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Vayeira "Hashem appeared to him... while he was sitting in his tent in the heat of the day" (18:1). The Torah calls Noach a tzadik, and Avraham is known as a chasid - a higher level. How is a chasid greater than a tzadik? Noach cared for the animals every day, but if there had been an automatic feeding and waste disposal system available in his day, he would have gladly installed it. It was important to Noach that the job be done - it's a dirty job, but someone has to do it! Avraham's attitude was: I want to do the mitzva, it's not enough that the job will get done! We see this from Rashi on the first verse of this week's Parsha: Hashem made the day exceedingly hot so that no travelers should venture out and disturb Avraham on this third day after his bris, the most painful day. However, Avraham had more pain from not being able to do the mitzvah of welcoming guests than from the pain of the mila! Hashem saw that this was Avraham's major source of pain, and sent angels who looked like travelers so that Avraham could fulfill the mitzvah. This is the level of the chasid - he wants to do chesed (acts of loving-kindness), as our Sages teach us "the world will be built on chesed." (Based on Rabbi Eliyahu Dessler) "For I have loved him (Avraham), because he commands his children and his household after him that they keep the way of Hashem..." (18:19). The way of Hashem is to do both Justice and Righteousness (charity). It is never sufficient to do just one and ignore the other. The Alter of Slobodka, R' Nosson Tzvi Finkel, one of the founders of the Mussar movement, would say: "The Torah states here the causes of the relationship between Avrohom and Hashem. Not the belief in Hashem's existence and unity which Avrohom was the first to spread in the world. Rather, the Torah refers to Avrohom's teaching his children to go in the ways of righteousness and justice. This was the real focal point of his persona, and what Hashem really wanted." Our Sages promise that if someone is a Torah scholar, and both his son and grandson are also Torah scholars, then the Torah, like a guest who constantly comes back to stay at the same hotel, will never leave that family. Given this promise, a great Rabbi of a previous generation was asked why it was that so many Jews have lost their connection to Torah - for since our forefathers Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov were all Torah scholars, it should be that the Torah should never have become estranged from their progeny. The Rabbi answered with an experience of his own: "Once I was travelling from place to place selling a scholarly work that I had authored. I arrived at a town I knew well and knocked on the door of the boarding house where I always stayed. There was no answer. So I turned around and looked for other lodgings. The Torah would tell you the same story - She knocks on doors and cries out 'Open up for me! Let me come in!' But seeing as no-one answers and no-one opens the door for her, she seeks other lodgings..." When the Torah knocks, all we have to do is to open up our doors! (Adapted from the Chafetz Chaim) "Sarah saw the son of Hagar (Yishmael)... playing" (21:9). Rashi explains that Yishmael's playing involved immorality, idol worship, and murder. To the truly evil, these unspeakable crimes are mere child's play. (Chidushei HaRim) "I shall bless you and increase your seed like the stars of the heaven and the sand of the seashore; and your descendants shall inherit the gate of their enemies" (22:17). Although Hashem had already pledged to Avraham that the Jewish People would be a great and multitudinous nation, the added dimension here was that, as a reward for his willingness to sacrifice his son, no sin by his offspring would ever result in their total annihilation or permanent subjugation. Since Avraham was prepared to sacrifice nationhood for the sake of Hashem, therefore Hashem rewarded him with a guarantee of the immortality of that nation. (Based on the Ramban) "I shall bless you …like the stars of the heaven and the sand of the seashore;" (22:17). When Israel ignores Hashem, and turn away from His mitzvos, they are like the sand of the seashore, trampled under foot by all. But if they fulfil Hashem's will, then they are lofty, mighty and exalted like the stars of the heavens, and no nation, however mighty, can dominate them. (Medrash Or HaAfelah) |
