Isaac's Blessing by Phillip Ratner
When Yitzchaq-Isaac was born, his mother Sarah arose to protect him, and as soon as she saw Yishma’el mocking (in Hebrew mezaqeq, from Zechok – laughter), she demanded of Abraham “Cast out this bondwoman and her son, for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, Yitchaq” (21:10). In the past, Sarah already was stricken with laughter and was afraid of its expression: “Then Sarah denied, saying, I laughed not; for she was afraid. And he said, No; but thou didst laugh” (18:15). On this occasion, again it is laughter, the laughter of Yishma’el-Ishmael (God will hear), that is a hindrance for her, and she is again afraid.
The demand of Sarah was for casting out, expulsion, – for a total act that cannot be retracted. This was difficult and seemed bad – “And the thing was very grievous in Avraham’s eyes (judgmental viewing) because of his son”. But Elohim-God (which is, as already noted, the measure of judgment) demanded of him complete submission (Islam) to Sarah “in all that Sarah has said to thee, hearken to her voice”. Abraham was commanded on discipline, but when he proceeded to enact that which he had to, he hurried to do it in a more loving manner – “And Avraham rose up early in the morning, and took bread, and a bottle of water, and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, and the child, and sent her away” (vayeshalcheha). Not expulsion but sending – shiluach – and perhaps even mission – shlichut.
Yishma’el was not sent to get perish in the desert, but to contend, to survive and to wander. He is one who marked the trail before the wanderings of the children of Israel for forty years in the desert, and before the wanderings of the Israelites for about two thousand years in “the desert of the nations” (midbar ha’Umot).
It is instructive that the four hundred years period of sojourn and exile “Know surely that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years” (Gen. 15:13) starts with the sending of Ishmael and ends with “when Par’oh had sent the people” – beshalach Par’oh et ha’chm (Exodus 13:17).
The saving of Yishma’el is well connected to parashat vayera and the special seeing of the whole. Yishma’el gained his first lesson of desert survival through the grace of God, when the eyes of Hagar opened: “And God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water; and she went, and filled the bottle with water, and gave the lad drink” (21:19), and immediately in the sequel it is told “And God was with the lad, and he grew…” Yitchaq, the tent dweller, who had missed the lesson, bequeathed the contention with the desert to his grandchildren who went down to Egypt.
Is it not the case that, contrary to the express demand of Sarah for the casting out of Yishma’el, what really transpired was the intention of Abraham for sending Yishma’el Was Yishma’el sent on a mission from God?
The Figure of Yishma’el According to the Revealed Torah
Already in parashat Lekh-Lekha, when Hagar was tormented in the hands of Saray and escaped to the desert, she was given the message: “Behold, thou art with a child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Yishma’el, because the Lord-YHWH has heard thy affliction. And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man’s hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren” (16:11-12).
In the making of the Covenant (when Abraham was 99 years old, and Yishma’el 13) of circumcision, the Elohim promised Abraham a son from Sarah, and Abraham laughed and then “Abraham said to God, O that Yishma’el might live before thee” (17:18). God then re-affirmed his promised, requested to call the son of Sarah by the name of Yi??aq, and then continued to treat the future of Yishma’el: “And as for Yishma’el I have heard thee (ul’Yishma’el shma’?tikha – a word play); Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation” (17:20). This is almost the same blessing that was made to Adam upon their formation: “And God blessed them, and God said to them, Be fruitful, and multiply, replenish the earth, and subdue it” (Gen. 1:28). Namely, there is a parallel between Adam and Yishma’el, the fertile “pere Adam” (wild man).
In parashat Vayera Sarah saw “the son of the bondwoman” (Yishma’el) laughing (metza?ek) during the feast of weaning Yi??aq and demanded to cast him away. God commanded Abraham to obey to Sarah, but added a consolation along with the draconian measure: “And also the son of the bondwoman will I make a nation, because he is thy seed” (21:13). And again, when the young Ishmael was in mortal danger and his mother thought that he would not survive, the angel of the Lord and reaffirmed “for I will make him a great nation” (21:18).
In the next parashah – ?aye Sarah – Ishmael is mentioned again briefly: “Then Avraham expired, and died in a good old age, and old man, and full of years; and he was gathered to his people. And his sons Yi??aq and Yishma’el buried him in the cave of Makhpelah” (25:8-9). It is also worth noting that after the burial Yi??aq-Isaac returned to dwell “with the well of la?ay ro’i” – exactly at the spot where Hagar became informed of the anticipated birth of Yishma’el. The parashah ends with the list of the chronicles of Yishma’el, all his twelve princely sons and then “And these are the years of the life of Yishma’el, a hundred and thirty seven years; and he expired and died; and was gathered to his people. And they dwelt from Havilah to Shur, that is before Mitzrayim (Egypt), as thou goest toward Ashshur (Assyria); and he dwelt in the presence of all his brethren” (25:17-18). The wording about the death of Ishmael is identical to that of the death of Abraham, with all the characteristics of death of saints. And even if Ishmael did not live as long as Abraham (175), he still lived longer that Sarah (127).
The scriptural description of Ishmael is a positive one. The “wild man” – pere Adam – becomes a fertile man – Adam Poreh. He shares in the burial of the common father and raises princes as a dignified nobleman.
In the time of the Sages, when the Jewish attitude to Esau already turned negative (a topic to which we shall return in the parashot of vaYe?e and vaYishla?), the attitude towards Ishmael was still positive. This attitude is evident from this that the name “Yishma’el” was popular respected and endeared. In the first century C.E. there was a high priest called Yishma’el, and in the second century there were two Tana’im (authors of the Mishnah) with that name. Especially famous was Rabbi Yishma’el, “the couple” (Ben Zugo) of the great Rabbi Aqivah, and whose teachings are quoted in many places in the Mishnah, including the beginning of Torat Kohanim (the Torah of the Priests) with the 13 methods according to which the Torah is to be studied. It was only after the appearance of Muhammad, the Islamic conquests and the life of Jews in “The Exile of Yishma’el”, that the attitude to Yishma’el became a negative one and the later legends and Midrashim (such as Midrash haZohar) started to regard him as a devilish figure.
The Regard to Ishmael among Modern Authors
Before we analyze the changes and development that the figure of Ishmael underwent in the Qur’an and following the Islam, we may recall the approach of modern authors who employed the Biblical image of Ishmael, that of the wanderer. Thus in Melville’s great American epos “Moby Dick”, Ishmael is the person who grows tired of living on the land in the puritanical-Biblical society of New England, and goes down the seas in search of the great whale, which we can see as a symbol of the unconscious (see also legends and Midrahim about the Great Whales – haTaninim haGdolim). In the book of Daniel Quinne “Ishmael”, the hero is an intelligent male Gorilla, who teaches humankind the ecological ethics that is required to save the destructive modern industrial society. In both cases – Ishmael is the antithesis to the degenerate Western Culture.
more to continue with the figure of Ishmael in the Qur’an
