"And Hashem visited Sarah"

388. Midrash Hane'elam (Homiletical interpretations on the obscure). "And Hashem visited Sarah as He had said..." (Beresheet 21:1). Rabbi Yochanan opened the discussion with this verse, "Your head upon you is like Carmel, and the hair of your head like purple; the king is held in the galleries" (Shir Hashirim 7:6). The Holy One, blessed be He, placed governors on high and down below. When the Holy One, blessed be He, raises the governors on high, He grants the same elevation to the kings below. Thus, because He gave the governor of Babylon rise, Nebuchadnezzar the Wicked also received it, as it is written about him, "You are this head of gold" (Daniel 2:38). And the entire world was enslaved by him, by his son, and by the son of his son. It is written, "Your head upon you is like Carmel," which applies to Nebuchadnezzar. And it is also written, "the beasts of the field had shadow under it" (Daniel 4:9). The phrase, "and the hair of your head like purple" applies to Belshatzar, who said, "shall be clothed with scarlet (purple)" (Daniel 5:7). "The king is held in the galleries" refers to Evil Merodach (the king of Babylon), who was imprisoned until the death of his father, and then ruled in his place.

389. Rabbi Yehuda asks, Why does this description appear in the Song of Songs? Then he continued to explain that seven items were created before the creation of the universe. The first is the Throne of Glory, as it is written, "Your throne is established of old, You are from everlasting" (Tehilim 93:2) and "A glorious high throne from the beginning" (Yirmeyah 17:12). Hence, this was the beginning; it preceded everything else. And the Holy One, blessed be He, took the pure soul from the Throne of Glory, so it would shine on the body. This is as it is written, "Your head upon you is like Carmel," which refers to the Throne of Glory, which is the "head" over everything. And the phrase, "the hair of your head like purple" refers to the soul that is taken from it. "...The king is held in the galleries" is the body imprisoned in the grave and consumed in the dust. Nothing remains of it except for a scrap of rot, but from this, the entire body will be rebuilt. And when the Holy One, blessed be He, visits the body, He will tell the earth to cast it out, as it is written, "And the earth shall cast out the dead" (Yeshayah 26:19).

390. Rabbi Yochanan said, The dead of the land (of Yisrael) shall be the first to live, as it is written, "Your dead men shall live..." (Yeshayah 26:19); "dead bodies shall arise," refers to those who have died away from the land (of Yisrael). "Awake and sing, you who dwell in dust" refers to those who have died in the desert. As Rabbi Yochanan asks, Why did Moses die away from the land (of Yisrael)? It was to show the entire world that just as the Holy One, blessed be He, shall resurrect Moses in the future, so shall He resurrect his generation, who received the Torah. And of them it is written, "I remember in your favor, the kindness of your youth, the love of your espousals, when you went after me in the wilderness, in a land that was not sown" (Yirmeyah 2:2).

391. Another explanation of the verse, "Awake and sing, you that dwell in dust" is that it refers to the Patriarchs. And the bodies of those who died away from the land (of Yisrael) will be rebuilt, and they shall roll under the ground until they reach the land of Yisrael. There, and not away from the land (of Yisrael), they shall receive their souls. As it is written, "Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says Hashem Elohim, Behold, my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Yisrael" (Yechezkel 37:12), which is followed by, "And I shall put my spirit in you, and you shall live..." (Ibid. 14)

392. Rabbi Pinchas said, The soul is taken from the Throne of Glory, which is the "head," as it is written, "Your head upon you is like Carmel." "...And the hair of your head like purple" means the soul that is the hair of the head. Finally, "the king is held in the galleries" means the body that is held in the grave. This refers to the body, Sarah, and the King. So the Holy One, blessed be He, shall visit it at the appointed time, as it is written, "And Hashem visited Sarah as He had said." He shall visit the body at the appointed time, when He shall visit the righteous."

