Kommentar zu Bereschit 21:1

'וה' פקד את שרה וגו AND THE LORD VISITED SARAH —It (Scripture) places this section after the preceding one to teach you that whoever prays for mercy on behalf of another when he himself also is in need of that very thing for which he prays on the other’s behalf, will himself first receive a favorable response from God, for it is said (at end of last chapter), “And Abraham prayed for Abimelech and his wife and they brought forth” and immediately afterwards it states here, “And the Lord remembered Sarah” — i. e. he had already remembered her before he healed Abimelech (Bava Kamma 92a).

AND THE ETERNAL ‘PAKAD’ (VISITED) SARAH AS HE HAD SAID. That is, by granting her pregnancy. And the Eternal did unto Sarah as He had spoken by granting her the birth of a son..Thus the words of Rashi.
But the word pekidah is only an expression of remembrance and attention to the one who is remembered, such as: G-d will surely remember (‘pakod yiphkod’) you;³¹²Further, 50:25. I have surely remembered you;³¹³Exodus 3:16. And Samson remembered his wife by [bringing her] a kid.³¹⁴Judges 15:1. Here, too, the sense of the verse is that the Eternal remembered Sarah, and He did to her as He had spoken. This expression is also found in connection with all barren women who later give birth. Thus, in the case of Rachel: And G-d remembered Rachel;³¹⁵Further, 30:22. and in the case of Hannah: And G-d remembered her.³¹⁶I Samuel 1:19. Similarly, the Rabb is said,³¹⁷Rosh Hashanah 32b. “Biblical verses which mention pikdonoth are equivalent to verses which mention Divine remembrances.”³¹⁸In the Additional Service of the New Year day, ten Biblical verses which speak of Divine remembrance are recited. A verse mentioning pikadon is treated as one mentioning remembrance. Thus, Ramban proves that the word pakad in the verse here can mean “remembered,” and not as Rashi explained it as meaning “granting pregnancy.”

And the Lord took account of Sarah as He had said (amar), and the Lord did to Sarah as He had spoken (dibber): There is a distinction between the expression, taking account, and the expression, doing (assiya). As taking account is only just remembering, whereas doing is an actual act, like it is written (Genesis 12:2), "And I will make you (e'esecha) into a great nation." And it (Bereishit Rabba 39:11) concludes [that it means that I will make you a new creature]. And also the expression, speaking (dibbur), indicates greater love than the expression, saying (amirah), since speaking indicates the explicit clarification of things by use of the tongue. And that relates to the expression, doing.

Ad-noy remembered. Literally, “And Ad-noy remembered” — after Avraham prayed for Avimelech, Hashem remembered Sarah.

וה׳ פקד את שרה כאשר אמר. G'd remembered Sarah as He had said. The Torah tells us that this would have occurred even if Abraham had not prayed on behalf of Avimelech as we stated already. We should not think that G'd needed a prayer to prompt Him to keep His promise.

And the Lord did to Sarah as He had spoken: The doubling of the statement is a wonder. And Rashi's explanation (Rashi on Genesis 21:1) about this does not handle it. As, in fact, the birth was already stated in God's utterance (maamar) as well. And just the opposite, in God's speech (dibbur), Sarah as not mentioned at all. And it would have been possible to understand that it was about Yishmael that God spoke. Rather [the correct explantion] is the thing we have explained (on Genesis 18:12-15) - that the Holy One, blessed be He, was upset with Sarah for her laughing and being in doubt about that which she did not see any difference in the face of Avraham, like she found in herself - that she had been rejuvenated. And because of this, she was punished with the story of Avimelekh - as will still be explained - that a doubt was born in people's minds about the essence of the birth, whether [the child] was not from Avimelekh: Even as there was no longer a wonder with herself, because everyone saw her youth; this was not the case with Avraham, who still looked like a hundred year old man. And this is the meaning of, "and the Lord did to Sarah as He had spoken." And speech (dibbur) is an expression of harshness, as is known - [here] meaning that He did to her, that about which He was angry with her. And it ends (Genesis 21:2), "And [Sarah] conceived and bore Avraham a son in his old age." But it is not written, "in her old age," as behold, she had become a youth. However the nature of Avraham's body did not change, but she nevertheless bore him a son.

