By Michael R. Mantell, Ph.D.
Radical Chesed…Kol Yisroel Chaverim.
Are you open to holiness in your life? If so, how open are you? This week’s parasha, Vayeira, filled with abundant trials, passions and complications of family and communal life, can be a guide to doing just that. After all, it begins, “Now the Lord appeared to him (Avraham) in the plains of Mamre, and he was sitting at the entrance of the tent when the day was hot.”
What’s an entrance to a tent have to do with being open to holiness? Rabbi Elimelech of Lishensk teaches that the word ohel, “tent,” gives us a hint to answer this question. He tells us that the mishkan, the dwelling place for Hashem, is referred to as ha-ohel, “the tent.” Avraham was sitting at the entrance, the petach, of the tent, open to holy encounters with Hashem. Just as we can daily in our own lives.
The link is what we think. Do we think that strangers we come across in our daily lives are the face of Hashem? Do we think of others as messengers of the Divine? The woman who helped me this morning obtain my Real ID at the DMV was as much a messenger of God as those whom Avraham welcomed into his tent…from all four sides.
The Talmud teaches the following principle: “Welcoming guests is greater than welcoming the presence of the Shechinah” (Shabbat 127). There sat Avraham at his tent when Hashem, Rashi tells us, comes to visit him as Avraham was recovering from his brit milah. Just as Avraham experiences this Divine revelation, he sees three people coming towards his tent. What does he do? The parasha tells us, “And he lifted his eyes and saw, and behold, three men were standing beside him, and he saw, and he ran toward them from the entrance of the tent, and he prostrated himself to the ground. And he said, ‘My lords, if only I have found favor in your eyes, please do not pass on from beside your servant.’” Rashi suggests that Avraham was speaking to Hashem, “and he was telling the Holy One, blessed be He, to wait for him until he would run and bring in the wayfarers.” Avraham Avinu gave up on his spiritual transcendence to welcome his guests, feed them, and bring them something to drink. They were later referred to as malachim, angels. Let us remember that Avraham’s life was dedicated to giving to others. We learn in this week’s Torah of Avraham’s desire to judge even the wicked people of Sodom favorably – by giving them “the benefit of the doubt.”
Can you imagine you making the decision, to part with your own Divine revelation in favor of performing chesed, kindness, for…strangers? Avraham wasn’t fearful of these strangers as we might be if we saw three people approaching our backyards. Avraham’s chesed was not simply coming from the psychology of giving in to the difficulty of seeing another’s despair, but rather from a deep, genuine, authentic mindset of always wanting only what is best for another. Avraham was always on the lookout for opportunities to do chesed. He deferred his own personal spiritual delight of Divine revelation for “radical chesed.” He is the pillar of chesed in this world.
Perhaps this is, in part, what caused Hashem to pick Avraham Avinu to enter into an eternal covenant with Him. Look inside this pasuk from the parasha for a hint. “For I have known him because he commands his sons and his household after him, that they should keep the way of the Lord to perform righteousness and justice, in order that the Lord bring upon Avraham that which He spoke concerning him.”
Avraham, it seems, is known to Hashem to be able to create a community filled with acceptance, chesed, genuine warmth and love for all that would be self-sustaining and perpetuating and preserve His message. Can you imagine such a magnificent community?
The way we welcome those we do not know, who are anonymous to us, defines who we are – it certainly does not define the other – and delineates how others view us, our community, our synagogue, our organizations.
Rabbi Yisrael Salanter (1810-1883), the founder of the Musar movement in Lithuanian yeshivot, held, “The material needs of others are my spiritual needs.” Want to create radical chesed in your community, in your shul, in your life? Internalize the words of this Musar giant, and you will be gifted with the ability to do so. The world needs this now.
No, Avraham’s hospitality, revolutionary as it was, doesn’t come naturally. For so many, their tents don’t have four open sides, they don’t even have one open door or window. Their tents are locked. But with the mindset that a guest might just be a visiting angel, a messenger of Hashem, someone with the potential to bring holiness into our lives, we can more easily open our homes, our lives, to others and see with compassion beyond the outside to that which lies within.
Rav Avraham Kook in Erpalei Tohar 107, informs us, “If we truly look at the good side of every individual, we will develop an inherent affection for them without having to lie to ourselves about their bad traits. This is because if we take an interest in the good in them that we encounter constantly, this will truly conceal from us all their bad traits…” He also declares, “Faith and love are the essence of our lives in this world and in the next.”
Don’t we perceive this in the behavior of Avraham? He treats strangers as beloved friends. His ability to “see” deeply within others beyond the surface is unparalleled. By regarding people in this way, we see Hashem, albeit in a somewhat filtered manner. And look at the good that comes from this “seeing.” Avraham and Sarah receive a message that they are going to have a child, Avraham receives healing from his circumcision, and then there is the seeing of Hagar.
Hagar was wandering with her son, Ishmael, when Hashem notices their distress. An angel comes to Hagar and what does the angel do? The angel “opens her eyes.” Asks the Ramban, what does it mean to have our eyes opened? He tells us that when the angel opened Hagar’s eyes, she saw the water that would save her life and saw a vista of a hopeful future.
This week, may we receive the blessing of being able to follow in the footsteps of Avraham’s radical openness and of having our eyes clearly open to a well of hope, to see the depth of Hashem’s messengers throughout our daily lives.
Shabbat Shalom
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Michael R. Mantell, Ph.D., prepares a weekly D’var Torah for Young Israel of San Diego, where he and his family are members. They are also active members of Congregation Adat Yeshurun. He may be contacted via michael.mantell@sdjewishworld.com