VaYera:

Genesis 18:1-22:24.

OVERVIEW

Three days after performing bris mila (circumcision) on himself, Abraham is visited by Hashem. When three angels appear in human form, Abraham rushes to show them hospitality by bringing them into his tent, despite this being the most painful time after the operation. Sarah laughs when she hears from them that she will bear a son next year. Hashem reveals to Abraham that He will destroy Sodom, and Abraham pleads for Sodom to be spared. Hashem agrees that if there are fifty righteous people in Sodom, He will not destroy it. Abraham "bargains" Hashem down to ten righteous people. However, not even ten can be found. Lot, his wife and two daughters are rescued just before sulfur and fire rain down on Sodom and her sister cities. Lot's wife looks back and is turned into a pillar of salt. Lot's daughters fear that, as a result of the destruction, there will be no husbands for them. They decide to get their father drunk and through him to perpetuate the human race. From the elder daughter, Moav is born, and from the younger, Ammon. Abraham moves to Gerar, where Avimelech abducts Sarah. After Hashem appears to Avimelech in a dream, he releases Sarah and appeases Abraham. As promised, a son, Isaac, is born to Sarah and Abraham. On the eighth day after the birth, Abraham circumcises him as Hashem commanded. Abraham makes a feast the day Isaac is weaned. Sarah tells Abraham to banish Hagar and Hagar's son Yishmael because she sees in him signs of degeneracy. Abraham is distressed at the prospect of banishing his son, but Hashem tells him to listen to whatever Sarah tells him to do. After nearly dying of thirst in the desert, Yishmael is rescued by an angel and Hashem promises that he will be the progenitor of a mighty nation. Avimelech enters into an alliance with Abraham when he sees that Hashem is with him. In a tenth and final test, Hashem instructs Abraham to take Isaac, who is now 37, and to offer him as a sacrifice. Abraham does this, in spite of ostensibly aborting Jewish nationhood and contradicting his life-long preaching against human sacrifice. At the last moment, Hashem sends an angel to stop Abraham. Because of Abraham's unquestioning obedience, Hashem promises him that even if the Jewish People sin, they will never be completely dominated by their foes. The Parsha ends with the genealogy and birth of Rebecca (Rivka).

Overview courtesy of Rabbis Newman and Sinclair, Ohr Somayach