Parshas Vayeira
It was the third day after Avraham’s circumcision. Knowing that Avraham would always go out of his way to extend hospitality and wanting to save him the effort on this painful day, G-d brought out the fierce midday desert sun, so that no traveler would venture out on a journey and Avraham would be spared the effort of entertaining guests.
But G-d’s plan backfired. What about people who set out on their journey yesterday when it was cool, Avraham worried. Perhaps they are now stranded in the desert without food and water? Who will take care of them? So Avraham sat at the front door of his tent braving the scorching sun and scanning the horizon for victims of heat exhaustion. Rather than stay home because it was cooler for him inside, he ran outdoors to save those for whom it was too hot outside.
“Avraham lifted his eyes and he saw” (Bereishis 18:2). Why the double expression? Wouldn’t it be enough to just say “he saw three people?”
But seeing people is passive. Looking for people is active. When the elders of the city bring a sacrifice to atone for the tragedy of a corpse found near their city, they say, “Our hands have not spilled this blood. We didn’t see anything” (Devarim 21:7). If they did not see anyone leaving their city alone without protection, why are they in need of atonement? The answer is that unlike Avraham, they didn’t look to see who might need help.
He saw three men standing over him, “nitzavim alav” (Bereishis 18:2). The word “nitzav” denotes someone of rank. The high commissioner of Palestine during the mandate period was called Hanitzav Ha’elyon. And the head of police in Israel today is called Nitzav. So why are these straggling wanderers in need of charity referred to in this exalted manner?
It is because they are the ones affording Avraham the opportunity of the great mitzvah of hospitality. So great is that mitzvah that it takes precedence over welcoming G-d himself. And so we see that Avraham, who was in the midst of a conversation with G-d (18:1), excuses himself and asks G-d to stand by and wait while he attends to the needs of his guests (18:3). G-d waits patiently until the guests are gone and only then does He resume his conversation with Avraham. (18:13).
“Let some water be brought and wash your feet.” Rashi explains that people crossing the desert would worship the sandy mud that stuck to their feet because it created a protective barrier against the scorching sand. We know that idolatry began with man’s appreciation for the wonders of nature but soon turned into the worship of nature itself, rather than the creator of nature. By washing away the sand on their feet, Avraham was testing the three travelers to see if they would raise any objection to the removal of the mud that many of them worshiped. If they wouldn’t object, he knew they were candidates for conversion to monotheism. Having passed that test, he could nourish their heart by explaining to them that gratitude for the food they ate was not owed to Avraham, but to G-d. That is why the word “libchem” – your heart – is written in the singular and not levavchem, in the plural. Having rejected idolatry, they now had one heart, the Yetzer Hatov, which would be receptive to Avraham’s teachings rather than two hearts, one of which, the Yetzer Harah, would be hostile to Avraham’s message.
“Ki al ken avartem al avdechem.” Avraham tells the three wanderers that their meeting with him was not accidental. It was a meeting destined by G-d to happen. When people meet others who cause them to change their ways of life and become ba’alei teshuvah, those were not random meetings. They were planned by G-d in advance to give the person the opportunity to have a meaningful life.
We are told that the encounter between Avraham and the three travelers took place on Pesach (Bava Metziah 86a) and that the “ugos,” the cakes that Sarah baked for them, were matzot. Here again the power of hospitality had its magical effect. Years later, when the angels argued with G-d and claimed that the Jews were no better than the Egyptians and did not deserve to be rescued from their oppressors, G-d remembered the matzot that Sarah baked for the wayfarers and this good deed tipped the balance in favor of the Exodus.