Parshat Vayera 5777
Rabbi Jablinowitz
We read in the very first pasuk in this week's parsha, Vayera Eilav Hashem B'Elonei Mamreh. The pasuk tells us simply that Gd appeared to Avraham Avinu, but it doesn’t tell us of any conversation or reason why Hashem appeared before him. Rashi comments that Gd was visiting the sick since Avraham was recovering from his Bris Milah. No words transpired, just Hashem appearing and being with Avraham Avinu. And immediately afterward we read that Avraham saw the three angels and performed the mitzvah of Hachnasas Orchim. But according to Rashi the first pasuk isn't connected to what comes after (see the Ramban who learns a totally different p'shat connecting the first pasuk with the continuation).
According to Rashi, why do we have this dramatic beginning, this first pasuk, teaching us that Hashem did the mitzvah of Bikur Cholim? While it's significant that we learn from Hashem a significant mitzvah of Gemilus Chasadim, it seems to get lost in the continuation which teaches of the messages delivered by the three angels.
The Sfas Emes learns that the first pasuk is recording a dramatic and significant change which occurred after Avraham Avinu fulfilled the mitzvah of Bris Milah. Before the mitzvah, the holiness of the world was hidden by the physical nature of the world. Only when we look beyond the outer shell and see what's hidden inside the created world are we able to experience the Kedushah of Hashem contained within the world.
This process begins with the individual himself. When Avraham Avinu gave himself a Bris Milah and removed his Orlah, the foreskin in the most physical place in his body, the immediate result was Vayera Eilav Hashem. The holiness of Hashem appeared to him; all the potential of spiritual greatness contained within him and which had been previously hidden now became revealed with the performance of this fundamental mitzvah. According to the Sfas Emes, our parsha begins with a dramatic announcement of the new level Avraham reached with Bris Milah and how it informed his later activities in life, such as encountering the three angels and fathering Yitzchak and passing his ultimate test of Akeidas Yitzchak.
The Sfas Emes teaches this point from the word used in this phrase, Vayera Eilav Hashem, Gd appeared to him. Whenever Gd created anything, the Torah always mentions Vayar Elokim Ki Tov, Gd saw that it was good. The looking, the Re'iyah of Hashem, caused there to be a point of Kedushah in everything which was created. And that point of holiness contained within Avraham from Vayar Elokim Ki Tov was seen by Avraham, Vayera Eilav Hashem, by doing Bris Milah and removing the cover hiding this Kedushah.
Last week's parsha begins with Hashem indicating to Avraham Avinu He will reveal to him the Kedushah contained within Eretz Yisrael. Lech Lecha… el Ha'Aretz Asher Ar'eka. Go to the land which I will show you, i.e. I will reveal to you. For the ultimate Vayar Elokim Ki Tov is contained within Eretz Yisrael. The pasuk in parshat Eikev teaches (Chapter 11, Pasuk 12), Tamid Einei Hashem Elokecha Bah, the eyes of Hashem are constantly on the land of Israel. This infuses a particular Kedushah on Eretz Yisrael. And when Hashem appeared to Avraham a few pasukim into last week's parsha and it says (Chapter 12, Pasuk 7), Vayera Hashem el Avram, the Ramban teaches He was fulfilling the earlier promise of el Ha'Aretz Asher Ar'eka. This fits with the way the Sfas Emes learns. Every time Hashem appears, He is revealing the holiness contained within from His "looking at the world". Whether it's Hashem revealing the Kedushah of Eretz Yisrael established by His intense watching over of Tamid Einei Hashem Elokecha Bah, or whether it's Avraham finding the Kedushah contained within himself, Vayar Elokim es Kol Asher Asah V'Hineh Tov Me'od, and revealing it through Bris Milah.
Good Shabbos
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