - c.1340, by Rabbi Jacob ben Asher. Also know as Ba’al haTurim (after his famous work, the Arba’ah Turim), Jacob ben Asher was a Jewish legal scholar and biblical commentator in late 13th and early 14th century Spain.
ותכחש שרה. כתב הרמ"בן אני תמיה בנביאה הצדקת איך תכחש באשר אמר ה' לנביא וגם לא האמינה לדברי מלאכי אלהים ונראה בעיני כי המלאכים האלה נראו כאנשים.
ותכחש שרה, “Sarah denied (having laughed derisively)” Nachmanides writes that he cannot get over the fact that a prophetess of the caliber of the matriarch Sarah denied that she had laughed at the prophecy and had not believed the prophecy delivered in the name of the Lord. The only possible answer he could accept was that seeing that these messages were delivered by people in human garb, low ranking individuals at that, this made it difficult for her to credit what they said.
YHWH dealt with Sara as he had spoken. Sara became pregnant and bore Avraham a son in his old age,
at the set-time of which God had spoken to him. And Avraham called the name of his son, who was born to him, whom Sara bore to him:
Yitzhak/He Laughs. And Avraham circumcised Yitzhak his son at eight days old, as God had commanded him. Now Avraham was a hundred years old when Yitzhak his son was born to him.
God has made laughter for me,
all who hear of it will laugh for me! And she said:
Who would have declared to Avraham:
Sara will nurse sons?
Well, I have borne him a son in his old age!
Peninei Halakhah (“Pearls of Jewish Law”) is a contemporary (c.2011 - c.2015 CE), easily accessible, and thorough presentation of practical halakhah (law), written in modern Hebrew by Rabbi Eliezer Melamed, Rosh Yeshiva and rabbi of the community of Har Bracha. Consisting of sixteen volumes and expanding, it includes a range of sources, explanations of the spiritual foundations of laws, differences between Ashkenazi and Sephardi practice, and footnotes at the end of every chapter with elaborations and additional sources. The work is popular in Israel, where it is often used as the standard halakhah textbook in religious Zionist schools, and in Jewish communities throughout the world.