Avraham came to eulogize Sarah and to cry over her. (Bereishis 23:2)
There are many amazing things we can learn from the Akeidah. One of them is from this verse, which shows us how careful we need to be about what we say to people!
Comes a messenger to tell Sarah the good news that Yitzchak is still alive, but he begins by saying how her son was prepared to be slaughtered. Then he finishes the story by recounting that Yitzchak was saved and was not slaughtered in the end. But in the meantime, Sarah was so shocked that her soul flew away and she died.
The messenger arrived to tell her good news. If he had mentioned right at the beginning that Yitzchak is alive and well, and then, to heighten her joy over the fact that he is alive and well, proceeded to tell all the details – how he was brought to the Akeidah and placed on the Altar – then everything would have come out right. But he wasn’t careful enough. He didn’t pay sufficient attention to how he told the story. He started with the “bad” part and delayed the “good” part until the end, and by the time he got there, Sarah was already gone.
Instead of being a bearer of good tidings, he was a messenger of the Satan.
This teaches us how important it is to be alert about what we say and how we say it. It is very common for a person to tell his friend something like, “Your son went on that school trip, right? I heard that the bus got into an accident – but everyone is okay.” The moment that lapses between hearing about the accident and hearing that everyone is okay is enough to make a parent’s heart miss a beat.
We don’t actually see the parent drop dead or have a heart attack or anything, but he or she has a heart pang. The one who told him the story has behaved in a way that is somewhat reminiscent of the Satan’s messenger.
There are so many examples of this. We really should think about the reactions that our words will evoke in others.
And this holds true even more so on the good side. If a momentary bad tiding can cause so much damage, surely a good tiding can bring so much benefit. It may look like a small, fleeting matter, but it is so great.
Let’s say for instance that the husband sees he will arrive home a little late, so he calls to say that everything is fine, he is just behind schedule. There are many other cases where a little consideration goes a long way. This is especially true regarding parents, as it is their nature to be concerned about their children.
Let us learn a lesson from the first of our Imahos, who died at the moment she heard bad news about her son, and always try to bring good news to parents.
Of course, this applies as well between husband and wife, and between people in general.
The Torah teaches us that bearing good news is one of the qualities of a good person, as David Hamelech said (II Shmuel 18:27): לֶאְה וֶב זֹ טוׁישִ אאֹבוָה יָבֹה טוָרֹוׂשְּב – “This is a good man, and he will come with a good tiding.”
