Talmud reads Torah // Lech Lecha

Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. She had an Egyptian maidservant whose name was Hagar. And Sarai said to Abram, “Look, the LORD has kept me from bearing. Consort with my maid; perhaps I shall have a son through her.” And Abram heeded Sarai’s request. So Sarai, Abram’s wife, took her maid, Hagar the Egyptian—after Abram had dwelt in the land of Canaan ten years—and gave her to her husband Abram as concubine. He cohabited with Hagar and she conceived; and when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was lowered in her esteem. And Sarai said to Abram, “The wrong done me is your fault! I myself put my maid in your bosom; now that she sees that she is pregnant, I am lowered in her esteem. The LORD decide between you and me!” Abram said to Sarai, “Your maid is in your hands. Deal with her as you think right.” Then Sarai treated her harshly, and she ran away from her. An angel of the LORD found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, the spring on the road to Shur, and said, “Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?” And she said, “I am running away from my mistress Sarai.” And the angel of the LORD said to her, “Go back to your mistress, and submit to her harsh treatment.” And the angel of the LORD said to her, “I will greatly increase your offspring, And they shall be too many to count.” The angel of the LORD said to her further, “Behold, you are with child And shall bear a son; You shall call him Ishmael, For the LORD has paid heed to your suffering. He shall be a wild ass of a man; His hand against everyone, And everyone’s hand against him; He shall dwell alongside of all his kinsmen.” And she called the LORD who spoke to her, “You Are El-roi,” by which she meant, “Have I not gone on seeing after He saw me!” Therefore the well was called Beer-lahai-roi; it is between Kadesh and Bered.— Hagar bore a son to Abram, and Abram gave the son that Hagar bore him the name Ishmael. Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram.

..."And Sarai said to Abram, 'Look, the Lord has kept me from bearing' (Gen.16:2) as follows: "Said she, I know the source of my affliction: It is not as people say [of a barren woman], 'she needs a talisman, she needs a charm', but Look, the Lord has kept me from bearing.'"

"So Sarai, Abram’s wife, took her maid, Hagar the Egyptian, as a handmaid" She took her with words, saying to her: 'how good it is for you that you cling to this holy body.'

Rabbi Ḥanan says: One who passes the judgment of another to Heaven is punished first, as it is stated: “And Sarai said to Abram: My wrong be upon you, I gave my handmaid into your bosom; and when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her eyes: The Lord judge between me and you” (Genesis 16:5). Sarai stated that God should judge Abram for his actions. And it is written: “And Abraham came to mourn for Sarah, and to weep for her” (Genesis 23:2), as Sarah died first. The Gemara comments: And this matter applies only in a situation where he has someone to do judgment for him on earth and has no need to appeal to the heavenly court. Concerning this, Rabbi Yitzḥak says: Woe to he who cries out to Heaven more than the one about whom he is crying out. The Gemara comments: This concept is also taught in a baraita: Both the one who cries out and the one about whom he is crying out are included in the verse discussing the cries of an orphan who is mistreated: “If you afflict them, for if they cry at all to Me, I will surely hear their cry. My wrath shall wax hot, and I will kill you with the sword” (Exodus 22:22–23). But they are quicker to punish the one who cries out than the one about whom he is crying out, as in the incident with Sarai.

(Land of Israel, 8th century)

Abraham rose up early, and wrote a bill of divorce (get), and gave it to Hagar, and he sent her and her son away from himself, and from Isaac his son, from this world and from the world to come, as it is said, "And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took bread and a bottle of water" (Gen. 21:14). He sent her away with a bill of divorce, and he took the veil, and he bound it around her waist, so that it should drag behind her to disclose (the fact) that she was a handmade. Not only this, but also because Abraham desired to see Ishmael, his son, and to see the way whereon they went.

Lest you believe that Abraham, of whom it is written: And Abraham was very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold (Gen. 13:2), would have driven his own wife and son from his home, without clothes or food, silver or cattle (for any other reason)? This episode simply teaches us that after Ishmael went astray, Abraham was no longer concerned about him. But if this is so, what is meant by And the thing was very grievous in Abraham’s sight on account of his son? It means that he was pained by Ishmael’s straying. You find that when Ishmael grew up, he would sit at the crossroads to murder and rob those who passed by, as it is said: And he shall be a wild ass of a man; and his hand shall be against every man (Gen. 16:12).

Abram said to Sarai, “Your maid is in your hands. Deal with her as you think right.” He said to her: I do not care what happens to her. It is written: 'Since you had your will of her, you must not enslave her' (Deuteronomy 21:14) and in her case, we've caused her sorrow and now we enslave her. I do not care what happens to her either way. It is written: 'he shall not have the right to sell her to outsiders, since he broke faith with her' (Exodus 21:8). In her case, we have made her the lady of the house and now a handmaid, I do not care one way or another.

"And Sarai said to Abram, “The wrong done me is your fault!" Rabbi Yudan said in the name of Rabbi Yahuda Bar Simon: 'you are hurting me (חומסני) with words. Why? Since you hear my humiliation and remain silent.

(Syria, 12-13 century)

"And when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was lowered in her esteem" Hagar said: 'my mistress Sarai is not the same inside and out (she is hypocritical -E.M). How many years has she spent with Abraham and never conceived? Whereas and he fell pregnant from him in one night.'"

(Land of Israel, 8th century)

By the merit of our father Abraham the water did not vanish from the bottle, but when he reached the start of the wilderness, she began to stray after the idolatry of her father's house; immediately the water in the bottle was spent [...] "And she departed and wandered." The meaning of "and she wandered" is only idolatry, because it is written, concerning (this root), "They are vanity, a work of delusion" (Jer. 10:15).

Rabbi Hiyah said: come see the difference between the earlier ones and the later ones. Manoah told his wife: "We will surely die as we've seen the angel of God" (Judges 13:22), whereas Hagar, Sarah's handmaid saw five angels one after the other and was not terrified of them. Rabbi Hiyah said: better the fingernails of the parents and not the bellies of the children. Rabbi Yitzhak said: "She oversees the activities of her household" (Proverbs 31:27). The household of Abraham were viewers/prophets, and she was used to seeing them.

... [God] came and revealed Himself to the sons of Ishmael and asked them: Will you accept the Torah? They: What is written in it? He: "You shall not steal." They: But this is the blessing by which our father was blessed, as it is written (Genesis 16:12) "And he (Ishmael) shall be a brutish man, etc." and it also says "and I was stolen from the Land of the Hebrews" (Genesis 40:15). And when He came to Israel (Devarim 32:2), "in His right hand, the fire of the Law for them," they all opened their mouths and cried (Exodus 24:7) "All that the Lord says, we shall do and we shall hear!"