Each morning we say that God is pokeah ivrim, “opens the eyes of the blind.” This blessing comes from our parsha, from the story of Hagar. Hagar gets thrown out of Avraham’s house with her son Yishmael, and, when they run out of water, an angel speaks to her and then vayifkach Elokim et eyneha, “God opens her eyes” and she sees a well. The midrash learns from this story the principle that “we are all considered blind until the Holy One blessed be He lights up our eyes.” In this meditation, we explore our own blindness and see if we can allow our eyes to be opened a little bit to the knowledge that everything we need is right here. We explore this blindness and the opening of our eyes both through the story of Hagar’s blinding despair, and also through a second story of an opening of eyes in our parsha, the story of the Akedah, the Binding of Isaac, as God helps Avraham see the ram that can be sacrificed instead of his son, as God helps Avraham open his eyes to alternatives to the original goal. In the meditation, we explore the different types of blindness present in these stories and in ourselves and the ways that we can begin to shift and allow our eyes to be opened.
Sources for this Meditation (in order of their appearance):
Hagar’s seeing: Genesis 21:19
Avraham’s seeing: Genesis 22:13
Midrash Breishit Rabbah 53:14
Sefat Emet, Vayera, 5655 (1894)
Pirke Avot 5:8
Talmud Megillah 13b
Relevant comment by Rhondda May during our live meditation group: “Keep in mind that the nearest exit may be behind you.”
Photo by Rachel Claire at Pexels
