Vayera
Rabbi Jablinowitz
We read in this week’s parsha that Avraham follows the advice of his wife Sarah and asks Hagar to take her son Yishmael and leave his home. When their water supply was depleted and she became afraid that he was going to die, she sits down and cries. An angel of Gd appears to her and calms her. The pasuk says (Chapter 21, Pasuk 17), Vayikra Mal’ach Elokim el Hagar min Hashamayim. This is not her first encounter with angels for in last week’s parsha angels also appeared to Hagar. And we read there (Chapter 16, Pasuk 9) Vayomer Lah Mal’ach Hashem, an angel of Gd spoke to her, and it’s repeated a few times. Rashi even comments on Pasuk 13 that she had become accustomed to seeing angels in Avraham’s house. How come in last week’s parsha the angel spoke directly to her, Vayomer Lah, and in our parsha the angel calls out to her from the heavens, Vayikra Mal’ach Elokim…min Hashamayim?
The Meshech Chachmah teaches that in last week’s parsha Hagar ran away from Sarah and the angel told her to return. Therefore, the angel spoke to her directly. She was returning back to the house of Avraham where she would continue to see angels. But in our parsha, she was asked to leave the house of Avraham and was not returning. She lost the status of being a member of his household and would not continue to see angels. As a result, the angel only spoke to her min Hashamayim. He spoke to her from a distance; she heard him but could not see him.
If this is so, then how come when an angel of Gd came to Avraham at a critical moment of the Akeidah and stopped him from killing his son Yitzchak, the Torah also mentions the angel spoke to Avraham min Hashamayim. The pasuk says (Chapter 22, Pasuk 11), Vayikra Eilav Malach Hashem min Hashamayim, the angel of Gd called out to Avraham from the heavens. Surely Avraham not only retained his level of prophecy, but even grew further from passing the nisayon of the Akeidah. Why wasn’t his conversation with the angel as intimate and familiar as that of Hagar prior to her being chased from the house of Avraham in last week’s parsha?
The Meshech Chachmah answers that there was a different reason why the angel called out to Avraham from the heavens. The Medrash Rabbah teaches (55, 10) that when Avraham Avinu did the Akeidah, he was like the Kohen Gadol doing the Avodah on Yom Kippur. The entire area of Har HaMoriah became like the Kodesh Hakadashim. And the pasuk says (Vayikra, Chapter 16, Pasuk 17), V’Kol Adam Lo Yihyeh B’Ohel Mo’ed, No person shall be in Ohel Mo’ed when the Kohen Gadol does the Avodah in the Kodesh Hakadashim on Yom Kippur. The Yerushalmi adds (Yoma, Chapter 1, Halacha 5), even those who have the face of humans, i.e. angels.
The reason the angel of Hashem called out to Avraham from the heavens was because he couldn’t get too close. Hagar couldn’t see the angel directly and could only hear him because she wasn’t holy enough for the angel. She had left the house of Avraham. But by the Akeidah, the angel wasn’t holy enough to get close enough to Avraham. He could only speak to him from behind the mechitzah of the Shamayim. Avraham Avinu was in the Kodesh Hakadashim.
This idea is expressed in the Gemara in Rosh Hashanah 26A. The Gemara says that since shofar is L’Zikaron, for a memory, it is considered like Avodas P’nim. Similarly with the Akeidah. The merit of the Akeidah is meant to be remembered for Clal Yisrael for future generations, as we invoke it repeatedly on Rosh Hashanah in the bracha of Zichronos. Therefore the actual Avodah of the Akeidah was considered as being done in the Kodesh Hakadasim, and not even angels could come close.
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