Is parental love always unselfish?

"When the water in the skin was consumed, she cast the lad beneath one of the trees. She went and sat herself down at a distance . . . for she said, 'Let me not see the death of the child.'” — Genesis 21:15-16

This episode of Hagar and Ishmael arouses some very distressing feelings. As Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch says:

''Hagar's whole behavior is extremely characteristic and reveals the shortcoming, the imperfection, of the Hamitic character. A Jewish mother would not have forsaken her child, even if all she could do would be to try to pacify him, even if it were only to soothe him for the millionth part of a second. To go away, just because 'one cannot bear to see the misery' is not sympathetic feeling for another but is the cruel egoism of a human nature which is still crude. In truly humane people, the feelings of duty master the strongest emotions, make one forget one's own painful feelings and give helpful assistance even if one can do no more than provide the comfort of one's caring presence."

Click on the link below for the full article:

http://jewishworldreview.com/twerski/twerski_vayera.php3