that Yishmael was a bad influence! Sarah saw Yishmael ,מְצַחֵק”, meaning, mocking. Rashi explains that this world implies that Yishmael was worshipping idols, assaulting women and, it implies that Yishamel is associated with murder. He would say to Yitzchak, “I am the firstborn son, I am entitled to a double share of the inheritance,” Yismael would quarrel with Yitzchak and they would go out into the field, Yishmael would take his bow and shoot arrows at Yitzchak. He would shoot them, intending to kill and claim that it was only a joke. He was a danger to Yitzchak both spiritually and physically. Yitzchak was the father of the Jewish people! He couldn’t live with his life in jeopardy and be influenced like his brother. Sarah isn’t that cruel; she just wants to shield her son. Is it still hard to picture Sarah as a victim? Or can you just not forget what she did? Isn’t Hagar the victim? She is being kicked out of her home, how can she possibly be the cruel one? She isn’t a mean person; it’s just her son who is bad, right? Rachel Levmore explains, when the water ran out and her son was dying, she put him down and went of to cry. Why did she move away from her dying son? Perhaps she went away to pray for her son? We might think this, but the answer is no! She went away to cry about her own pains and miseries. A mother should hold her child in her arms and comfort them. “She cast the child under one of of the bushes.” She didn’t gently put her son down to look for water, she basically threw him down. She didn’t want to face what was happening.
אַל אֶרְאֶה “‘בְּמוֹת הַיָּלֶד וַתֵּשֶׁב מִנֶּגֶד וַתִּשָּׂא אֶת קֹלָהּ וַתֵּבְךְּ
(Gen. 21:15-16). “Let me not look on as the child dies. And sitting thus afar, she raised her voice, wailing.” We can see from here that she didn’t care about her child as much as a mother should. When it comes down to it, she is selfish and cares only about herself.
Hashem hears the cries of the dying boy. Hashem answers Yishmael not Hagar. Rashi learns from here, that the prayers of a sick person are more effective then the prayers of others on their behalf. At this point in time, he didn’t do anything that bad yet so Hashem saves him even though he would do many bad things to Bnei Yisrael in the future. Hashem only judges us on the deeds that we do in the present time, not with the deeds that we are destined to do. We didn’t hear about Yishmael’s crying because it focuses on Hagar crying when her son was in more pain then she was. Hashem shows her a well of water and instructs her to pick up her son and hold his hand. This should be a natural instinct for her. Hashem says to her,
קוּמִי שְׂאִי אֶת הַנַּעַר וְהַחֲזִיקִי אֶת יָדֵךְ בּוֹ כִּי לְגוֹי גָּדוֹל אֲשִׂימֶנּוּ:
“Rise, pick up the lad and grasp your hand upon him, for I shall make him into a great nation.”(Gen. 21:17-18). Hashem needs to teach her how to be a mother. Yishmael grows up and becomes an archer. If we compare Yishmael’s behavior to Yitzchak’s, we see how much the parents affect what you become. The parsha ends when Hashem tests Avraham and commands him to sacrifice his son. We would think that Yitzchak resisted but on the contrary he did it willingly. This shows how special Avraham and his son are. They both have complete trust in Hashem- blind trust. If Avraham could trust Hashem when he tells him to sacrifice his only son, then we should be able to trust Hashem in things that effect us much less. Avraham raises his knife but a call from heaven stops him, and a ram is offered in his place. This is known as Akedet Yitzchak.