Let’s start at the end of the Parsha. When Yitzchak finishes burying his father Avraham, he travels to a place called Beer Lechai Roee. This is not where we would expect. Though the patriarchs traveled around the land of Canaan, they generally lived in one of two places: Chevron or Beer Sheva. And yet, despite Yitzchak burying Avraham in Chevron, he goes elsewhere. Why?

Let’s move one step backward. Earlier in this week’s Parsha, we see another reference to Yitzchak and Beer Lechai Roee. When Rivkah goes with Avraham’s servant to marry Yitzchak, Yitzchak is coming from Beer Lechai Roee. What was he doing? What was there that he was coming from? Rashi explains that actually, Hagar was there. Yitzchak went to bring Hagar back to Avraham following the death of Sarah. What was Hagar doing there?

Now we must go back to the first mention of Beer Lechai Roee. Let’s go back to Parshat Lech Lecha. To before Yitzchak and before Yishmael. Back when Sarah was Sarai, and Hagar was pregnant. As Hagar ran away due to the mistreatment of Sarai, she ran to a well, where an Angel of God tells her that God heard her pain, and promised her a son who would be the progenitor of a nation. The text continues: “And she called the name of the Lord that spoke to her, You are a God of seeing; for she said: ‘Have I even here seen Him that sees Me?’ So, the well was called Beer Lechai Roee; it is between Kadesh and Bered.”

Beer Lechai Roee has a foundational connection to Hagar and Yishmael. It is why Rashi believes that going to Beer Lechai Roee means going to Hagar. And perhaps it is why Yitzchak moves there after Avraham’s death – because that is where his only remaining family is.

We get the impression from the text of the Torah that Ishmael was not a righteous man, but that is not necessarily true. After all, it is his cries that are answered when Yishmael and Hagar are sent away by Avraham. Quite a few Midrashim assume Ishmael’s general righteousness.

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And so, when Avraham is buried, and Yitzchak leaves Chevron, it is possible that he goes and rejoins his brother. Despite the playful bullying that led to their separation. Despite the animosity of their mothers. As sons of Avraham, as believers in God and righteous people, they found a way to live together. Even as their personal and national destinies diverge, even as Yitzchak eventually leaves, the two brothers remain connected through their connection to Avraham and God.

Rabbi Eliezer Finkelstein serves Congregation Bais Abraham and is a member of the St. Louis Rabbinical and Cantorial Association, which coordinates the d’var Torah for the Jewish Light.