Vayera
Talk about family problems! This week Abraham seems to have enough worries with his kindred to fill an entire lifetime. First he has to attempt to negotiate with his Heavenly Father to try and spare Sodom, where his nephew Lot is living. When the “auction of souls”–going from 50 righteous down to 10–ultimately fails, Father Yah sends two angels to help Abraham’s nephew, and two of Lot’s future sons in law refuse to take the threat to Sodom seriously while Lot himself offers his two daughters to an unruly crowd to keep them from getting intimate with his guests. Lot’s own wife though won’t make it however due to her “salty” personality, while in the meantime Abraham is sending away his eldest son at the behest of his wife Sarah. Then we climax with Abraham feeling compelled to kill his remaining son Isaac, with the distinct possibly that the aftermath of that incident had Sarah perhaps die of a broken heart. Or did she? Either way, you are not likely to find a more “family intensive” parsha than this one, and I haven’t even gotten to the bonus teachings yet! This parsha proves to my mind at least that to miss one week is to miss a great deal.
