Shabbat Parashat Lech Lecha - 5786

Shabbat Parashat Lech Lecha - 5786

Rabbi Hal Miller

  And Avraham fell upon his face and laughed and he thought, to a man of a

  hundred years shall there be born? And shall Sarah, a woman of ninety years,

  give birth? [Bereishit 17:17]

Here we see Avraham laughing when informed that Sarah would have a son. In verse 18:12, Sarah laughs, apparently over the same thing, using the feminine form of the same word as with Avraham. Why is Sarah chastised but not Avraham for this laughing?

Onkelos says that the root word, tz'chak "is sometimes said of scoffing and sometimes of rejoicing". He explains that in Sarah's case it was scoffing and in Avraham's case it was rejoicing, such that "his mouth becomes filled with laughter" (from Tehillim 126:2). God would not have told Avraham to name his son Yitzchak to commemorate doing something wrong, thus it must mean rejoicing here. Onkelos translates it as va'yachadu, meaning that Avraham believed and rejoiced. Saadiah Gaon and Rashi concur, with Rashi writing that for Avraham the word is rejoice (va'yachadi) and for Sarah, who did not believe, it was laughing in the sense of scoffing, va'titzchak.

Targum Yonatan and Ibn Ezra replace the word with "wondered" in Avraham's case, that he wanted to know what this revelation meant. Radak is close to this with the word "amazement" that Avraham was amazed at how far God would divert from the natural ways of the world just for him, which indicates a complete belief in God. Malbim explains this diversion as a three-fold miracle necessary to bring about the birth of Yitzchak: could Avraham father a child at 100 even with a young woman? Could Sarah who was barren have a child at all? Could Sarah have a child at 90?

Rav Hirsch sees a different reason for Avraham not being punished. He criticizes the understanding of tz'chak as joy, and maintains it means laughter in both the case of Avraham and Sarah, "predominantly of jeering, depreciative laughter". According to this, both parents-to-be were subject to punishment for lack of belief. But in the next verse, Avraham "is pained over Yishmael", which indicates that Avraham must actually believe that God can bring about the birth of Yitzchak. Because of this, he was not punished for laughing.