(2007/5768)

Parashat VaYeira relates the famous story of the Malachim who came to Avraham after his Brit Milah in order to perform the Mitzvah of Bikur Cholim.  After Avraham rushed to greet them and hosted them for a meal, one angel informed him that in a year’s time, Sarah, his wife, would give birth to a son. The 89 year-old woman heard this from behind the doorway and laughed.  Later, Hashem questioned Avraham, asking him, “Lamah Zeh Tzachakah Sarah…HaYipalei MeiHashem Davar,” “Why did Sarah laugh...Is there anything beyond Me?” (Bereishit 18:13-14).  At first glance, Hashem’s comment to Avraham seems unnecessary and perhaps even unwarranted.  After all, it seems from Bereishit 17:21 that Avraham knew about this baby but had not told Sarah yet, leading to her incredulous reaction when she first heard the news.  Furthermore, these visitors seemed like nothing more than idolatrous merchants who had passed their tent merely by chance (see Rashi 18:4 s.v. VeRachatzu), potentially causing Sarah to mock the credibility of their outlandish predictions.

The Noam Elimelech explains Hashem’s complaint in light of the principle that a person must always aspire to reach such heightened states that he is always aware of and contemplating Hashem’s presence.  Additionally, when Hashem and His inconceivable power hide within the bounds of nature, it should be considered as strange and out of the ordinary.  However, an instance when Hashem supersedes nature and exhibits His power is in fact the natural state of His existence.  The Noam Elimelech continues that Sarah did in fact subscribe to this belief, but her laugh was actually one of gleeful surprise, as she declared, “What a miracle!”  Hashem complained to Avraham because she should have realized that such an action was perfectly within the everyday workings of Hashem.  This is why, when Avraham asked her if she had laughed at the news, she denied doing so; she did not want Avraham to mistakenly think that she had scoffed at such ideas.  When Avraham responded, “No, you laughed,” he was telling Sarah that the surprised happiness was tantamount to a scoffing laugh, regardless of her true intentions.

We, certainly, are not yet on high enough spiritual levels to accept supernatural events as commonplace.  We are misled by the natural world and are so surprised when scientific advances lead us directly to the words of the Torah.  For example, the Gemara in Sotah teaches us that in the first forty days of a woman’s pregnancy, one can pray for the specific gender of a child.  However, after that, the gender has been set.  Recently, it has been discovered that in the seventh week of pregnancy, the gene which determines the gender of a baby is developed, aligning directly with the statement in the Gemara.  The natural world often aids our Yeitzer HaRa and portrays aspects of life as newly determined information or unbelievable scenarios, though Hashem in actuality has always been in control from the start.  It is therefore incumbent upon every Jew to move past the illusionary stumbling blocks the natural word sets before him in an attempt to understand and appreciate the extreme power and miraculous deeds of God.