393. Rabbi Pinchas said, In the future, the Holy One, blessed be He, will make the bodies of the righteous as beautiful as Adam was when he entered the Garden of Eden, as it is written, "And Hashem shall guide you continually...and you shall be like a watered garden" (Yeshayah 58:11). Rabbi Levi then said, As long as the soul remains in its exalted position, it is nourished by the Light from above and is enclothed with It. And when it enters the body in the future, it shall enter with that same Light. Then the body will shine as the brightness of the firmament. This is as it is written, "And they that are wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament..." (Daniel 12:3) And people will attain full knowledge, as it is written, "For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of Hashem" (Yeshayah 11:9). How do we reach this conclusion? From the verse, "And Hashem shall guide you continually, and satisfy your soul in drought" (Yeshayah 58:11). This is the Light of above. "...and make fat your bones" is the visiting of the body, while "and you shall be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not" is the knowledge of the Blessed Creator. Then all creatures shall know of the soul that entered them - that it is the soul of Life, the soul of Delight, which has received all pleasures and delights for the body from above. And all are amazed by it, saying, "How fair and how pleasant are you, love, in delights" (Shir Hashirim 7:3), all of which refers to the soul.

394. Rabbi Yehuda said, Come and behold. It is indeed so. It is written, "the king is held in the galleries," and then, "How fair and how pleasant are you..." Rabbi Yehuda continued, At that time, the Holy One, blessed be He, will make His world happy, and rejoice in His created beings, as it is written, "Hashem shall rejoice in his works" (Tehilim 104:31). And then there will be laughter in the world, which we do not see now, as it is written, "Then will our mouth be filled with laughter..." (Tehilim 126:2) This is according to the verse, "And Sarah said, 'Elohim has made for me to laugh..." (Beresheet 21:6). So at that time, people will chant songs, as it is a time of laughter. Rabbi Aba added that on the day when the Holy One, blessed be He, will rejoice together with His created beings, there will be joy such as has not existed since the world was created. And the righteous that remain in Jerusalem shall return no more to dust, as it is written, "And it shall come to pass, that he that is left in Zion, and he that remains in Jerusalem, shall be called holy" (Yeshayah 4:3), precisely "he that is left in Zion, and he that remains in Jerusalem."

395. Rabbi Acha asks, Then there will only be a few? Rather, the rule that applies to Jerusalem and Zion applies to all those who remained in the holy land of Yisrael. This teaches us that the whole land of Yisrael is included within Jerusalem, based on what is written, "And when you shall come into the land..." (Vayikra 19:23) - The entire land as a whole.

396. Rabbi Yehuda, the son of Rabbi Elazar, asks Rabbi Chizkiyah about the dead that the Holy One, blessed be He, shall resurrect, Why does He not give them back their souls in the places where they were buried and let them come to live in the land of Yisrael? Rabbi Chizkiyah responded, The Holy One, blessed be He, took an oath to build Jerusalem and to see that it shall never be destroyed. As Rabbi Yirmeyah said, The Holy One, blessed be He, shall renew His world, and build Jerusalem. He shall bring it down from above completely built, so that it may never be destroyed. And he took a solemn oath that the Congregation of Yisrael shall never be exiled again and that Jerusalem shall never be destroyed, as it is written, "You shall no more be termed Forsaken, neither shall your land any more be termed Desolate..." (Yeshayah 62:4). Everywhere you find a double negative, there is an oath, as it is written, "neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of the flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth" (Beresheet 9:11), and it is written, "For as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth" (Yeshayah 54:9). From this we conclude that a double negative is a solemn oath, and from that negative, we can hear an affirmative. So the Holy One, blessed be He, shall reestablish His world in the future in such a manner that the Congregation of Yisrael shall never be exiled and the Temple will never be destroyed. Therefore, they shall not be given back their souls except in a place that is forever established, so that the soul will forever dwell in the body. Thus, it is written, "He that is left in Zion, and he that remains in Jerusalem, shall be called holy."