וה' פקד את שרה, she conceived and gave birth in accordance with the times predicted. Seeing the matter was something so unusual, miraculous, the Torah repeats this fact repeatedly. Normally, when the Torah repeats certain information it does so by using different words, changing the syntax; Here too, the verse commences with the verb פקד, but then uses the word ויעש to tell us the same thing. At the very end of the verse it changes the syntax a third time, writing כאשר דבר, “as He had said.”

וה' פקד את שרה, “at this time G’d remembered Sarah benevolently;” The words כאשר אמר, “as He had said,” implies that the word פקד refers to her becoming pregnant, whereas the words כאשר אמר, refer to her giving birth, according to Rashi. Nachmanides writes that the expression פקידה always refers to remembering something pertaining to the party that is being remembered, such as פקוד יפקוד אלוקים אתכם, “G’d will surely remember you, etc.” in Genesis 50,23. Therefore, the meaning of ה' פקד את שרה is that “G’d remembered Sarah and did for her as He had said.” This formula is customary in connection with women who had been barren until G’d remembered them benevolently, as in the case of Rachel Genesis 30,22 who could give birth after being benevolently remembered by G’d. Rabbi Joseph Kimchi points out that the reason that the Torah used the term פקידה when referring to Sarah, and the term זכירה for remembering with Rachel, was that in the case of Sarah who was already way past child bearing age, G’d had to extend Himself more than in the case of Rachel who was still in her twenties. G’d had to restore bodily functions to Sarah, functions that had not ceased functioning in the case of Rachel. The Mishnaic term for the days between two menstrual cycles is מפקידה לפקידה. Rachel’s menstrual cycles had not yet ceased to occur regularly at the time she became pregnant and bore Joseph as a result. In the case of Channah giving birth to Shemuel, at a time when she was still young, the prophet uses the term זכירה, when she first prayed for children, (Samuel I 1,11) whereas when we hear about her having 5 more children in Samuel I 1,21 the prophet attributes this to a פקידה by G’d. seeing she had aged greatly in the interval.

To teach you that whoever prays for mercy for another... You might ask: How does this prove it? Perhaps she was remembered now because this was the time Hashem set. She needed to give birth on Pesach, and she was remembered on Rosh Hashanah, so it had to be now. The answer is: Rashi himself answered this when he wrote, “He had already remembered her before He cured Avimelech.” And what is the verse teaching us by saying that Hashem cured Sarah first? Perforce, “To teach you that whoever prays for mercy for another...” (Re’m) The Re’m objects: Rashi implies that this section is out of place, for he says, “This section was placed here to teach you...” But this is not so, for on the fifteenth of Nisan the angel foretold to Sarah, and on the sixteenth, Sedom was overturned and Lot was rescued with his daughters. And right after the incident of Lot with his daughters, Avraham traveled to reside in Gerar, where Sarah was taken and Hashem restrained every womb of Avimelech’s house, whereupon Avraham prayed for them and they were cured. And on Rosh Hashanah, Sarah was remembered. Everything is in chronological order! He answers: וה' פקד implies He remembered her before He cured Avimelech. [Had Sarah conceived after, it would say ויפקוד ה'.] Thus, Avimelech’s curing should not have been written before. And why was it? In order “to teach you that whoever prays for mercy for another...”

פקד, wie bereits bemerkt, verwandt mit בגד, einen Gegenstand im Geiste mit seinen Attributen, seinen Verhältnissen und Beziehungen umkleiden, ihn sich mit allen seinen Beziehungen gegenwärtig machen. Daher auch tatsächlich jemanden in eine Beziehung setzen, in eine neue Stellung bringen, ihn, wie wir ja auch ähnlich sagen, mit einem Amte, einer Vollmacht usw. bekleiden. Von Gottes Vorsehung, wie hier, bezeichnet es das spezielle Eingreifen zur entsprechenden Gestaltung der Verhältnisse eines Menschen oder Volkes. כאשר אמר. Siehe zu 1. B. M. Kap.1, 22. Die spezielle Verheißung für Sara ist wohl die oben Kap.17, 15 f. (siehe daselbst) ausgesprochene. Mit der אמירה war bereits die פקידה vollzogen und Sara die MutterFähigkeit erteilt. Jetzt erfüllte ihr Gott durch die Geburt Jizchaks אשר דבר, was er als etwas in der Zukunft erst zu Verwirklichendes ausgesprochen hatte.

