Nursing the World

And she said, "Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children, for I have borne a son to his old age!"

                                                                                   Genesis 21:7

            Our Sages raised the question which begs asking: since Sarah gave birth to one son only, why does she speak of nursing children?

            Thus the Babylonian Talmud presents its answer:

“Nurse children” - How many children then did Sarah nurse?  Rabbi Levi said: “On the day that Abraham weaned his son Isaac, he made a great banquet, and all the peoples of the world derided him, saying, 'Have you seen that old man and woman, who brought a foundling from the street, and now claim him as their son! And what is more, they make a great banquet to establish their claim!' What did our father Abraham do? He went and invited all the great men of the age, and our mother Sarah invited their wives. Each one brought her child with her, but not the wet nurse, and a miracle happened with our mother Sarah, her breasts opened like two fountains, and she nursed them all.” [Bava Metzia, 87a]

            Pesikta Rabbati [43] (edited during the Gaonic period) presents the result of Sarah having nursed all the children:

All those who convert to Judaism throughout the world and all God-fearing people within the world are the descendants of those who nursed the milk of Sarah.

            It seems that the comment of Pesikta is connected to the significance of the change of name from Sarai to Sarah [Genesis 17:15], as Midrash Agadda explains:

“You shall not call her name Sarai” – Sarai implies (that she is the mistress) of her nation only, "for Sarah is her name” indicating that (she is mistress) of the entire world.

That is, the name change indicates that our first matriarch will have universal influence. Indeed, according to Pesikta’s comment, Sarah influenced “all those who convert and all God-fearing people,” influence which encompasses the entire world and all of time.