397. Rabbi Chizkiyah said, Thus, He is holy, Jerusalem is holy, and he who remains in it is holy. He is holy, as it is written, "Holy is Hashem Tzva'ot" (Yeshayah 6:3), and "the Holy One in your midst" (Hoshea 11:9); Jerusalem is holy, as is written, "had gone from the holy place" (Kohelet 8:10); and he that remains in it is holy, as it is written, "And it shall come to pass, that he that is left in Zion, and he that remains in Jerusalem, shall be called holy" (Yeshayah 4:3). So as the first holy one is established, so are the other two holy ones.

398. Rabbi Yitzchak asks, What is meant by the verse, "Once again old men and old women will dwell in the streets of Jerusalem, and every man with his staff in his hand because of old age" (Zecharyah 8:4)? What is the good in phrasing it thus, "and every man with his staff?" Rabbi Yitzchak replies that the righteous shall revive the dead in the future as did Elisha the prophet, as it is written, "and take my staff in your hand, and go your way..." "And lay my staff upon the face of the child" (II Melachim 4:29). The Holy One, blessed be He, said to him, 'What the righteous are to perform in the future which is to come, you wish to accomplish now.' And what is written? "...And he laid the staff upon the face of the child; but there was neither voice nor sound" (Ibid. 31). But the righteous in the future shall succeed in accomplishing this promise, as it is written, "And every man with this staff in his hand" will use it to revive the dead, those who have converted from among the nations of the world, as it is written of him, "For the child shall die a hundred years old; and the sinner being a hundred years old shall be deemed cursed" (Yeshayah 65:20). Rabbi Yitzchak said that the end of this passage confirms this, as it is written, "because of old age."

399. A different explanation of the verse, "And Sarah said, Elohim has made for me to laugh," is that it is written, "Rejoice you with Jerusalem, and be glad with her, all you who love her, rejoice for joy with her, all you who mourn for her" (Yeshayah 66:10). Rabbi Yehuda said that since the world was created, there is no greater joy for the Holy One, blessed be He, as the joy in rejoicing with the righteous in the future. Each and every one shall point his finger and say, "This is our Elohim, we have waited for Him, we will be glad and rejoice in His salvation" (Yeshayah 25:9), and "Sing to Hashem; for He has done wonders, this is known in all the earth" (Yeshayah 12:5).

400. Rabbi Yochanan said that we have not seen a person who has explained this term better than King David, who said, "You hide your face, they are troubled" (Tehilim 104:29). According to this, the Holy One, blessed be He, never harms anyone. But if He does not supervise a person, he simply dies on his own, as it is written, "You hide your face, they are troubled, You take away their breath (spirit), they die and return to their dust" (Ibid.), then, "You send forth Your spirit, they are created..." and finally, "The glory of Hashem shall endure for ever, Hashem shall rejoice in His works" (Ibid. 30-31). Then shall there be laughter in the world, as it is written, "Then will our mouth be filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing." This is as we read "And Sarah said, Elohim has made for me to laugh," to rejoice in his salvation.

401. Rabbi Chiya said, Come and behold. When the body exists in this world, it has not yet reached perfection. After it becomes righteous, walks the paths of honesty, and dies in its righteousness, then it is called 'Sarah', as it has been perfected. When it reaches the Resurrection of the Dead, it is still called Sarah, so that nobody will say that the Holy One, blessed be He, has revived a different body. And after it becomes alive and rejoices with the Shechinah, and the Holy One, blessed be He, has wiped all distress from the world, as it is written, "He will swallow up death forever; and Hashem Elohim will wipe away tears from off all faces" (Yeshayah 25:8). Then it shall be called Isaac (lit. 'be laugh'), because of the laughter and happiness of the righteous in the future.