וה' פקד את שרה, “and after Hashem had taken due note of Sarah, etc;” whenever in the Torah the name of Hashem is introduced with the prefix ו, meaning “and,” it is a hint that G-d did not act singlehandedly but in consonance with His heavenly Tribunal. (Compare B’reshit Rabbah 51,2) In B’reshit Rabbah 53,6 this function of the Heavenly Tribunal is dealt with at greater length, especially in connection with Numbers 5,28 where the subject is the woman whose husband accused her of violating a specific command not to be alone with a certain man. This woman denied that she had committed an indiscretion, and the Torah promises that if she told the truth, and drank from the “bitter” waters, she will be rewarded with bearing a child she had been unable to conceive prior to this scandal. It is foolish to raise the question that since we know that G-d had known the truth all along, just as He does all the time, why was a miracle needed to demonstrate this truth? Her husband had not known, nor had her peers.

פקד את שרה כאשר אמר HE REMEMBERED SARAH AS HE SAID — He remembered her by granting her pregnancy.

And the explanation of the matter is that when Sarah was taken account of, all the barren women were taken account of with her - as I explained, Parashat Lech Lecha, on the verse, "and she shall become nations" (Kli Yakar on Genesis 17:16). But even though they were taken account of with her, they were nevertheless not the same as Sarah. For the taking account of Sarah was with the expression of actual doing actively by the hands of God, may He be blessed. It is as it is written (Midrash Tehillim 139:5), "The righteous are greater than the creations of the heaven and the earth, since the righteous were created with two hands, etc." - that is actual doing. [It was also] with an expression of speaking which indicates love, as it is written (Genesis 15:4), "And, behold, the word (devar) of the Lord came to him [...], 'This one shall not be your heir, but rather the one who comes out from your innards, etc.'" But the other barren women were only with an expression of taking account of and with an expression of saying, with which there is not so much love. For Parashat Lech Lecha begins with an expression of saying; and there it is stated (Genesis 17:16), "and I shall bless her and she shall become nations" - meaning to say she will be a help to all of the nations; that the barren women of the nations of the lands will be taken account of with her. This is the meaning of that which is written, "And the Lord took account of Sarah (et Sarah)" - it is as if it stated with Sarah. The explantion is that et serves as an expression of with, as [in], "that came et (with) Yaakov" (Exodus 1:1). As those woman that were taken account of with Sarah were only taken account of with an expression of taking account of, and with an expression of saying. However the explanation of, "and the Lord did to Sarah as He had spoken," is [that] for Sarah herself, it was with an expression of speech - "as he had spoken," and with actual doing. By way of a parable, even though one who does not love his friend greatly will sometimes remember him, he will nevertheless not do that much for him. But for one whom he loves, he will enter the heaviest part of the job and do it for him. And [regarding] that which it states, "And the Lord," with [a conjunctive letter], vav - our Rabbis, may their memory be blessed, said (Bereishit Rabba 51:2), "Everywhere it says, 'and the Lord,' it is He and His court." There is a support from here for the words of our Rabbis, may their memory be blessed, that this taking account of was on Rosh Hashanah, which is when the Holy One, blessed be He, sits with all of His court above. That is why we read this section on Rosh Hashanah.

As He had said. “I will bless her” (17:16) — that is, He delivered her from the curse of Chavah (see 3:16).

