Vayera - This Is Not the End of the Story
This week’s Haftorah introduces two women — each facing a crisis that feels final. The widow fears losing her sons to the creditor. There is no money, no plan, no way out. The Shunammite woman holds her lifeless child in her arms. Both are confronted with a reality that looks absolute. Yet neither woman accepts it.
The widow takes the tiny jar of oil she has — and pours. She acts with determination as if there is a future yet to be built. The Shunammite woman travels to Elisha and refuses to leave him. She demands that the story is not closed.
These women teach us that faith is not passive. Emunah is not simply accepting life as it presents. It is the belief that Hashem can write further chapters we cannot yet see. Their courage echoes today.
So many women in Israel — especially wives and mothers whose loved ones are serving in miluim — are living with fear and uncertainty. But they continue to build homes of warmth, continue to daven, continue to make Shabbos beautiful, continue to hold hope. They, too, are quietly declaring: This moment is not the whole story.
Like the women of our Haftorah, they believe the next chapter can still hold life and light — and in that belief, they help bring it closer.