By Rabbi Nuriel Zargari
ותאמר שרי אל אברם הנה נא עצרני ה’ מלדת בא נא אל שפחתי אולי אבנה ממנה וישמע אברם לקול שרי [טז ב]
”And Sarai said to Avram; see now Hashem has restrained me from bearing, consort now with my maidservant perhaps I will be built up through her, and Avram heeded the voice of Sarai’.”
Rashi explains that Sara felt that in the merit of bringing her maidservant to Avraham to marry, she would be zoche to a child. To understand what generated the big zechut that Hashem should bless them with a child after all these years, the sefer Ohel Moshe explains that it’s because she was mevater (she was able to concede to someone else). By bringing in another woman to her husband, which is against the nature of humans, she broke her nature. This zechut worked for her to be zoche to a child. This is a lesson for us on the great power and segula of being mevater (conceding to others), with it a person can be zocheh to tremendous brachah.
The story is told that during the 1967 war in Israel, the scuds were raining down nonstop, everybody crammed into bomb shelters terrified of what the outcome would be. When they finally got out safely, R. Chaim Shmulevits zt’l said “don’t think it was our zechutim that saved us.”
There was a lady in our bomb shelter; she is an aguna whose husband left her in her younger years with five little children, the oldest only 7 without any financial help. One night the Jordanians were raining down scuds very close to the Mir yeshiva. The whole ground was shaking, everybody thought the end was near and then I heard this lady crying to Hashem and this is what she said ”Master of the world, I am sure that on the day of judgment I have a big claim against my husband for leaving me alone with small children. I had to clean houses to put food on the table, but let’s make a deal. I am willing to forgive my husband and ignore all the pain and suffering I endured and you Hashem forgive us for all our sins and may we all walk out of here safe and sound.” You should know, said R Chaim, that it was her being mevater to her husband that saved us all. This is the power of being mevater.