Musar su Genesi 18:10

If we follow the view that Abraham addressed the שכינה when he said אל נא תעבור מעל עבדך, we must presuppose that he considered the three "men" to be angels. He addressed them by the name of their Master, i.e. the name of G–d. Being angels, holy beings, G–d's name hovered above them, as Nachmanides explains: We find frequently that the messenger is referred to by the name of his sender. Rashi already pointed this out when he comments on the angel saying שוב אשוב אליך, "I will surely return to you" (18,14). The angel did not refer to himself specifically, but referred to G–d whose messenger he was. G–d appeared here to Abraham in the guise of the מרכבה consisting of the angels מיכאל, גבריאל , and רפאל. G–d's Presence "rode" above those angels. It also rested on Abraham, seeing the Torah had said that He appeared to him. When the angels arrived Abraham realized that they were the מרכבה, the carriers of G–d's Presence. He therefore begged the שכינה not to depart from him until he had a chance to run towards the angels. When that occurred, we hear Abraham say one set of words from which we get two messages. The "hidden" message is that the שכינה should not depart now.

Ishmael's accusation is alluded to here when the Torah says in 18,10: ושרה שומעת פתח האוהל והוא אחריו, "and Sarah heard at the entrance of the tent and he was behind it." Targum Yonatan understands the word והוא, "and he," as referring to the נער. i.e. Ishmael. Bereshit Rabbah also understands the reference as being to Ishmael. At any rate Abraham's efforts to raise Ishmael as a G–d-worshiping son were successful inasmuch as he prevented him from sinking too deeply into the domain of the קליפות. The dialogue between Isaac and Ishmael that we have reported shows that the latter was proud of his circumcision; the dialogue also triggered Isaac's offer to be a sacrifice, and G–d giving Abraham a chance to demonstrate that his reverence for G–d exceeded his love for his own flesh and blood. Hagar, Sarah's maid servant, humbled herself and adopted at least part of Sarah's lifestyle. This is why she is called קטורה later on, meaning that her deeds were as dear to G–d as the incense-offering called קטורת. Another reason cited in Bereshit Rabbah is that even though she had been expelled she refrained from cohabiting with anyone after she had left Abraham's household. The word קטורה then is equivalent to קשר, the aramaic equivalent for קטר, knot. The Midrash uses this hyperbole to describe Hagar's chastity. When Isaac lay bound on the altar, these various deeds of Abraham and Hagar were seen to be foreshadowing future events. Abraham bound and tied Isaac on Mount Moriah as a sacrifice.

There is another aspect to this, one which does not necessitate the second letter ב at all. I therefore propose the following solution: When Abraham had one son who was a קליפה, i.e. Ishmael, this happened to him because of “בכל,” because he was surrounded by קליפות from both sides. His having a son such as Ishmael is therefore described as being in the nature of a בת, a lesser level of intimacy (with G–d in this case) than that of אחות, or אם. When the angel stressed והנה בן לשרה אשתך, "your wife Sarah will have a son," in 18,10, he alluded to this superiority of Sarah over Abraham as regards the offspring and its purity. This is why before she expels Hagar and Ishmael, Sarah stresses לא יירש בן האמה הזאת עם בני, "the son of this maid-servant will not inherit with my son" (21,10). Sarah refers to the קליפה aspect of Ishmael. The Rabbi who claimed that Abraham was blessed by not having a בת, daughter, refers to a period when Abraham had attained a still higher spiritual level, a period when he qualified for the description of אב, (the level of Adam at the time of his creation, seeing his soul was rooted in the emanation חכמה which is known as אבא.)

In order to appreciate the dimension of holiness Isaac represented, it is fitting that we first see what the Zohar says on the subject of the עקדה. When Abraham was about to slaughter Isaac, the latter's soul flew away to be replaced later by a holy spirit from the Celestial Regions. It follows then that Isaac's life after the עקדה, was the life of a human being who had not originated from a drop of semen. We must view Isaac as someone re-born in consequence of that experience: a totally new creature. G–d had applied the strictest yardstick to him by letting him die, and subsequently by infusing him with a new soul. He had also sanctified his body; from that time on Isaac's body resembled that of אדם הראשון, also not the product of a drop of semen. Now we understand also why the ram which Abraham sacrificed in lieu of Isaac was not the product of natural procreation, i.e. through semen, but was created during the period of dusk on the sixth day of Creation as reported in Avot 5,6. When Genesis 22,13 describes this ram as והנה איל אחר נאחז וכו' "and here a ram after was caught, etc.," this means that this ram was created after all the other mammals had already been created and had procreated. The word אחר therefore is to be understood in the same sense as the same word when Abraham said to the angels אחר תעבורו. Isaac teaches us about G–d's very first objective when He set out to create this universe which would develop to become as perfect as He envisaged it.