Vayera 5780
Vayera
I chose to read the verses of Vayera in which Abraham parts from the messengers/angels, and stands alone with God and has this amazing, unprecedented conversation with the Divine – what was the motive, and what the connection to the angels/ messengers
But first, a story of a person who had a radical leaving of all they knew behind. My Grandma, Gussie, Tova Gittel. She was terrified so she went to have her fortune read by a Gypsie, only then would she travel. She crossed the great Atlantic in search of a better life, landed in NYC on Ellis Island, and lived on Delancy street, where she would marry my Grandpa Meyer, a young baker from the same town, and they would blaze a new trail in a new land. I stand on their shoulders. Interestingly, there were no Jewish mystics she could ask for a fortune. Yet our history as a people started with such a renegade, one who took a radical leaving, but aimed for the highest order mystical experience – Avram’s first cause his Lech L’chah, radical leaving to a land that G!d self would show him. But the land was in famine, and promises by G!D of a land and family seemed in vain. More encounters with the Divine – Avram despairs of ever having a land and children, until G!D sends Avram Hachutza – outside to count the stars if you can. Then there’s a prophecy of future slavery, and finally Avram despairs no more, but enters into a Brit Milah – a painful but intense show of bitachon., gets a new name: father! And the Hey of G!ds name added to his What were these mystical experience like for Avram?
I’m taking a course with R’ Orna Tibugoff of Sydney in Kaballah, and this week we studied Angelology of the Pseudepigrapha – some of which were in the name of Abraham. We learned that there was a pattern or recipe: The mystical traveler would aim high – for an encounter with G!D, and often Travelling in the heavenly realms often involved Angel guides messengers on high, sometimes the angels would provide heavely or earthly sustenance – food for the traveller
But Avram’s experiences had always been direct, no angels. Yet he his sitting at the opening of his tent and sees three people approaching. You’re old, recovering, what would you do?
Yet we know what Avram does. Does he know they are angels? What do you Think?
(ג) וַיֹּאמַר אֲדֹנָי אִם נָא מָצָאתִי חֵן בְּעֵינֶיךָ אַל נָא תַעֲבֹר מֵעַל עַבְדֶּךָ:
“He said, ‘My lords, if it please you, do not go on past your servant’” (Gen. 18:3)
“R. Yehuda said in the name of Rav: greater is the mitzvah of receiving guests than even receiving the face of the Shekhinah” (Shabbat 127a).
R’ Jonathan Slater, Institute Jewish Spirituality in the name of Rabbi Meir Leibush … of Bucharest “This means: great is the mitzvah of serving guests, as it is the means by which we might experience the presence of the Shekhinah…
(ח) וַיִּקַּח חֶמְאָה וְחָלָב וּבֶן הַבָּקָר אֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה וַיִּתֵּן לִפְנֵיהֶם וְהוּא עֹמֵד עֲלֵיהֶם תַּחַת הָעֵץ וַיֹּאכֵלוּ:
“He took curds and milk and the calf that had been prepared and set these before them; and he stood over them under the tree and they ate” (Gen. 18:8)
The food that Abraham served them must have been the “angel food” (cf. Ps. 78:25; Mekhilta Vayasa 4; Yoma 75b) to which they were accustomed, the food and blessing that provided their vitality and sustenance. Abraham standing over [as the conduit for the flow of blessing to them] became the vital force and food that sustained them, just like food for people. As it says: “he stood over them – and they ate.”
R’ Jonathan Sacks “Abraham, father of monotheism, knew the paradoxical truth that to live the life of faith is to see the trace of God in the face of the stranger. It is easy to receive the Divine Presence when God appears as God. What is difficult is to sense the Divine Presence when it comes disguised as three anonymous passers-by. That was Abraham’s greatness. He knew that serving God and offering hospitality to strangers were not two things but one.
In one of the most beautiful comments on this episode, Rabbi Shalom of Belz notes that in verse 2, the visitors are spoken of as standing above Abraham (nitzavim alav), while in verse 8, Abraham is described as standing above them (omed aleihem). At first, the visitors were higher than Abraham because they were angels and he a mere human being. But when he gave them food and drink and shelter, he stood even higher than the angels.
Is it any wonder that Abraham who knew that G!d’s face could be seen in the face of the stranger would try to change the unfairness of the world –. Here’s his chance not just to experience the Divine but he will risk his own life in this famous dialogue – after the angels leave him standing alone with G!d
The contrast with is with S’dom itself – what is their crime (abusing strangers for fun)
I don’t know if I agree with R’ Sacks about Abraham as the father of monotheism – more the father of ethical theism. The world can be harsh – last year the 737 max that crashed took the souls of many of the UN’s best and brightest souls. And hurricanes, tornados don’t distinguish and it’s not fair that the wicked and the righteous be treated the same!
So why does Abraham risk his life for the strangers of S’dom? And what is the nature of his querries?
Is it an argument
A negotiation,
Or honest questions to plumb more deeply the nature of G!d
A Rabbi Joe Black mashup – Ayecha and Shalom Alechem
Abraham will encounter an angel one more time in his life, and it will be the last Divine encounter.
Walking hand in hand upon the mountain
Weighted down by lumber and a knife
Abraham remembers Sarah’s laughter, and for a moment he fears for Isaac’s life
But he shudders with the wind, fills his head with faith, struggles with a different point of view. He reaches deep inside to find the handle of the blade
Abraham, G!d screams, where are you?
Ayecha, where are you, are you hiding from your fate or from your sin
Ayecha, where are you, for the answer to G!d’s question lies within.
How could he know that the song he wrote, would mean so much to her
Who was it told him where to put that note in a place the soul could stir
Every action has an impact, it lingers in the air
A word, a glance a touch comes through in answer to a prayer
All I know is, we relinquish any ownership or claim to any words of insight we provide in heaven’s name
We could not contain it no matter how we try
We are merely messengers, messenger on high
Shalom alechem…
Thank you Rabbi Joe, you’ve been a malach!
Miryam's Space 