Shabbos Parashas Vayeira - 5775
Shabbos Parashas Vayeira - 5775
Rabbi Hal Miller Hashem appeared to him in Eilonei Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance of the tent in the heat of the day. [Bereishis 18:1]
Our verse makes it sound like G-d just happened to be in the neighborhood and
just dropped in on Avraham. What does it mean that He 'appeared' to Avraham?
Where is Eilonei Mamre? Why did G-d set things up so that His meeting with Avraham would be interrupted by the appearance of angels? What was the purpose of His visit?
Onkelos notes that Eilon is usually translated terebinth, which is a tree. But here Onkelos explains it as 'plain'. Rashi identifies it as Shechem. Others refer to the idea of 'tree', and translate it as 'grove'. The real question here is why did the Torah tell us where G-d appeared, wherever it might have been?
Mamre was a non-Jewish friend of Avraham. By staying near his friend, Avraham was honoring him. By having his surgery there, and spending his recovery time there, Avraham was making a statement that G-d is everywhere, including in the fields/plains/groves of non-Jews. Additionally, this area was part of the area that G-d promised Avraham for his eventual national homeland, so any connection to G-d would likely be stronger there.
Shortly after G-d appeared to Avraham, the angels approach. Avraham excuses himself from the Divine presence to go deal with his new visitors. That seems, on the surface, to be a misprioritization. The commentators tell us that this explains
that the commandment of hospitality is more important that the commandment of
prayer. Is that really enough of an answer? Would you have jumped out of your chair and left G-d cooling His heels while you went to serve some unknown passersby?
The Torah does not directly tell us anything about the nature of G-d's visit. Why did He come to Avraham at all? Leaving aside the issue of anthropomorphism
(G-d does not 'come', 'sit', etc.) how are we to understand a visit from the Maker of the Universe, without explanation?
The Rambam and others explain the appearance as a title to the following story, rather than an event within itself. Some understand the angels to be a physical manifestation of G-d. Nechama Leibowitz disagrees with this position, since the following verses say after the angels have left, "But Avraham stood yet before the L-rd", which indicates that G-d was still in Avraham's tent after the angels were gone. She then asks a crucial question. At no point in the Torah does G-d appear to someone, in any form, without either giving a specific message or commandment. At first glance, it would appear here to be the case. Leibowitz ties the appearance not to the secondary visit of the angels, but to the preceding issue, the circumcision. Since Avraham followed the commandment, G-d was willing to 'come down' to see him. From this we learn the mitzvah of bikur cholim, visiting the sick. This opinion sees the secondary visit of the angels as just that, an unconnected event.
Radak tells us that the reason for the visit was just to inform Avraham of what G-d planned to do to Sdom and the other cities of the plain of Mamre.
It seems that G-d had multiple purposes for His visit to Avraham. We learn the commandment regarding visiting the sick. We see something of the holiness of the
land where Avraham was, and that this land rejects people who are not living up to the standards of that holiness. We learn the importance of hospitality to other people, even at the expense of our own agenda. We learn the importance of respect toward
others, including non-Jews, who merit that respect. We learn that things are not always as they first appear, and we need to look carefully into what is going on around us. Pretty busy visit...