A gut voch! As we just read this past Shabbos, Avraham Avinu was a paradigm for chesed and the great mitzvah of hachnasat orchim. B'ezrat Hashem Yitbarach we should try to emulate this middah in the ways of Avraham Avinu. Chazal even tell us that if one does not have the middah of chesed he should be wary because he may not actually come from the line of Avraham.
וַיִּשָּׂא עֵינָיו, וַיַּרְא, וְהִנֵּה שְׁלֹשָׁה אֲנָשִׁים, נִצָּבִים עָלָיו; וַיַּרְא, וַיָּרָץ לִקְרָאתָם מִפֶּתַח הָאֹהֶל, וַיִּשְׁתַּחוּ אָרְצָה
"And Avraham raised his eyes, and he saw, and there three men standing upon him. And he saw, and he ran to greet them from the entrance of the tent, and he bowed to the ground."
Why is there a double usage of the word "va'yar", and he saw? Did Avraham Avinu not see something the first time? What was different the second time he "saw"? Rashi explains thats first Avraham saw the men standing there. Then again he "saw," meaning he realized that they were standing at a distance so as not to trouble him. Upon realizing this he immediatley got up and ran to them. I learned from Rav Moshe Taragin, that similarly the 2nd "va'yar" is not refering to a physical sight. Avraham Avinu looked up and saw men standing there. But he didnt just see them as men standing there. He realized that this meant he had a mitzvah to do. He envisioned that he had to now hurry to do hachnasat orchim. He didn't just see what was before him, but visualized what it meant and what he had to do with it. He was immediatelt mezarez to do this great mitzvah as quickly as possible and ran over to them.
The Medrash (according to R' Levi) says that when the 3 mal'achim came to Avraham Avinu they appeared not only as men, but specifically in the forms of a bread seller, a sailor, and an Arab. The Torah Temimah points out that there seems to be no allusion to any of these in the psukim. He gives his own explanation based on the psukim to resolve this. First, Avraham says to the the greatest of the mal'achim, "Please my lord, if I have found favor in your eyes, pass not from your servant." According to the first interpretation offered by Rashi based on the Gemara in Shvuot, this request is addresed towards the guests as opposed to Hashem. However, the wording which Avraham used, תַעֲבֹר, shows that he appeared to be a sailor. How so? This is implied from the fact that עבר is commonly used by crossing water: "va'yavru b'toch hayam", "va'yavor et haYarden". Secondly, when Avraham offers them water to wash their feet, Rashi comments that he thought them to be Arabs who worshipped the dust of their feet and he didn't want them bring their avodah zarah. Thirdly, Avraham says וְאֶקְחָה פַת-לֶחֶם, "I will fetch (take) a piece of bread." Instead of v'ekcha it should have said v'eten, "I will give." But Avraham saw that one of them was a bread merchant and we learn from here that he was actually offering to buy bread from him if he had any.
It is so amazing to see the great extent to which we should perform this mitzvah. Avraham Avinu paid attention not just to the fact that he had guests whom he could serve but what type of people they were and he acted accordingly! He didn't just see people before him, he envisioned and realized beyond that how he needed to act. This shouldn't be taken lightly at all. The Gemara (Bava Metzia 66b) says: Tana d'bei Rabbi Yishmael- As a reward for three things [that Avraham did, Bnei Yisrael were] zoche to three things. Avraham brought his guests cream and milk; Hashem gave Bnei Yisrael the mann. Avraham stood over them as they sat under the tree eating (עומד עלהים); Hashem gave Bnei Yisrael the Ananai HaKavod (עמוד הענן). Avraham gave them water; Hashem gave Bnei Yisrael the Be'er Miriam.
Avraham Avinu was simply careful to do the mitzvah of Hachnasat Orchim properly to the best of his ability and in merit of this HaKadosh Boruch gave reward to an entire nation of children.
וַיִּשָּׂא עֵינָיו, וַיַּרְא, וְהִנֵּה שְׁלֹשָׁה אֲנָשִׁים, נִצָּבִים עָלָיו; וַיַּרְא, וַיָּרָץ לִקְרָאתָם מִפֶּתַח הָאֹהֶל, וַיִּשְׁתַּחוּ אָרְצָה
Why is there a double usage of the word "va'yar", and he saw? Did Avraham Avinu not see something the first time? What was different the second time he "saw"? Rashi explains thats first Avraham saw the men standing there. Then again he "saw," meaning he realized that they were standing at a distance so as not to trouble him. Upon realizing this he immediatley got up and ran to them. I learned from Rav Moshe Taragin, that similarly the 2nd "va'yar" is not refering to a physical sight. Avraham Avinu looked up and saw men standing there. But he didnt just see them as men standing there. He realized that this meant he had a mitzvah to do. He envisioned that he had to now hurry to do hachnasat orchim. He didn't just see what was before him, but visualized what it meant and what he had to do with it. He was immediatelt mezarez to do this great mitzvah as quickly as possible and ran over to them.
The Medrash (according to R' Levi) says that when the 3 mal'achim came to Avraham Avinu they appeared not only as men, but specifically in the forms of a bread seller, a sailor, and an Arab. The Torah Temimah points out that there seems to be no allusion to any of these in the psukim. He gives his own explanation based on the psukim to resolve this. First, Avraham says to the the greatest of the mal'achim, "Please my lord, if I have found favor in your eyes, pass not from your servant." According to the first interpretation offered by Rashi based on the Gemara in Shvuot, this request is addresed towards the guests as opposed to Hashem. However, the wording which Avraham used, תַעֲבֹר, shows that he appeared to be a sailor. How so? This is implied from the fact that עבר is commonly used by crossing water: "va'yavru b'toch hayam", "va'yavor et haYarden". Secondly, when Avraham offers them water to wash their feet, Rashi comments that he thought them to be Arabs who worshipped the dust of their feet and he didn't want them bring their avodah zarah. Thirdly, Avraham says וְאֶקְחָה פַת-לֶחֶם, "I will fetch (take) a piece of bread." Instead of v'ekcha it should have said v'eten, "I will give." But Avraham saw that one of them was a bread merchant and we learn from here that he was actually offering to buy bread from him if he had any.
It is so amazing to see the great extent to which we should perform this mitzvah. Avraham Avinu paid attention not just to the fact that he had guests whom he could serve but what type of people they were and he acted accordingly! He didn't just see people before him, he envisioned and realized beyond that how he needed to act. This shouldn't be taken lightly at all. The Gemara (Bava Metzia 66b) says: Tana d'bei Rabbi Yishmael- As a reward for three things [that Avraham did, Bnei Yisrael were] zoche to three things. Avraham brought his guests cream and milk; Hashem gave Bnei Yisrael the mann. Avraham stood over them as they sat under the tree eating (עומד עלהים); Hashem gave Bnei Yisrael the Ananai HaKavod (עמוד הענן). Avraham gave them water; Hashem gave Bnei Yisrael the Be'er Miriam.
Avraham Avinu was simply careful to do the mitzvah of Hachnasat Orchim properly to the best of his ability and in merit of this HaKadosh Boruch gave reward to an entire nation of children.
The Gemara (Shabbos 127a) says that Hachnasat Orchim is greater than receiving the Divine Prescence. "גדולה הכנסת אורחים מהקבלת פני שכינה". The Baal Shem Tov zy"a taught that even though this mitzvah can lead to bittul Torah or the speaking of lashon hara, or anything of that sort, nonetheless Hachnasat Orchim is greater.
(Toldot Yaakov Yosef)
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