A Glimpse Into Parshas Chayei Sarah

A glimpse into Parshas Chayei Sarah:

The Arizal explains the following about the relationship between Sarah and Hagar:

Know that Sarah and Hagar correspond to the brain and its membranes, and just as the membranes precede the brain, so Hagar gave birth before Sarah…. Indeed, the gematria of Hagar [הגר ] is 208, the same as the gematria of Isaac [יצחק ], both of them represent judgment. For the membranes are harsh judgments. The ancient kings [the sefirot of the World of Chaos] died because they were not sweetened and they were from the root of evil, from Cain. Thus, Sarah placed an evil eye on Hagar’s [first] pregnancy and she miscarried, because that child was only from the aspect of evil…. Sarah wanted to sweeten [Hagar’s second pregnancy] with goodness and to augment the good and submit the evil, and so Abraham told her: “[Here is your maidservant,] do with her whatever you see to be good,” and the stress here is on the “good.” This was the reason that Sarah tormented Hagar, in order to submit the evil in her and to strengthen the good. And this is also why the angel told Hagar, “Return to your mistress and be tormented by her.”

We see from the Arizal’s explanation that even in the pregnancy of Ishmael, it was Abraham’s mercy that was able to sweeten the harsh judgment that was part of Sarah’s character. While at first Sarah had cast an evil eye on Hagar causing her to miscarry, the second time, thanks to Abraham’s merciful nature, she was able to use the harsh judgments in a constructive way so as to rectify Hagar (at least to some extent).