Shabbos Parashas Vayeira - 5776

Shabbos Parashas Vayeira - 5776

Rabbi Hal Miller

And he lifted his eyes and saw, and behold three men were standing over him. He

perceived, so he ran toward them from the entrances of the tent, and bowed toward

the ground. [Bereishis 18:2]

Avraham "lifted his eyes and saw". What does it mean to lift one's eyes? Why would one

expect to be able to see if the eyes were not "lifted"? Why does the verse continue by

telling us that he "perceived", if it just told us that he "saw"? Our verse is full of questions,

most of them dealing with the three "men" mentioned, but we can also ask what the Torah

intends for us to understand about this business of visual acuity.

Rashi explains the doubled "he saw" and "he perceived", where the first means that

Avraham saw with his eyes, and the second means he understood what he was looking

at. Rashi's explanation is in terms of what the men were doing, but we can further apply

it to Avraham's level of understanding of the intent of G-d.

The verse immediately before ours tells that G-d appeared to Avraham, while the latter

was sitting in his tent in the heat of the day. Avraham had just performed his own

circumcision, and was not in any position to do much else during the hot desert afternoon

than sit there, so the Torah had to be telling us something. We can apply Rashi here to say

that Avraham understood that previous verse once he saw, in our verse, those three men.

This was a test. Would Avraham sit back, on sick-call if you will, and let someone else take

care of the visitors, or would he insist on doing it himself? That's a test that all of us would

like to think we would pass, but it might be close. In Avraham's case, it was more clear.

The men did not approach his tent, but stayed off in the distance, as though they did

not want to bother Avraham. He had to not only get up to feed them, but to run after them

and insist that they come back into the tent. This is not a simple matter of caring for guests,

something we all might do. This was going the extra mile, chasing them down even

though he himself was in pain.

All well and good. But what is this lifting of the eyes? Sforno explains that this means

Avraham concentrated hard on seeing clearly. Rav Hirsch, though, answers this question

with another question. If Avraham was looking at humans, he would not have needed to

concentrate hard. If the men were angels that Avraham was supposed to see, it would

not have taken extra effort. If instead Avraham was looking for G-d, Who had just entered

the tent, that might have taken some more doing. But, Rav Hirsch asks, isn't G-d

everywhere? Why would Avraham have to make an extra effort to see him? He answers,

saying, "G-d's presence is everywhere, but it is not apparent to everybody." He explains

that it is "only after an act of devotion such as Avraham had just performed" that G-d

really became visible to him. Rav Hirsch further explains, "G-d revealed Himself to

Avraham while he was engaged in active work of hospitality," thus explaining what

the act of devotion was.

If we combine Sforno, Rashi and Rav Hirsch, we can answer our questions. It takes

concentration and effort to "see" G-d, to really understand His universe. Most people

don't bother; it's only the few who lift their eyes and look beyond themselves, look beyond

the obvious, who really see. When they do, they not only "see", but "understand". G-d

is everywhere, but if one doesn't look for Him, one will not see him.