402. Rabbi Yehuda arrived at the village of Chanan, and all the inhabitants sent him a gift. Rabbi Aba came to him and asks, Sir, when are you leaving? He replies, I shall pay for what the people of the village have given me and be on my way. He said to him, Sir, do not feel troubled because of the gift. It was offered for (in honor of) the Torah, so they will not accept anything from you. He responded, Will they accept words of Torah? He said, Yes. All the people of the village came. Rabbi Yehuda said, Are they all Yeshivah deans? He then said, If there is anyone who does not attend the Yeshivah, let him get up and leave. Rabbi Aba stood up and separated ten men from them all to receive the leanings from Rabbi Yehuda. Rabbi Aba said to them, Be seated here you masters (teachers), while the rest of us will sit with him tomorrow and receive the learnings. They went, and the ten who stayed sat down. But he said nothing. They said to him, If it pleases Sir, let us welcome the Shechinah. He said to them, While Rabbi Aba is not here? So, they sent for him, and he came.

403. He opened the discussion with the verse, "And Hashem visited Sarah as He had said." Why is it written this way? It should have been written, 'And Hashem remembered Sarah,' as he said, "And Elohim remembered Rachel" (Beresheet 30: 22). This is because there is no visiting unless it was previously mentioned, but it was previously written, "I will certainly return to you this season" (Beresheet 18:10). And, in relation to this issue, it is now said that He visited. This we derive from the words, "as He had said," because had it not been said, "as He had said," it would have said 'He remembered'. So the visiting is connected to the phrase, "He said, 'At the time appointed I will return to you'" (Ibid. 14).

404. Afterward he said, The image of this righteous man, who has merited to be elevated up to that Glory on high, is engraved on the Throne of Glory. And each and every righteous person has his image above, IN THE GARDEN OF EDEN, just as it was down below IN THIS WORLD. This secures the holy soul AND ENSURES ITS RESURRECTION IN A BODY IN THIS WORLD.

405. Rabbi Yochanan said that the verse, "The sun and moon stood still in their habitation" (Chavakuk 3:11), TEACHES US that the body and the soul are in the Holy Supernal Chamber above, and shine in the same image there as they had on the earth in this world. And the sustenance of this image, OF THIS WORLD, comes from the pleasure of the soul. And it shall enter into this bone, WHICH IS CALLED LUZ that remains intact in the earth UNTIL THE DEAD SHALL RISE. The earth is conceived by it and throws out its refuse. This IMAGE is called 'Holy'.

406. So when this image OF THIS WORLD exists above, it then comes on every first day of the month to bow before the Holy One, blessed be He, as it is written, "And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another..." (Yeshayah 66:23). And He, THE HOLY KING, says to it, "At the time appointed I will return to you," REFERRING to the time when He shall resurrect the dead in the future, when it will be visited, as was promised. And this is why it is written, "And Hashem visited Sarah, as He had said." This is the day when the Holy One, blessed be He, shall rejoice with His creations, as it is written, "Hashem shall rejoice in His works" (Tehilim 104:31).

407. Rabbi Aba said to him (AS HE HEARD HIM BEGIN WITH THE VERSE, "HASHEM SHALL REJOICE IN HIS WORKS"), May you, Sir, speak and tell us your explanation of THE VERSES IN this portion, AND NOT OF THE VERSES OF TEHILIM. RABBI YEHUDA said to them, It is appropriate for you to open with this passage. He said, "And it came to pass after these things, that the Elohim did test Abraham...And He said, Take now your son, your only son, whom you love..." (Beresheet 22:1-2). We should study this verse carefully. THIS IS SIMILAR TO a craftsman who takes silver from the earth. What does he do with it? First he puts the raw material into the burning fire until all the dirt of the earth is removed and only the silver remains. But even this is not yet pure silver. So what does he do next? He puts it into the fire again and extracts the dross, as we may read, "Take away the dross from the silver" (Mishlei 25:4). And then the silver is pure.

