GEN851 It was taught: “Peace is great, for even the dead need peace, as it is written: ‘And you will come to your forefathers in peace’” Sifrei, Nasso 6:26 TEMIMAH-GEN 68

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GEN852 R. Avin Halevi said: “One who takes leave of the dead should not say: ‘Go to peace’ [“leshalom”], but “Go in peace’ [“beshalom”], as it is written: ‘And you will come to your forefathers in peace’” Berachot 64a  TEMIMAH-GEN 68

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GEN854 The other peoples of the world, whom the biblical authors in the Talmudic rabbis knew, were, by and large, not monotheists, but idolaters, whether Canaanite, Greek, or Roman. The Hebrew Bible is relentlessly opposed to idolatry, prominently in shining the prohibition against it in the Decalogue Exodus 20:3– 6 and Deuteronomy 5:7–10announced on Mount Sinai and repeating it as well and many other places in the Bible. Moreover, according to the Torah, the reason God wants the Israelites to occupy the Land of Israel and displace the seven nations already there is precisely because of the natives’ idolatry and the immorality to which it led them [this verse]. The Bible speaks, for example, of the sacrifice of children to Molech and of sanctified acts of adultery and incest within the Canaanite cult.  DORFFDRAG 66

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GEN855 See [[GEN842]] Genesis 15:7 assign JHRHV 55

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GEN856 The Rabbis taught: “If one were married to a woman for ten years and she had no children, he should divorce her and provide her with the amount stipulated in her marriage contract,” for perhaps it has not been granted him to have children with her.  And though there is no proof for this, there is an allusion to it: [this verse]. Why emphasize “the land of Canaan”? To teach us that the years spent outside Eretz Yisroel [Canaan] do not enter into the ten years mentioned in this connection” [for one might be granted children through the merit of living in Eretz Yisroel] Yevamot 64a TEMIMAH-GEN 70

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GEN857 Ramban [Nachmanides] criticizes Sarah. Despairing of having a child, she asks Abraham to sleep with her handmaid Hagar in the hope that she might bear him a child.   Abraham does so, and Hagar becomes pregnant.  The text then says that Hagar “began to despise her mistress” [this verse].   Sarah complains to Abraham and then “afflict[s] Hagar” Genesis 16:6 who flees from her into the desert. On this, Ramban writes: “Our mother [Sarah] transgressed by this affliction, as did Abraham by allowing her to do so.  God heard her [Hagar’s] affliction and gave her a son who would be a wild ass of a man to afflict the seed of Abraham and Sarah with all kinds of affliction. (Commentary to Genesis 16:6).   SACKS 16

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GEN858 R. Chanan said: “If one calls down heavenly judgment upon his friend, he is punished first, as it is written: ‘And Sarai said: “My wrong is upon you … may the Lord judge”’, after which it is written Genesis 23:2: ‘And Abraham came to mourn Sarah’” Baba Kamma 93a TEMIMAH-GEN 70

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GEN859 We must speak out in defense of someone who is being disgraced. … Rashi cites the Midrash that interprets the term chomos as stealing.   Sara complained to Abram that he was stealing his words from her, for he had heard Hagar disgrace her and was silent (see Rashi on verse 4) and was silent.  These verses teach us an important principle.   Sara considered Abraham’s failure to speak on her behalf when Hagar spoke against her, as stealing.  The term stealing is used when someone takes away that which is legally and rightfully someone else’s.  If failure to defend another person’s honor is stealing, then we are obliged to speak up when we see someone being disgraced.   Words of defense are due to a person being disgraced, and it is considered stealing to withhold them.  (Nachalas Yosef, vol. 2).  PLYN 51

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GEN860 See [[GEN857]] Genesis 16:4 despise SACKS 16

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GEN861 Ravah said to Rabbah b. Mari: “Whence is derived the saying: ‘If your neighbor calls you an ass, pull the saddle to your back’? [I.e., Do not contest his statement] He answered: “From the verse: ‘And he said: “Hagar, maidservant of Sarai, where are you coming from?” ‘ – to which she responded: ‘I am fleeing from Sarai, my mistress’”  [Though Hagar was no longer the maidservant of Sarai, since the angel referred to her as such, she responded in kind.] [n.b.– Bracketed explanations are from sefaria.org]  Baba Kamma 92b  TEMIMAH-GEN 70

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