Divrei Rav Josh: Parshat Vaera- Hagar and Education As Self-Discovery

“From a social standpoint, dependence denotes a power rather than a weakness; it involves interdependence. There is always a danger that increased personal independence will decrease the social capacity of an individual. In making him more self-reliant, it may make him more self-sufficient; it may lead to aloofness and indifference. It often makes an individual so insensitive in his relations to others as to develop an illusion of being really able to stand and act alone — an unnamed form of insanity which is responsible for a large part of the remedial suffering of the world.”
-John Dewey, Democracy and Education

While a major goal of education is to help students become independent thinkers and actors, a subtle, yet equally important goal, is to help students understand the robust learning only takes place in community, and that a well-educated learner recognizes that discovery comes not through acting alone, but through seeking out the wisdom, advice, and assistance of others.    This realization is found within the subtle themes of Parshat Vaera, where the story of Hagar teaches us something unique about what it means to help a person when they are blocked in their pathway to discovery.   

In Parshat Vaera, the Hagar story provides iterary clues to teach us about self-discovery and learning.   In particular, the act of seeing plays particularly critical role in understanding what transformation takes place for Hagar when she is alone with Ishmael in the desert.    The Torah states the following:

“And she went and sat down from afar, at about the distance of two bowshots, for she said, "Let me not see the child's death." And she sat from afar, and she raised her voice and wept.  And God heard the lad's voice, and an angel of God called to Hagar from heaven, and said to her, "What is troubling you, Hagar? Fear not, for God has heard the child’s voice in the place where he is.  Rise, pick up the lad and grasp your hand upon him, for I shall make him into a great nation."  And God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water, and she went and filled the pouch with water and gave the lad to drink” (Bereishit 21:16-21).   

In this passage, when Hagar cannot find water, she looks away from her son, to avoid seeing him pain, yet when God hear the cry of Ishmael, Hagar’s eyes are opened, so that she might see a way to satiate her son.   However, the text from Bereishit never actually says that Hagar closed her eyes, and thus our commentators see a deeper meaning beneath Hagar’s act of choosing not to see and coming to see.

In his literary analysis of this passage and other familial narratives throughout Sefer Bereishit, my teacher, Devora Steinmetz, writes in her book From Father to Son that we must understand Hagar’s inability to see as metaphorical, rather than literal, for Hagar’s emotional anguish at being banished from Abraham’s house “blinded” her as to how to care for her son.  Steinmetz writes:

“Hagar leaves with Ishmael.   She is now his significant parent...Hagar wanders, directionless, in the desert and casts her son under the shrubs when their water runs out.   Refusing to see her dying child, she sits far away, and “lifted up her voice and cried...Hagar is unable to see the well which can serve her son; in despair, she moves far away from her son, refusing to see him die.   Ishmael is saved only when an angel calls to Hagar and God forces her to see the well to which she had been blind” (Devora Steinmetz, From Father to Son: Kinship, Conflict, and Continuity in Genesis, 83-84).

In her contextual reading of this passage from Bereishit, Steinmetz points out that we should not assume that Hagar was momentarily unable to see using her conventional senses, but that she cannot, or chooses not to, see the way to help save her son.    However, by God intervening in this dramatic moment, Hagar’s mind is re-directed, so that she might see that which was previously obstructed from her vision.

The literary nuances acknowledged by Steinmetz are also noticed by a famous midrash, which points out that the blindness that God removed from the eyes of Hagar is similar to a spiritual blindness that oftentimes afflicts human beings.   The midrash states the following:

“Where he is. R. Simon said: The ministering angels rushed to indict [Ishmael], exclaiming, "Sovereign of the Universe! Will You raise a well for one who will one day kill Your children with thirst?" [God] asked them, "What is he now—righteous or wicked? " They replied, "Righteous." He told them, "I judge a man only as he is in the moment." [Thus, Scripture continues], 'Come, lift up the boy . . . ' Then God opened her eyes, [and she saw a well of water.] (Gen.21:18–19).

“R. Benjamin said: All may be presumed to be blind until the Holy One, Blessed be God, enlightens their eyes, as the verse states, “Then God opened her eyes...” (Midrash Bereishit Rabbah 33:14).

In this midrash, we are taught that the blindness experienced by Hagar is similar to any moment in our lives when cannot clearly see an alternate solution, answer, or point of view, and only become enlightened when someone helps us see through our previously obstructed vision.  In truth, all of us, for time to time, are guilty of closing our minds to a solution right in front of us, and Hagar’s emerging relationship with God is an example of where someone finds a moment of clarity that helps them see a solution that existed all along.

At some moment, every student is like Hagar in the desert, trying to solve a problem on their own, yet blind to the immense learning possibilities that can exist when they are willing to allow someone else to help them.  In our Schechter community, we are continually challenged to help our students recognize moments when a solution was in front of them all alongside, yet could only be found when a “guide on the side” could help them see water in the middle of the wilderness.  May we each have the merit of guiding our children and students into a pathway of educational self-discovery.   

Shabbat Shalom!