Why did Sarah laugh?
Our Parasha relates the revelation to Avraham and Sarah, that: (18:10) "At this time next year..you will have a son."
The Torah adds (18:11-15) that "Avraham and Sarah were old..the manner of women had ceased to be with Sarah - and Sarah laughed at herself, saying:’After I have withered shall I again have delicate skin? And my husband is old’."
Then Hashem said to Avraham: "Why is it that Sarah laughed, saying:’Shall I in truth bear a child, though I have aged?’ - Is anything beyond Hashem?! At the appointed time I will return to you, at this time next year, and Sarah will have a son.’’
"Sarah denied it, saying:’I did not laugh’, for she was frightened. But he said:’No, you laughed indeed.’"
Later, in our Parasha, we read, of the birth to Avraham and Sarah, at the appointed time, of a son.
Let us recall, that in the preceding Parasha (Lech Lecha 15:15-16), the Torah related Hashem saying to Avraham: "Your wife Sarah..I will bless her, and I will give you a son from her.."
How does this link with the announcement - in our Parasha. - of the promise of the birth, to Sarah, of a son?
Rashi, on our Parasha, comments: I will surely return’: The angel did not announce that he would return, but he was speaking as an emissary of Hashem. ‘The way of the women’: the menstrual cycle.’ ‘Within herself’: She looked at her insides and said:’Is it possible that these insides will carry a child; that these breasts, which have dried up, will give forth milk?’ ‘Is it really true’: That I will give birth’ Although I am old?’: Scripture altered her statement, for the sake of peace, for she had said:’And my master is old.’
The Torah Temima elucidates on this last Rashi:’She did not cast the inability [only] on him - or he on her - as this may have brought them to a disagreement.’
Rav Zalman Sorotzkin addresses the issue of there being the two instances - the earlier one relating to Avraham Avinu, and our Parasha, relating to Sarah Imenu.
Expounds the Rav: Why did Hashem address his comment, as to Sarah ‘laughing’, to Avraham ? Would it not have been preferable to say His words directly to Sarah - especially in view of her being greater in prophecy, than Avraham, and there would then be no need to shame her before Avraham, and further, no need to change her words, in the interest of peace, and to simply say:’And I am old’.
The parshanim also query: Why was Sarah rebuked, and not Avraham, - in the earlier episode, where we read that: : ‘And he laughed and he said in his heart: Can a one-hundred-year old man, father a child?’.
He goes on: I found a wonderful answer to this query, in the Midrash HaGadol:’To teach you that when two people transgress in the same matter, one being greater than the other, we only rebuke the lesser one, and the greater one - from himself - relates it to himself’.
This answers our query, that Hashem wanted to say: ’Why did Sarah laugh?’, to Avraham, so that he would realize that he, too, committed the very same transgression’, in the earlier incident, and repent, for it.
Abarbanel, as is his wont, raises a litany of queries, before presenting his answers to them, in his exposition on our Parasha.
One of his queries, relates to our question: The announcement by the angel, of the birth of a son to Sarah, was relating something that Hashem had already announced to Avraham, in the preceding Parasha.
What need was there, then, for the repetition of the announcement?
Should you say, that the announcement in our Parasha, was to Sarah - whereas the previous one was to Avraham - the angel addressed his words to Avraham: ‘where is Sarah, your wife’ - not to Sarah.
Now to his exposition: The angel who had been talking to Avraham - after Sarah laughed within herself, and said her words - it was he that then said, as an emissary, as we read: ’And Hashem said to Avrahan: Why did Sarah laugh?.
The reason for this rebuke - whereas Hashem did not rebuke Avraham, in the earlier Parasha, for having also laughed, at the tidings - was because Avraham’s laughter was because the tidings were outside the natural order of things -but he believed that the tidings would be fulfilled by way of a miracle, and he therefore immediately asked on behalf of Yishmael, and he was therefore not rebuked.
Further, Avraham’s laughter was the first instance of laughter, and Hashem has forbearance for the first instance of improper conduct.
Avraham undoubtedly relayed Hashem’s initial tidings, to Sarah, and that the tidings came from Hashem Himself, therefore her blame for laughing now, was great, as it appeared as if she disbelieved the initial tidings.
As the tidings of the angel were the same as the tidings Avraham received from Hashem - and surely shared with her, she should have accepted that it all came from Hashem - and certainly not laughed.
The Alshich Hakadosh adds:’The Torah, in relating that ‘Avraham and Sarah were old, coming on in years; Sarah had ceased to have the way of the women’, was telling us, that while they both were aged, what Sarah ceased to have, was ‘the way of the women’ - meaning, that women had in the natural order, but ‘the way of women’ outside the course of nature, remained in her, though she was ninety-nine years old, as she returned to her youthfulness, and to menstruation.
She therefore ‘laughed within herself’ - though she did not articulate it in words - as if saying: On my part there is no barrier, as I have returned to the ways of my youth, but the delay is because ‘my master is old’.
For this, Hashem chastised, saying:’Why did Sarah laugh?’, did she think that I sent my emissary for nought?.
