More Hints in the Letters of Vayera: From Abraham’s Calf to Mount Moriah

Parashah: Vayera · Remez

In the commentary on parashat Vayera we already saw the Baal HaTurim’s hints on the first verses. But throughout the portion there are many more. Here are nine, always with the same method: letters, numbers and acrostics. When a gematria needs to add one for the kolel, I say so.

At Abraham’s table (18:7-9)

The calf that ran. Abraham “ran to the herd” (ve’el habakar ratz, ואל הבקר רץ, 18:7). With the same letters, rearranged, one reads el hakever ratz (אל הקבר רץ), “ran to the tomb.” And the sum of the letters, 634, equals ratz lame’arah (רץ למערה), “ran to the cave,” which adds up to 635, with the kolel. The Baal HaTurim understands it so: Abraham ran after the calf all the way to the cave.

Eating without speaking. The text says “and they ate,” and only afterward: “and they said to him” (18:8-9). For the Baal HaTurim it is a hint of what the sages said: one does not converse during the meal, lest the windpipe pass in front of the esophagus.

An inverted question. In 18:9, “and they said to him” (vayomeru eilav, ויאמרו אליו) adds up to 310, the same as “they said to her: where is he?” (amru eleha ayo, אמרו אליה איו). The guests ask about Sarah; the letters ask about Abraham.

Accompanying the guest (18:16)

“Toward the face of Sodom” (al penei Sedom, על פני סדום): its final letters are those of mil (מיל). The Baal HaTurim reads it as Abraham walking a mile with them to see them off, because that is the measure of accompanying a guest.

The path of the children (18:19)

The text says that Abraham “will command his children and his household after him” (18:19). “Asher yetzaveh” (אשר יצוה) adds up to 612, the same as brit, “covenant” (ברית). And with the kolel it equals Torah (תורה, 611) as well. The final letters of “asher yetzaveh et banav” (אשר יצוה את בניו) are, rearranged, those of Torah. The path that Abraham passes on to his children is the covenant and the Torah.

A hundred years (18:18 and 21:7)

“Hayo yihyeh legoy” (היו יהיה לגוי), “shall surely become a nation” (18:18), adds up to 100. And “milel” (מלל), “who would have said?” (21:7), also adds up to 100. The Baal HaTurim joins them: when Abraham was a hundred years old, he would become a great nation and Sarah would nurse children.

Two brothers (21:9)

When Sarah sees that Hagar’s son is “making sport” (metzachek, מצחק), that word adds up to 238, the same as laharog (להרג), “to kill.” The Baal HaTurim relates it to what the sages taught: that Yishmael shot arrows in order to kill Yitzchak.

The angel on Mount Moriah (22:11 and 22:18)

At the end of the portion, when the angel stops Abraham’s hand, the text says “and the angel of Hashem called to him from heaven” (22:11). The final letters of those words add up to 122, the same as Michael hayah (מיכאל היה), “it was Michael,” with the kolel. And a few verses later, in “ekev asher shamata bekoli” (עקב אשר שמעת בקולי), “because you listened to My voice” (22:18), the final letters are, rearranged, those of brit, “covenant.”

Thus, the angel who according to the Talmud (Bava Metzia 86b) came to announce to Sarah the birth of Yitzchak would also be, according to this hint, the one who stops the binding. And the portion closes with the word covenant, the same one that appeared in the path of Abraham’s children.

These hints are part of the commentary on Parashat Vayera.