Therefore, she instructed Avraham: “Drive out this slave-woman and her son,” so that Yitzchak and his offspring would not have any connection with the klipah of Yishmael—not even for the sake of being found meritorious based on the kal va’chomer of the “son of the mistress” compared to the “son of the maidservant.” Nevertheless, she cleverly introduced a kal va’chomer of her own by saying: “For the son of this slave-woman will not inherit with my son, with Yitzchak!” Rashi comments: Since he (Yitzchak) is my son, Yishmael should not inherit with him; even if he were not as upright as Yitzchak, or if he were only as upright as Yitzchak—even if he were not my son—this one (Yishmael) would not be worthy to inherit with him. Kal va’chomer—all the more so—that Yishmael should not inherit “with my son, with Yitzchak,” who possesses both qualities; he is my son, and he is upright.
Based on this notion, we can add a nice little tidbit regarding a verse we say in the song HaMavdil on Motza’ei Shabbas: "נחנו בידך כחומר, סלח נא על קל וחומר"—in Your hands, we are like clay, please forgive our sins small and big (kal va’chomer). We can interpret this as follows: Please forgive us for not being worthy to receive Your abundant good based on our own good deeds. Rather, we had to receive it on account of the kal va’chomer of the “son of the maidservant.” Because in the latter situation, HKB”H, so to speak, is distressed that He has to first provide for the “son of the maidservant” in order to apply the kal va’chomer to provide for Yisrael.
Therefore, it is incumbent upon us at this time to fulfill the request of Sarah Imeinu. We must continue to serve Hashem with added vigor. We must study Torah and perform mitzvos to the extent that we ourselves will be legitimately worthy and will not be dependent on the kal vachomer comparing us to the “son of the maidservant,” the despicable descendants of Yishmael. Then, HKB”H will pour out His wrath on them and all of those who hate Yisrael. In that merit, we will warrant the complete geulah with the coming of our righteous Mashiach.
Lastly, in this week’s parsha, parshas Lech Lecha, Hashem’s Malach informs Hagar, Yishmael’s mother: (Bereishis 16, 11): "הנך הרה וילדת בן וקראת שמו ישמעאל כי שמע ה' אל עניך, והוא יהיה פרא אדם ידו בכל ויד כל בו ועל פני כל אחיו ישכון"—“Behold, you will conceive, and give birth to a son; you shall name him Yishmael, for Hashem has heard your prayer. And he will be a wild, uncivilized man; his hand will be in everything, and everyone’s hand will be against him; and in the presence of all his brothers, he will dwell.”
According to the commentaries of the Even Ezra and the Ramban, this means that he will be such “a wild, uncivilized man” that “his hand will be in everything”—waging war against all of the other nations. In the end, however, “everyone’s hand will be against him”—all of the other nations will unite to combas him and defeat him. We pray for this reality swiftly, in our times. Amen.
