Parshat Chayei Sarah

2003

The Well of the Living One Who Sees Me: How Far Did Isaac Go For Ishmael?

Some say that Jews and Muslims, or Israelis and Palestinians, can trace the roots of their conflict to these brothers, Isaac and Ishmael. In last week's parsha, we learned how Ishmael was banished and went down to Egypt. Then, after the Akeidah, Isaac is separated from his father. They do not return together from the mountain. Isaac and Ishmael had played together for some amount of time in their father's household. In fact, Ishmael being "mitzachayk" - grammatically, "Isaacing" - caused Sarah to demand his banishment. Did these brothers really carry hatred for each other, or did they carry some other burdens of their famous first family?

Torah Evidence of the Isaac-Ishmael Connection
A. Isaac prepares to greet Rebekah: Genesis 24:62
"Isaac had just come back from the vicinity of Beer-lahai-roi, for he was settled in the region of the Negev."
B. Isaac and Ishmael are together at Abraham's funeral: Genesis 25:9-11
"His sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron son of Zohar the Hittite, facing Mamre, the field that Abraham had bought from the Hittites; there Abraham was buried, and Sarah his wife. After the death of Abraham, G-d blessed his son Isaac. And Isaac settled near Beer-lahai-roi."

Your Torah Navigator
1. Beer-lahai-roi is the name of the well where Hagar, Ishamel's mother, received the news of his name and his impending birth. It is a place associated exclusively with Ishmael. The only other times it is mentioned are these references to Isaac coming from it and going towards it. Why is Isaac so interested in this Ishmael space?
2. Ishmael was supposedly living in Egypt. How did he find out that his father, Abraham, had died, and how did he know where to go for the funeral?
3. Abraham was 175 when he died. That would make Isaac 75 and Ishmael 88. Some Midrashim imagine Isaac bringing his sons, Jacob and Esau, themselves already teenagers, to the funeral. How might they react on meeting Uncle Ishmael for the first time, and how would they mourn Grandpa Abe, who, at least according to the explicit text of the Torah, they never met?

A Word
When I first visited this parsha in depth for my senior sermon in rabbinical school, I perceived a yearning by Isaac for his older brother. The Torah, as usual, is tantalizingly terse. But the orientation of Isaac around his brother's naming-well seems to me to send a message: I want to feel my brother's presence. At the very least, Isaac found some way to join with his brother in the act of burying their father. If they also buried the strife between them, then perhaps the phrase that speaks of Isaac's dwelling "towards Beer-lahai-roi" hints at two elder brothers, finally, dwelling in peace together.

Prepared by Rabbi Ben Lanckton, rabbinic advisor, M.I.T. Hillel.

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Additional commentaries and text studies on Parshat Chayei Sarah at MyJewishLearning.com.