408. So does the Holy One, blessed be He, put the body under the ground until it is completely petrified and all the rotten defilement completely leaves it. And a handful of rot is all that is left. Then the body is rebuilt from this, but it is still an incomplete body.

409. This is after that Great Day, as it is written, "But it shall be one day which shall be known to Hashem, not day nor night..." (Zecharyah 14:7). This is the day when everyone shall hide in the earth as they did in the beginning, THAT IS, AS THEY WERE IN THE GRAVE BEFORE THE RESURRECTION, because of the fear and the mighty power of the Holy One, blessed be He. As it is written, "And they shall go into the holes of the rocks, and into the caves of the earth, for fear of Hashem, and for the glory of His majesty..." (Yeshayah 2:19). And their souls shall leave and the handful of rot shall be digested there. The body that is rebuilt shall remain there as the light of the sun and the splendor of the firmament. As it is written, "And they who are wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament" (Daniel 12:3). And then the silver is pure, WHICH MEANS THAT the body is pure without any other mixture.

410. As Rabbi Ya'akov said, The Holy One, blessed be He, shall cast down a shining body from above, as it is written: "For your dew is as the dew (Heb. tal) of the herbs..." (Yeshayah 26,19) and, "Behold Hashem will carry you away (Heb. metaltelcha)" (Yeshayah 22,17). And then they shall be called Celestial Holy Ones, as it is written, "And he...shall be called holy" (Yeshayah 4:3). This is what is called the last resurrection of the dead, as they shall never taste death anymore, as it is written, "By Myself I have sworn, says Hashem, because you have done this thing...that I will exceedingly bless you..." (Beresheet 22:16-17). During that period, the righteous pray that they may never experience this again.

411. What is then written? "And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold behind him a ram..." (Beresheet 22:13) WHICH ALLUDES TO the other wicked people of the world who are called 'rams,' as it is written, "the rams of Nevayot shall minister to you" (Yeshayah 60:7). And this PHRASE is translated INTO ARAMAIC as, "the high ranks (also: 'the proud people') of Nevayot....." "Caught in a thicket..." This is as you may read, "All the horns of the wicked also will I cut off" (Tehilim 75:11). The phrase, "and Abraham went and took the ram," means that they are about to go through many bad experiences. But the righteous, in the future, shall remain as the holy supernal angels, to bring about the unison of His Name. Therefore it is written, "In that day Hashem shall be one, and His Name One" (Zecharyah 14:9).

412. Rabbi Yehuda said to him, From here on, open up the gate, WHICH MEANS THAT FROM NOW ON, WHOEVER WANTS TO ENTER MAY DO SO, BECAUSE HE HAS FINISHED REVEALING ALL THE MOST SUBLIME MYSTERIES. All the people of the village came to him. They said, May you, Sir, tell us a few words of the Torah about the portion of the week that we read on the day of Shabbat: "And Hashem visited Sarah." He stood up between the pillars, opened, and said, "And Hashem visited Sarah..." - The Holy One, blessed be He, has three keys in His hands, which He did not hand over to any angel. They are, the Key of Life, the Key of Rain, and the Key of Resurrecting the Dead. Elijah came and took two, the one of rain and the one of resurrecting the dead. Rabbi Yochanan disagreed and said, Elijah was handed only one. Rabbi Yochanan explained, When Elijah wanted to revive the son of the woman of Tzarfat, the Holy One, blessed be He, said to him, It is not proper for you to take two keys and hold them in your hands. So give Me the key of rain, and go and and revive the dead. This is as it is written, "Go, show yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain upon the earth" (I Melachim 18:1). He did not say, 'and send rain,' but rather, "and I will send rain."