To Avraham. Not to Sarah, as it says nowhere that Hashem spoke to her [about this]. The Re’m asks: Why did Rashi not explain that also Hashem’s saying was to Avraham and not to Sarah? He answers: Perhaps because it is written there (17:19), “God said, ‘Indeed your wife Sarah will bear you a son,’” [so it is obvious] that this was said to Avraham; Rashi did not need to explain it. And Rashi did not need to explain it even for Hashem’s speaking, since it is written there (15:1), “The word of Adonoy came to Avram.” Rather, Rashi comes to tell us the difference between “Hashem did for Sarah as He had spoken,” and “At the designated time that Elokim had spoken” (v. 2). The former refers to Avraham, while the latter refers to [His declaration of] the designated time, as Rashi explains there. You might ask: Why does Rashi explain this? The answer is: Rashi means that Hashem said only to Avraham, “That one [Yishmael] will not be your heir” (15:4), and never promised that the heir will come from Sarah. Nevertheless, “Hashem did for Sarah,” although He had spoken only to Avraham. (Maharshal)

There was, however, a connection between Abraham's prayer on behalf of Avimelech and G'd "remembering" His promise to give Sarah a son. G'd provided Abraham with an opportunity to perform a מצוה which in turn would trigger His removing Sarah's sterility. This is the deeper meaning of the additional words כאשר אמר. Whenever G'd wants to do someone a favour, He provides him with an opportunity to perform a good deed in response to which G'd can translate His intention into practice. The reason that G'd did not make Pharaoh and his household sterile at the time Sarah was kidnapped by Pharaoh was so that Abraham could pray for them because there had not yet been a promise to Sarah whose fulfilment could have been triggered by Abraham's prayer.

את שרה, the word את here seems superfluous, as we do not hear about other barren women suddenly becoming pregnant at the same time. As a result of Avraham having prayed for the women in Avimelech’s palace to be able to give birth, even though his own wife had been unable to do so, he was rewarded in that she now became pregnant. All other barren women at the time were also now able to conceive. (Compare Torah Shleymah, 11, on this verse).

כאשר דבר [HE DID TO SARAH] AS HE HAD SPOKEN — by granting her the birth of a son (Pesikta). Where are the expressions “saying ״ and “speaking” used respectively in regard to these? “Saying” is mentioned in the verse (17:19) “And God said (ויאמר): “nay, but Sarah, thy wife” etc.; — “Speaking“ is mentioned in (15:1) “And the word (דבר “speaking”) of the Lord came to Abraham”, and this was when He made the Covenant between the Pieces where it was stated, “This man (Eliezer) shall not be thine heir, [but one who shall be born from thee shall be thine heir],” and He brought forth this heir from Sarah.

As He had spoken. “I will also give you a son through her” (17:16) — in defiance of the general rule that elderly parents beget daughters.

ויעש…כאשר דבר, and G'd did for Sarah as He had foretold. The reason that the Torah repeats "He did" is explained in Tanchuma on our verse. When the angel had announced the impending birth by saying "כעת חיה," he had made an incision on the wall to mark the exact time of day the baby would be born, i.e. when the sun would hit that line. The Torah here confirms that the birth took place exactly as predicted.

כאשר אמר, “as He had said,” when the angel said that he would return around the same time in the following year and by then Sarah would have a baby. (Genesis 18,10)

ויעש ה' לשרה כאשר דבר AND THE LORD DID UNTO SARAH AS HE HAD SPOKEN — means, spoken to Abraham.

The verse also reports something we have explained on 18,10 and again on 17,19, namely that the son Sarah bore originated in the female (negative) side of the emanations. This in turn was the reason Isaac needed to submit to the binding on the altar, something that resulted in Sarah's death. The word דבר always refers to speech containing some harsh element. The Torah therefore uses it when it wants us to note that the birth of Isaac was not something that was perfect. He had to undergo a process of refinement as a result of which he could become holy. When the Torah says ויעש ה׳ לשרה כאשר דבר, this really means that "G'd did to Sarah as He had foretold." Isaac was born in response to Sarah's prayer, not in response to Abraham's.

כאשר דבר, “as He had spoken.” A reference to a previous prophecy in Genesis 15,18, when G-d had concluded His first covenant with Avraham.