Tafsiran Kejadian 17:15: Rashi, Chizkuni, Kli Yakar & Radak

לא תקרא את שמה שרי THOU SHALT NOT CALL HER NAME SARAI which means “my princess”— a princess to me and not to others — BUT SARAH, in a more general sense, SHALL BE HER NAME: she shall be princess over all (Berakhot 13a).

שרי, כי שרה שמה, Sarai, (“my princess) for Sarah, “princess,” of many nations, is her name. Rabbi Yoshua ben Korach, commenting on the name changes of both Avraham and Sarah, points out that there was no change in the total numerical value of the letters in their combined names, seeing that G-d had reduced the value of the letter 10=י, by substituting the letter 5=ה, in Sarah’s name, but had added the letter 5=ה to Avraham’s name.

Her name shall no longer be called Sarai. Since every yod [the letter י] denotes a masculine form, and we find this language used in masculine form as it says and the princes in Issachar (Judges 5:15). Because she was barren like males who cannot give birth, and now she was given a hei [the letter ה] in place of the yod, since every hei denotes feminine form, indicating that from now on she would be a female who bears children. And so that the yod would not have a complaint saying that half of its numerical value was removed from the Torah [since the numerical value of yod is 10 and the value of hei is five], therefore a hei was added to Abraham to give him dominion over all multitudes of nations and over the five chief limbs. According to the kabbalists, the hei has the power of procreation, as it is written Here is seed for you (Genesis 47:23), and as it says Am I in place of God? (Genesis 30:2) This is also the reason for the two heis in the name Bilhah. Therefore, two heis were given here — one to Abraham and one to Sarah. And the yod was taken from Sarah to Abraham, to indicate that Sarah’s merit caused this procreation, just as it says I too will be built up through her (Genesis 30:3) — in the merit of bringing her rival into her house. Thus, Sarah’s merit enabled Abraham to procreate. Another explanation for why they were given the hei is because God created the world with the letter hei, and He did not create it to be desolate but rather for habitation, therefore the hei would be the cause of their offspring for the purpose of settling the world. And it’s possible that what was said I will make your name great with the addition of hei hints that He would add a hei to his name, and through this cause I will make you into a great nation.