413. And then Elisha had to establish a double portion of Elijah's spirit. Nevertheless, the Holy Once, blessed be He, did not hand three of them over to any messenger. As Rabbi Simon said, Come and behold the might of the Holy One, blessed be He. Simultaneously He resurrects the dead, He "brings down to the grave and brings up" (I Shmuel 2:6), He makes the luminaries shine, brings down rain, "causes the grass to grow" (Tehilim 104:14), fertilizes the crop, visits barren women, supplies food, helps the needy, supports those who have fallen, makes those who are bent down stand erect, removes kings, and raises kings. He does all this at the same time and at the same moment, a task no messenger can ever accomplish.

414. We have learned, as Rabbi Yosi said, All that the Holy One, blessed be He, does, He can do by a word. As soon as He says from the place of His Holiness, 'Let this be done,' it immediately occurs. Behold the power of the Holy One, blessed be He, and His might, as it is written, "By the word of Hashem were the heavens made" (Tehilim 33:6). Rabbi Yochanan then asks, Why is it written, "For I will pass through the land of Egypt, I and not an angel" (Shemot 12:12)?

415. If so, it is a great honor for Egypt, because being caught by a king is different than being caught by a simple man. Even more so, since there is no nation as defiled with all sorts of impurity as Egypt, of which it is written, "Whose flesh is as the flesh of donkeys," (Yechezkel 23:20) because they are suspected of sodomy. And they issue from Ham, who did what he did to his father, who then cursed him and his son Canaan. Did not the Holy One, blessed be He, have an angel or a messenger to send to take revenge on Egypt, as he had done to Ashur who was the son of Shem, as it is written, "The children of Shem, Elam and Ashur..." (Beresheet 10:22)? And Shem was a High Priest who was blessed, as it is written, "Blessed be Hashem, the Elohim of Shem" (Beresheet 9:26). Thus, Shem received blessings and attained superiority over his brothers. Of them, it is written, "Then the angel of Hashem went forth and smote in the camp of Ashur" (Yeshayah 37:36). Therefore, this revenge was accomplished by a messenger - all the more so with Egypt, the most impure of all nations. Nevertheless, He said, "I and not an angel."

416. Rabbi Yehuda said that from this we learn the great might of the Holy One, blessed be He, and His exaltedness, which is high above all. The Holy One, blessed be He, said, This nation of Egypt is impure and full of filth, so it is not proper to send an angel or anything holy among filthy, impure, and cursedly wicked people. So I will perform what cannot be done by an angel or a messenger or a Seraph. From the place of My holiness I announce, Let this be done. And immediately what cannot be done by an angel is done. So the Holy One, blessed be He, from His place of holiness, announces, Let thus happen so! And all that He wanted done occurs immediately. Therefore, this revenge was not accomplished by an angel or a messenger, for the dishonor of the Egyptians, and to display the greatness of the Creator, who did not want anything holy to enter among them. According to this, it is written, "I and not an angel;" I alone am able to perform this.

417. Rabbi Yehuda continued by asking, Why is it written, "And Hashem spoke to the fish..." (Yonah 2:11)? How many righteous and pious men of Yisrael did the Holy One, blessed be He, never speak to, while He came to speak to the fish, who does not know or recognize Him? Rabbi Yehuda continued, Because Jonah's prayers reached to the Holy One, blessed be He, He spoke, from the place of His holiness, so that the fish would vomit Jonah out and cast him ashore. So why did He speak to the fish? Hashem spoke to the fish, so that Jonah would be thrown back to the shore. So from the place of His Holiness, the Holy One, blessed be He, said, Let this happen. And immediately it was done, something that no messenger was able to do.

418. We learned as Rabbi Shimon said, The key of Life is in the hands of the Holy One, blessed be He. So while the mother still lies in labor, the Holy One, blessed be He, examines the newborn. If he is worthy of emerging and coming into this world, then He opens the gates of her womb and he comes out. If not, then He shuts the gates and they both die. In this manner, an evil person will never come into the world. Rather we have learned that women die because of three transgressions. Rabbi Yitzchak asks, Why should any woman have a miscarriage and lose the fruit of her womb? Rabbi Yitzchak responded, The Holy One, blessed be He, examines the fetus that is not fit to come into the world and kills it while it is still in the womb of its mother, as it is written, "There were giants (Heb. nefilim) on the earth in those days..." (Beresheet 6:4) Nefilim is spelled without the first Yud (Heb. nefalim or, 'miscarriages'). And why? Because later, "the sons of Elohim came onto the daughters of men, and they bore children to them," by prostitution. And so the number of bastards grew in the world.

