vayera

The posuk says וישב אברהם אל נעריו, And אברהם returned to his young men. The Midrash Rabba brings down the chazal that asks, where was יצחק? Why didn't he return with אברהם? Rav says in the name of Rav Chanan that אברהם sent him off to the yeshiva of שם to learn. The Midrash compares it to a woman who became rich from spinning thread on her spindle. She says, inasmuch as I became rich through this spindle, it shall never leave my possession. So too, אברהם said all that I have, and all the trials that I passed, I was only able to do because of the Torah and mitzvos.  I don't want that to ever be missing from my descendants, so he sent him off to learn.

Wouldn't you think that after the trauma of bringing him up as a korban, and nearly losing him, he would just take him home, show his mother he's ok, spend time with him and teach him himself?  
It says earlier in the parsha that Sara told אברהם to banish Yishmael from their house. וירע הדבר מאד בעיני אברהם, It was bad in the eyes of  אברהם, and he didn't want to send him away. Then 'ה said to him, כל אשר תאמר אליך שרה שמע בקלה,  listen to whatever שרה tells you. The דרש דוד raises a few questions on this story. First, if it's as Rashi says, and he was committing the three cardinal sins, and that's why she wanted him out, then why would אברהם want him around? Also, Rashi comments that when it says to listen to her, it meant to her רוח הקודש. Why did he need Sara's רוח הקודש to tell him to banish Yishmael if he was committing these sins?  Also, when he was dying of thirst, the malachim said to 'ה why are You saving someone whose descendants in the future will kill your children with thirst? And 'ה said, I only judge by how one is now and now he's a tzaddik. If he had committed the cardinal sins, how could he be a tzaddik?

To explain this, we must say that he was a tzaddik and didn't commit the sins. So now, why did Sara say to banish him? דרש דוד answers that although he didn't commit the sins yet, the stirrings were in his heart and he was looking to commit them. It was only a matter of time, and that's what Sara saw with her רוח הקודש, and that's why אברהם didn't see, because Yishmael hadn’t done anything yet. The Torah is teaching us that in order for יצחק to be the one to follow in אברהם's footsteps, he needed to have a pure home and upbringing without any negative influences. Maybe that's why he sent him straight from the עקידה, for he knew how important it was for יצחק to go to learn, and didn't want him to be with Yishmael for even one second. 
This week has unfortunately been a very heartbreaking and sad one. First, two boys on their way back to yeshiva were tragically taken from us. Then, the very next day we lost a great rosh yeshiva. People have been asking each other, what does 'ה want from us? What is He trying to tell us? For us there really are no answers. However, maybe we can take a lesson from אברהם, that after his greatest trial he said that more important than anything else is learning the Torah without distraction and negative influences. Let's all commit to strengthen our studying of the Torah, which in turn will change us for the better, showing 'ה that we're listening and we don't need any more messages!