{"id":31280,"date":"2025-11-07T17:07:28","date_gmt":"2025-11-07T20:07:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tuviaserber.com\/?p=31280"},"modified":"2025-11-07T17:08:06","modified_gmt":"2025-11-07T20:08:06","slug":"parashat-vayera-where-he-is-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tuviaserber.com\/en\/parashat-vayera-where-he-is-now\/","title":{"rendered":"Parashat Vayera - Where he is now"},"content":{"rendered":"

This week's third reading is called Vayeira<\/strong>, which means \u201cAnd He showed Himself.\u201d<\/em>
It talks about quite a few events that happened in the life of Abraham, our forefather, after he did the circumcision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of those events, of course, is the birth of Item<\/strong>, his main son, and so on. But the truth is, he had another son already called Ishmael<\/strong>, the son of Hagar<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, when they grew up, Ishmael actually wanted to kill him. He used to play with him, you know, throwing arrows over here, over there \u2014 oh, suddenly an arrow just hit you, I'm sorry!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So when Sarah<\/strong>, the mother of Item<\/strong>, saw that Ishmael was a very bad influence on her son and actually wanted to kill him, she told Abraham<\/strong>:
\u201c"Please, kick away this child and the mother of the child too. She's not a good person, she's not a good influence for our child," and so on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Abraham immediately did what Sarah said to do, and the story is that Sarah was so angry with Ishmael that she looked at him in such a bad way that he got sick. His mother was carrying him, being kicked out of the house, carrying this guy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At a certain point, the water just finished. They didn't have any more water; they were in the desert, there was no place for water and so on, and they were going to die.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So she left Ishmael under the tree, she went to another place, and just waited to see what would happen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Torah tells us that a few angels came to Hagar<\/strong> and told her, "Everything is going to be fine. Don't worry, you'll be fine." The angels showed Hagar a well of water so that she could give water to her son, and so on. And actually, I have lived.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And until today, we're suffering from Ishmael.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Change in God's Attitude<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the point is: what made the change, so to speak, in G-d's attitude toward this guy?
Ishmael was a bad guy \u2014 he wanted to kill Isaac, he was a bad influence, and so on \u2014 and suddenly Gd is saying, "You have to save this guy. I'm going to give water to this guy."\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To the point that the angels complained to Gd:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c"Why are you saving this guy? He's going to prevent water from the Jewish people when they are taken into exile after the destruction of the First Temple, and so on."\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The point is that the children of Ishmael would not give water to the children of Israel being sent to exile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So they said, \u201cHe is going to prevent water from your children \u2014 why are you giving him water?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And Gd answered with a very interesting answer, through which we can learn a very powerful lesson on the idea of teshuva<\/strong>.
Teshuva means repentance. Teshuva means going back to Gd.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Meaning of Teshuva<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

So the point, the idea, is like this: our sages say that Ishmael himself saw himself in a terrible situation \u2014 he was going to die \u2014 so he was praying to Gd. And within his prayer, he actually suddenly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He did teshuva<\/strong> at that moment, in that situation, in those circumstances. He did teshuva.
What later was going to be \u2014 okay, I don't know. But at that particular moment, he did teshuva.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And the Torah tells us that, and we learn two things from it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. The prayer of a sick person for himself<\/strong> is even more powerful than the prayer of others for this sick person, because actually Hagar<\/strong>, his mother, was praying for him \u2014 however, Gd answered his<\/strong> prayer.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Furthermore, the Torah says in Hebrew: \u201cGd heard you, Ishmael, where you are.\u201d<\/em>
    What does that mean?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Of course, Ishmael was there \u2014 what do you mean? Gd heard him, he was there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    No \u2014 it means the spiritual situation<\/strong> in which Ishmael was found. Gd heard and accepted the repentance according to the situation in which he was found right now. Not the physical place, but the situation of his soul.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The Lesson for Us<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    At this particular moment, he did teshuva. I have suddenly Later? I don't know what's going to happen \u2014 actually Gd knows, but whatever. It doesn't really matter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Right now, he did teshuva, so Gd answered him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    And this is a very powerful teaching for each one of us:
    Gd judges us according to what we are right now in the present.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    What was in the past? Okay \u2014 I suddenly.
    What is going to be in the future? I don't know \u2014 you have free will and you can do whatever, change your future, and so on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Judaism does not believe in determinism. You can choose your own path, your future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    And of course, for good things, Gd is going to reward you, and for bad things, Gd is going to punish you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The point is that Gd is going to judge you at any certain moment in life \u2014 right now<\/strong>, in the place and in the spiritual situation in which you are found right now.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This week's third reading is called Vayeira, which means \u201cand He showed Himself.\u201dIt talks about quite a few events that happened in the life of Abraham, our forefather, after he did the circumcision. One of those events, of course, is the birth of It, his main son, and so on. But the truth is, he… Read More \u00bbParashat Vayera - Where he is now<\/span><\/a>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":31279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","episode_type":"audio","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3288],"tags":[960],"series":[],"class_list":["post-31280","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-vayera-en","tag-teshuva"],"episode_featured_image":"https:\/\/tuviaserber.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Vayera.jpg","episode_player_image":"https:\/\/tuviaserber.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/avatar1400.jpeg","download_link":"","player_link":"","audio_player":false,"episode_data":{"playerMode":"light","subscribeUrls":{"castbox":{"key":"castbox","url":"","label":"CastBox","class":"castbox","icon":"castbox.png"},"rss":{"key":"rss","url":"","label":"RSS","class":"rss","icon":"rss.png"},"spotify":{"key":"spotify","url":"","label":"Spotify","class":"spotify","icon":"spotify.png"}},"rssFeedUrl":"https:\/\/tuviaserber.com\/en\/feed\/podcast\/rabino-tuvia-serber","embedCode":"

    Parashat Vayera - Where he is now<\/a><\/blockquote>