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How did Yishmael achieve teshuva (תשובה) for gilui arayos, shefichas damim, and avodah zarah merely by giving Yitzchok precedence at Avrohom's burial? The shiur explains that all of Yishmael's sins stemmed from a single root cause: his displacement as Avrohom's heir. Once he accepted Yitzchok's worthiness, the underlying issue resolved and his aberrant behavior ceased—teaching that true teshuva addresses root causes, not just symptoms.
The shiur opens with a striking question from Rashi (רש"י) on Chayei Sarah. The Torah (תורה) states that "Yitzchok and Yishmael buried him," placing Yitzchok before Yishmael despite Yishmael being the older brother. Rashi cites Chazal that this demonstrates Yishmael did teshuva (תשובה) and allowed Yitzchok to go before him. The difficulty is glaring: the Torah records that Yishmael's sins included gilui arayos (sexual immorality), shefichas damim (murder), and avodah zarah (idolatry). How can merely showing kavod to a younger brother constitute genuine teshuva for such grave transgressions? Rabbi Zweig builds his answer by first establishing Yishmael's original spiritual stature. The Torah records that when Hashem (ה׳) promised Avrohom a son named Yitzchok, Avrohom responded, "Lu Yishmael yichyeh lefanecha"—may Yishmael live before You. This cannot be dismissed as paternal bias. Avrohom Avinu's defining characteristic was his intelligence and objectivity. If he suggested Yishmael as the continuation of the Jewish people, it must be that Yishmael was genuinely worthy of that role. We also know that three days after his bris milah, Yishmael was helping with hachnasas orchim, demonstrating righteousness. So the question becomes even sharper: how did such a promising heir degenerate into gilui arayos, shefichas damim, and avodah zarah?
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Parshas Chayei Sarah, Bereishis 25:9
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