Block Schedule and Deja Vu

First of all, I would like to say how much I enjoyed the block schedule today. I was a little nervous for the block scheduling, but it turned out much better than I had expected, and the class time really flew by! Today while we were doing chavruta work and I was reading through the pessukim, everything seemed familiar. It seemed like we had already learned these new pessukim, 20 and 21, and that these events had already happened. While Avraham is passing through new places spreading his ideas of God, in Geror Avimelech takes Sarah, who Avraham says is his sister. This is a very similar situation to what happened with Pharaoh in Mitzrayim; why does it seem like the same story is happening again?

Then, we see the story of Sarah saying that Hagar needs to be sent away. After Yitzchak is born, Sarah realizes that Yishmael is a bad influence and will negatively impact the way Yitzchak is raised by Avraham and Sarah. Since Yitzchak will become the Zera of Avraham, there is a specific way in which he must be raised. Yishmael will be a deterrent to the proper childhood of Yitzchak. Like before, we see Sarah acting on behalf of her family and sending away part of Avraham's other family-Hagar and Yishmael. Previously, she sent Hagar away, afflicted her based on the article we read, and now she is trying to send Yishmael away. The emotional effects that these banishments have on Avraham must be difficult. They can even be considered one of his tests (or challenges!) that Hashem presents to him, showing that for many years he considered Yishmael to be his zera and now all of the sudden, Hashem is telling him that Sarah is actually right and this is the best situation; he must send Yishmael away.

So I saw a little bit of deja vu here. I felt like we were seeing repetition (AVIVA!) Then Morah Perl casually commented about the development of Avraham's character. The first two stories show us a different side of Avraham that is not emphasized as much in the latter stories. Each section of the perekim that we have learned that talk about Avraham focus on a different aspect of his personality. We have learned about the Tzedek and Mishpat in regard to Sdom, contrasting Avraham's quest for Tzedek & Mishpat with Sdom's lack of tzedek & mishpat. Here we see a different side of his character that offers us insight into the idea of the challenges presented to this paradigm of Tzedek and Mishpat. We see a new character development that helps us push the thought of repetition to the side.