The Kli Yakar understands Hashem’s rebuke in a similar manner:Why did Sarah laugh, did she not see that a miracle had been wrought for her - that she returned to her youthfulness, and that not for nought was this wrought.
Avraham more so, as the matter was not beyond the possible, that old men can father children.
It is therefore close to hearing - in this matter - that Sarah did not doubt Hashem’s ability, but that she laughed as to the reward:’Great will be your reward’, thinking that as both she and Avraham were at death’s door, not many days of life would be their lot - and, in the natural order of things - they would not be granted time to raise a son, and to marry him off.
She therefore laughed, saying: As to me, after the miracle that was wrought for me, after I had ceased to have ‘the way of women’, surely my zechut was the cause, and this merit will also grant me days of life.
However, ‘my master is old’, and has not returned to his days of youth, as I have not felt any increase in his strength - any merits that he had, were utilized in the battles of the four kings against the five kings, and he will not have many days beyond the natural order.
What need, then, for a son, to him?- to which Hashem said: Why did Sarah laugh, saying: ’Will I truly give birth?’ - and, what if so, since ‘I am aged’, and I have no merit which will grant me more days, in this Hashem changed the words, for the sake of peace, as she placed the reason for the lack of merit in him, and not in herself.
‘Is anything hidden from the Lord?’ - do I, Hashem, not know the number of days of each person, and that they will merit to raise a son?
The Ktav Sofer offers a different exposition: Sarah certainly knew that Avraham would have a son, as Hashem had already promised him, but she didn’t believe that it would be from her.
Ramban already said that it is not too remote that an old man - or an old woman - should give birth, and the main miracle was, that this should occur when both were old.
Now Sarah heard Hashem’s emissaries saying to Avraham:’We will return to you at that time, and there will be a son, to Sarah, your wife.'
This, Sarah considered to be beyond the realm of possibility, as how would she have a son from Avraham - and they both being old - and if it be, that she should remarry after the death of Avraham, or that he will part from her, and she will marry someone younger, and have a son from him - to have a son from this man, cannot bring her a son, as out sages teach:(Bra’ 60:): When the first sperm comes from the woman, a son is born’, and how can it be that she should issue the first sperm before the man, and a son be born, when she miraculously had regained the beauty of her youth; and, if from Avraham, both of us are old, and I cannot conceive from him.
She therefore ‘laughed within her’, but the Torah, for the sake of peace, changed her words, to say:’ And I am old’, and not: ‘And my master is old’ - so as not to let on, that she had considered both Avraham’s possible death, and her marrying a different husband.
Rav Eliyahu Shlezinger opens his commentary with the query of the Ramban, It should further be said, that Avraham did not reveal to Sarah that which he had been told by Hashem - that ‘Sarah, your wife, will bear you a son’ - which will surely surprise all, as her yearning for a son of her own, is clearly seen in the Torah.
Why, then, did Avraham not reveal to her the glad tidings he received in that regards, from Hashem - and, instead of doing so, occupied himself for three days, in circumcising the members of his household, and himself?
Ramban proffers two answers to this:First: perhaps he delayed informing her, until Hashem himself informed her, knowing, as the prophet says:(Amos 3:7) that ‘Hashem will not do anything, until He has first revealed His secret, to his faithful prophets’ - and it is known that Sarah was greater in prophecy, than even Avraham.
A second possible answer: Avraham was so engrossed in the mitzvot in which he was engaged - first in the circumcisions, and then in attending with alacrity, to the three wayfarers who mysteriously appeared to him, that only after this did he feel free to relay the joyous tidings, to Sarah.
It needs to be further said, on this matter, that ‘Sarah laughed.. ‘ regarding her, at her age, giving birth to a son
Why did she seemingly not believe this, after seeing that she had miraculously returned in her body, to her youthfulness?
This leads to the conclusion, that Sarah’s laughter - and doubting - was not regarding herself, but rather concerning Avraham, as he - unlike her - had not returned to his youthfulness, as we see from the Torah, for the sake of peace, changing her words which were about Avraham, to be about her.
Had Avraham - instead of the angel - informed her of this, she would likely doubt this, as impossible, by the natural order of things - and this doubt could, Above, be held against her, and against her bearing a son.
Only when she heard the tidings from Hashem’s emissary, could our Parasha unfold, as it did.’
A parting insight, from Rav Avigdor Nebenzahl: "Hashem says to Avraham: Why did Sarah laugh, saying:’Will I really give birth?’, and this is immediately followed by an astonishing passuk:’’And Sarah denied this saying:’I did not laugh!’.
She denies, and argues - with whom? With the Master of the Universe - against flesh-and- blood, one can argue as to whether there is a valid claim - but against Hashem?
We are not speaking of just any woman - but of Sarah, who was superior to even Avraham Avinu, in prophecy!
Yet, she does not feel that her ‘laughter’ was not completely one of joy - as was the laughter of Avraham Avinu, in the previous Parasha.
This was hidden deep within her, in her soul, and she was unaware that a tiny element of lack of Emunah, had a part in her laughter.
This is the true explanation as to ‘transgressions’ of our great people - very slight faults hidden in the depths of the heart, that most of us are not even aware of.
TY https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/417373
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