This week’s parsha, Vayeira (Genesis/Bereshiet chapters 18 through 22) tells the second part of the story of the life of the Patriarch, Abraham, and includes at least two of the most well-known, and even prophetic, incidents in that sage.
The parsha title, Vayeira, “And He appeared,” refers to YHVH Himself, and two of His ‘malakim,’ or messengers, who appeared to Abraham on the eve of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, and is the time when the patriarch famously ‘dickers’ with the Creator on behalf of those about to die. And there is more to that visit as well.
The Erev Shabbat reading concludes with perhaps the famous event in his life, which is certainly not only prophetic, and foreshadowing, but also cited as the epitome of an “act of faith”:
The Sabbath Day midrash is all about a question that Mark Call suggests is something we should be considering today:
Can WE have “faith like Abraham?’
After all, this patriarch is essentially not only the ‘Father of Our Faith,’ but also a man who faith is literally of “Biblical Proportions.”
There are other factors to consider…
…but we can, and must.
Vayeira: The ‘Faith’ of Abraham’ – and what it means for us
The combined two-part teaching is here:
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