For a land full of vast deserts, there's a whole lot of talk about Israel's wells in the Torah. Last week, Hagar merited to find the first one. Thrown out of the house by Sarah while pregnant with Avraham's child, Hagar was approached by an angel of G-d at the well that she names "Well Where I See LIFE." Hagar was amazed that even out in the desert, she could see (and be seen by) G-d as clearly as she had when she was in Avraham's house. G-d's "divine intervention," G-d's angelic servants -- amidst a spiritual giant such as Avraham, she took such occurrences for granted. But when she was out alone in the desert, she couldn't believe that she merited to experience such love, such beauty.
In this week's parsha (Vayeira -- "Appeared"), when Hagar is kicked out for the last time, we find her dying of thirst, anticipating the tragic death of her child Yishmael in the desert. Here, Sforno says that Hagar was blind and it was G-d that restored her sight to enable her to see the well that had been in front of her all along.
What's the importance of this well? The Midrash Rabbah claims that this well is the well created bein hashmashot (between the suns), in the final moments of the original Creation, right before the first Shabbat. This is the same well that could follow Yisrael through the desert, when leaving Egypt, in the merit of Miriam. So what does Hagar have to do with the well that sustained the Jewish people? If anything, she brought about forces that threatened to divide us -- the strain she placed on Avraham and Sarah's relationship, her son's legacy of war with us -- so why should she merit this holy well?
Well…(Ha!), it seems that Sforno was teaching us a lesson that has ramifications way beyond Hagar. Hagar discovered that G-d was the only one who could open her eyes. But, in fact, He is the only one who can open OUR eyes to what is really right in front of us. This is the deepest lesson… so deep that even Moshe missed it. The Midrash explains that when Moshe struck the rock to bring forth water for Yisrael after Miriam's well had disappeared, G-d gave him some "advice." "Learn from Hagar;" G-d said, "She cried out to Me to bring water for her son, and he merited My help on account of his father, Avraham. You, Moshe, wanted me to bring water forth from this rock for Yisra, but even though they had the merits of ALL the forefathers, and the Torah, and all the Mitzvot, I didn't bring the water." Moshe and the Jewish people weren't at a state in that desert where they could have their eyes open and drink deeply from the well that G-d was placing before them. They weren't letting G-d open their eyes.
Later in the Parsha, we learn an even deeper lesson. Avraham encounters Avimelech who, fearing Avraham's power as a servant of G-d, convinces Avraham to swear that he'll never raise a hand against Avimelech or his descendants. Avraham then disputes with and rebukes Avimelech over the well that his servants had stolen from Avraham. Avimelech, however, claims that he doesn't know who had done that. "Lo yadati mi asa (I don't know who did it)," he said. Yet, in another Midrash, he and his people commonly steal from those that they come across. So is he lying? Possibly, but in an alternative reading of these Hebrew words, one can hear Avimelech saying, "I don't know what this water does… I can see this well, but it's beyond me to see what you see in it, Avraham. You are a man of miracles, you are THE servant of G-d. But me, I'm the one who needed you to pray for me after I'd sinned against you in Egypt." Avraham did have the open eyes to see G-d in the world, to see true G-dliness.
Both of the well stories in this parsha are smack in the middle of Yishmael being thrown out of Avraham's house and Yitzchak being sacrificed. These events were the culmination of an incredible series of tests that Avraham had to undergo since recognizing his deep connection to G-d.
That one of these wells (and possibly both) was created in a time called ben hashmashot means that the well was desperately needed to complete the formation of the physical world, and it was also needed to fill a lacking in the spiritual world. "Ben hashmashot" is neither weekday or Shabbat, neither day nor night, neither completely physical not completely non-physical. It is a point in time exactly "between." The Mishnah says that 10 things were created in this time period (one of which was the well). These things would only be revealed at a point in time when creation would be at a crucial turning point, when the physical and spiritual worlds would once again be balancing between beginning and end, creation and destruction.
It is said that every moment, the world is created anew. The point at which Avraham stood when we encounter these wells was also a turning point -- a point of no return. He had to have his eyes wide open and completely trust in the truth of G-d if he was to perform the tests G-d had placed before him -- to cast out one son and sacrifice the other, to deny what he knew of logic and morals and dive into the oncoming flood of heart-wrenching contradictions. Based on his actions, the world would be recreated anew -- purified in the mikvah-waters of complete faith, or the world would begin a downward spiral of blind doubt. He had to choose, and the effects of his choice are still felt in each moment that WE make choices that recreate our world.
May we all merit to drink from a "B'her Mayim Chayim" -- a well of live-giving waters. And may our eyes be open wide to see everything that G-d so desperately wants to show us.