Both in Parashat Vayera and in the story of the Shunamite woman, acts of kindness serve as the catalyst for the miraculous creation and sustenance – and even restoration – of life, demonstrating the very close parallel that exists between giving a livelihood and giving life.
The haftara for Parashat Vayera is taken from Sefer Melakhim II (4:1-37), and consists mainly of the famous story of the isha ha-Shunamite, the barren, Shunamite woman who would frequently host the prophet Elisha in her home. Elisha blessed the woman and her husband that she would soon bear a child, and she indeed delivered a baby boy the following year. The story concludes with the prophet’s miraculous resurrection of the boy after he suddenly died while working in the fields with his father.
The most obvious parallel between this incident and Parashat Vayera is the shared feature of a woman conceiving after years of infertility. This parallel is highlighted by the phrase “la-mo’ed ha-zeh ka-eit chaya” (Melakhim II 4:16), with which Elisha promises the woman that she would bear a child, and which closely resembles the promise made by the three angels to Avraham and Sara in Parashat Vayera (see 18:10,14).
However, a closer comparison between the two narratives reveals additional points of resemblance. For one thing, in both instances the couple is promised a child in the context of, or in response to, their generous hospitality. The angels inform Avraham of Sara’s imminent conception as he graciously welcomed them into his home (thinking they were nomads) and served them a large meal. Likewise, Elisha prays for the Shunamite woman in response to her generosity in hosting him frequently and even building separate quarters for him in her home. Moreover, both stories conclude with the “death,” or near death, of the miraculously born child. The Shunamite’s son actually lost his life and was resurrected by the prophet, while Yitzchak was nearly killed at the akeida, and was spared as the knife approached his neck when the angel commanded Avraham to withdraw the knife. In both cases, the “miracle child” born after years of his parents’ infertility needs another miracle to continue living.
One message, perhaps, that emerges from this pattern is expressed in a comment in the Midrash (Shir Hashirim Rabba 2:5): “Great is sustenance, for it causes resurrection of the dead to occur before its time.” (The Midrash infers this principle from the story of the Shunamite, and from the strikingly similar account of Eliyahu resurrecting the son of the Tzorfartite woman – Melakhim I, chapter 17). As Rav Yehuda Leib Ginsburg explains in his Musar Ha-nevi’im, Chazal here establish that providing somebody with a livelihood is, essentially, providing that person with life. The Midrash does not simply point to resurrection as a consequence of the kindness performed by Elisha; rather, it emphasizes that lending financial assistance to those in need amounts to “resurrection,” bringing life to the “dead.”
Both in Parashat Vayera and in the story of the Shunamite woman, acts of kindness serve as the catalyst for the miraculous creation and sustenance – and even restoration – of life, demonstrating the very close parallel that exists between giving a livelihood and giving life.