The Teshuva of Yishmael
Adapted from Rabbi Braun’s sermon in 5771
I have good news and bad news. The bad news is that apparently, we have sinners in the shul. The good news is that they seem to want to change their ways and find a path to repentance.
The winner of this week’s sermon contest was – the repentance of Yishmael, can one really return from those depths?
The title was chosen based on certain assumptions, first that Yishmael was thrown out of Abraham’s and Sarah’s house because he did something terrible and second that at some point he changed and bettered himself. Only then can we ask the question- how did that change occur?
But before we get there we have to see if my assumption holds up? Is it really true that he was so bad and if so, did he really repent?
The great difficulty in trying to answer these questions is the lack of information. We all know that he is thrown out of the patriarchal house for begin a metzachek but are not really clear on what that means and we know that God saves Yishmael but do not know why. After that he appears only twice in the Torah and both are in the context of death.
בראשית פרק כה
ח) וַיִּגְוַע וַיָּמָת אַבְרָהָם בְּשֵׂיבָה טוֹבָה זָקֵן וְשָׂבֵעַ וַיֵּאָסֶף אֶל עַמָּיו
ט) וַיִּקְבְּרוּ אֹתוֹ יִצְחָק וְיִשְׁמָעֵאל בָּנָיו אֶל מְעָרַת הַמַּכְפֵּלָה אֶל שְׂדֵה עֶפְרֹן בֶּן צֹחַר הַחִתִּי אֲשֶׁר עַל פְּנֵי מַמְרֵא
At the end of Abraham’s life Isaac and Ishmael bury him together.
בראשית פרק כה
יז) וְאֵלֶּה שְׁנֵי חַיֵּי יִשְׁמָעֵאל מְאַת שָׁנָה וּשְׁלֹשִׁים שָׁנָה וְשֶׁבַע שָׁנִים וַיִּגְוַע וַיָּמָת וַיֵּאָסֶף אֶל עַמָּיו
A few verses later after listing his progeny we are told that he died.
That is it, we never hear of him again.
There are those who believe that he never was that bad and thus he did not really have to repent and there are those who believe that he was that bad and worse and he never did repent. Each deserves its own time but this morning I want to focus on the approach that maintains that he was bad and he did return at some point during his life.
Where do they see that in the text and what motivated him to change? How did Ishmael accomplish this change?
Textually the clues are subtle but interesting and worth noticing. In the joint burial of Avraham there are two things suggesting the possibility of change. Firstly, Yitzchak is listed first and Ishmael second- and many read this as Ishmael finally assenting and accepting that Isaac is the chosen son and his path in life was the correct one.
Secondly, both are referred to as Abraham’s children- Isaac and Ishmael his sons, of course they are his sons- why tell us that unless it is to indicate that they both have become children of his values and traits as well. In listing his progeny, Ishmael is introduced as the son of Abraham and his maidservant Hagar as if to reinforce this notion.
In terms of His death the Torah uses identical terminology to describe both Abraham’s and Yishmael’s death. וַיִּגְוַע וַיָּמָת –
Rashi quotes the Talmud in Baba Batra that concludes from here that the words וַיִּגְוַע וַיָּמָת are only used to describe the death of the righteous.
That very same Gemara is the source which argues for the repentance of Ishmael.
The $64,000 question then becomes- how did he do it? What brought about the change? Obviously there is no information on that in the Torah but I did find a few ideas in the commentary that provide models of repentance and might be useful and enlightening for us. Each is different but they are not mutually exclusive.
- The Meshech Chochma, Rabbi Meir Simcha of Dvinsk, (1843-1926) argues that Ishmael’s teshuva was in admitting that Isaac was indeed the spiritual heir to their father. And then he adds the following- Ishmael was listening when the angels came to tell Abraham and Sarah of the impending birth of Isaac and the fact that this child would be the real heir to the legacy of Abraham and he, Ishmael, believed the angel. In other words, Ishmael knew all along who was destined to take over. He did not like it and he scorned Isaac for it and it appeared to Sarah that he wanted do inherit the mantle of leadership. But all the time deep down Ishmael knew what was right and what was wrong; it just took him some time to admit it and act upon it.
I often get the sense that we have the same issue. We know what is right and wrong, deep down we know it. Whether it is regarding kashruth or prayer or charity or being kind, we know what it is that we need to do and must do- it just takes us a while to get there. - Rabbi Chaim Paltiel, 13th century France, simply writes- lo heerich bechet- he did not continue to sin for a long period of time. There is a Midrashic indication that this might be so- the Midrash in Vayikra Rabbah (26/7) that identifies the two lads accompanying Abraham and Isaac to the binding as Eliezer and Ishmael. That is the chapter immediately after the banishment. According to this he had changed pretty quickly. There is a message for us there as well. The longer you do something the harder it is to undo- the more it becomes a part of who you are. One way to repentance is to identify the sin and quickly move to cease that activity. The quicker you do so the easier it will be.
- The Netziv, in a startling piece suggests that the reason why Yishmael was so ready to admit that Isaac was the true heir was because he had been learning with Abraham even after the banishment. Their relationship never severed, and they continued to learn together. It should come as no surprise that a Rosh yeshiva in the great town of Volozhyn would advocate Torah learning as a method to change. The encounter with Torah and with the divine changes and shaped a person spiritually.
Thus as odd as it sounds Yishmael can be a roll model of repentance for us.