419. "...They were the men of renown which were of old..." (Beresheet 6:4) because there is no greater tyrant, robber, or mighty man than a bastard. They were recognized as "...men of renown (lit. 'men of the name')" by all, and called by that known brand, 'bastard.' Because they all see by his actions that he is a tyrant, a robber, and mighty man, they call him by that name. And Rabbi Shimon said that the Holy One, blessed be He examines the newborn. There is no wicked person in the world who is not examined by the Holy One, blessed be He. And He checks whether that person will ever beget a righteous son or save somebody from Yisrael from a cruel death or do even one good deed. And if the answer is yes, the Holy One, blessed be He, allows him to come out into the world.

420. In the days of Rabbi Yosi, there were bandits who robbed people in the mountains, along with bandits from other nations of the world. When they found someone, they seized him for the purpose of killing him. They said to him, What is your name? If he was a Jew, they accompanied him, bringing him out and away from the mountains. But if he was not a Jew, they killed him. Rabbi Yosi said, Nevertheless, they are yet suitable to enter the World to Come and attain its life.

421. The sages taught that the following three things do not come into the world except through voices: 1) the voice of a woman giving birth, as it is written, "in sorrow shall you bring forth children" (Beresheet 3:16), and "and Elohim hearkened to her" (Beresheet 30:22). 2) The voice of the rains, as it is written, "The voice of Hashem is upon the waters" (Tehilim 29:3) and, "a sound of the rumbling of the rainstorm" (I Melachim 18:41). 3) The voice of the resurrection of the dead, as it is written, "A voice cries...in the wilderness" (Yeshayah 40:3). What is the purpose of the voice in the wilderness? Rabbi Zrika says this voice came to raise the dead of the wilderness. From this we derive that it is true for the whole world. Rabbi Yochanan says we learned that when a man enters the grave he does so with voices. And when they rise at the resurrection of the dead, should they not also rise with great voices?

422. Rabbi Ya'akov said that a divine voice will burst in the graveyards, saying, "Awake and sing, you who dwell in dust" (Yeshayah 26:19), and they will live by the dew of a great supernal light from above, as it is written, "For your dew is as the dew of the herbs ('lights'), and the earth shall cast out the dead" (Yeshayah 26:19). Amen, may it be so. End of Midrash Hane'elam.

423. "And Hashem visited Sarah, as He had said..." This is IN ACCORDANCE WITH what is written, "I will certainly return to you, at this season, and Sarah shall have a son." And we have learned in relation to "visited Sarah," that visitation is related to the female, while remembrance is related to the male. Therefore, IT IS WRITTEN ABOUT SARAH, "And Hashem visited Sarah." AND HASHEM (VAV-YUD HEI VAV HEI) IS THE SECRET OF THE NUKVA, NAMELY HIM AND HIS COURT OF JUDGMENT. The words, "as He had said" REFER TO WHAT is written, "As the time appointed I will return to you..." From this we learn THAT THE VERSE, "And he said, As the time appointed I will return to you..." IS WRITTEN AS "He said," in a general way. Thus, it was he, NAMELY THE NUKVA (WHY "HE," SINCE THE NUVKA IS FEMALE?), WHO "HAD SAID" and not any other messenger. OTHERWISE, HOW COULD IT BE WRITTEN HERE, "AND HASHEM (VAV-YUD HEI VAV HEI) VISITED SARAH, AS HE HAD SAID." WHERE ELSE DID HE SAY THIS?