Parashah Vayera
Genesis 18:1-22:24
This parashah is called Vayera, which means "And he saw." Adonai appeared to him at Mamre’s large trees while he was sitting in the entrance of his tent during the heat of the day. When he lifted up his eyes to see, suddenly, three men were standing right by him. When he saw them, he ran from the entrance of his tent to meet them and bowed down to the ground. Then he said, “My Lord, if now I have found favor in your eyes, please do not pass by your servant. Please let a little water be brought so you can wash your feet and make yourselves comfortable under the tree. And let me bring a bit of bread so that you can refresh yourselves—then you can pass on—since you have passed by your servant. The Sages tell us that this was the third day since Abraham had circumcised himself. Doctors confirm that the third day is the most painful day, yet he ran to serve these three "Strangers."
Although told to only do as he had said, that was, "to wash their feet and give them a bit of bread," Abraham actually served them a fine meal.
Notice that this meal did not follow the dietary laws of not eating meat with dairy. But this practice wasn't put into play until the Temples were destroyed and the Rabbinic authority created several interpretations and practices...
Here these "Strangers demonstrate their Divine nature. First by knowing the name of Abraham's wife and her barren state. Then, knowing of Sarah's laughter, although they weren't close enough to have heard it.
Finally, we see that among these three Divine Beings, One is actually Adonai! And this is where we see this well-known mystery play out. When Adonai tells Abraham that He has come to judge and to destroy Sodom, the city where his nephew lives, Abraham begins the very Jewish practice of arguing with G-d.
“Will you really sweep away the righteous with the wicked? Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city. Will you really sweep away and not spare the place for the sake of fifty righteous who are in it? Far be it from You to do such a thing—to cause the righteous to die with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked share the same fate! Far be it from You! Shall the Judge of the whole world not exercise justice?”
And we see how this salvation for the 50 righteous is reduced and reduced and reduced, over and over until Adonai relents for the sake of 10. We soon see that there are not even ten righteous people in this condemned city. But, it is from Abraham's adamant argument that today, in order to study Torah, and even to pray certain prayers, we must have a minion, 10 assumed righteous souls.
Although we have seen Lot earlier as a man looking out for himself, once he had lived in Sodom for a while, he knew that two strange men sleeping in the open plaza would not end well.
Fortunately, the Divine Strangers submitted to Lot, actually we also learn that this happened on Passover. When they came into his house, he prepared a feast for them and they baked Matzot, the unleavened bread required of all of Israel on this single week of the year.
As Lot expected, the entire gall the men of the city came to demand of Lot to send out the Strangers so they might "know" them carnally. Back & forth Lot argued until, he offered his two virgin daughters these men. But the perverted man of Sodom had no interest in young women.
When it got so heated that the Divine Strangers had to strike the attackers blind & tell Lot exactly what was going on; that G-d had sent Them to destroy the city & everyone living in it.
They had Lot go get the men engaged to his daughters, but they wouldn't leave their comfortable lifestyle.
Early the next morning, the Angels of HaShem rushed Lot, his wife, whose name we never learn and his two daughters to get out of the city lest they be destroyed with the rest. He tells them to escape to the hills. It should come as no surprise that Lot wants to negotiate a better deal. Rather than going to the hills, he wants to go to a small nearby town. The Angel's relent with a firm word to go right there, and not look back...
The Angels could not start their mission until Lot & his family had arrived in Zoar, which means little or insignificant. On the way, his wife, who it seems is a lot like her husband, disobeyed the one instruction given. She looked back, and was immediately turned to a pillar of salt...
Now Abraham woke early in the morning, as was his practice, and he stood in the very spot where he had stood with Adonai.
As he looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah, he saw only smoke covering the entire area. The smoke was like that from a furnace.
So, Lot went to the small town of Zoar as he requested, but he wasn't satisfied there. So, he took his two adult daughters and lived in a cave. Oy va voy!!! The older one told her sister, "Our father is old, and there is no man in the land to come to us as is the custom of the whole land. 32 Come on! Let’s make our father drink wine so that we can lie with him and keep the seed from our father alive. 33 So they made their father drink wine that night, and the firstborn came and lay down with her father. Lot was so drunk he had no idea what they had done. The firstborn has a son whom she named Moab. He is the ancestor of the Moabites who caused Israel so much tzuris (trouble). The younger one had a son also, and named him Ben-Ammi, the ancestor of the Amorites, another troublesome foe of the Israelites.
Chapter 20 opens with Abraham moving south into the Negev and settled between Kadesh & Shur, which are two well-defined desert areas. He was dwelling as an outsider in Gerar, where he said of Sarah, she is my sister. So, King Abimelech of Gerar sent for and took Sarah. But G-d came to Abimelech in a dream and said to him, “Behold, you are as good as dead, because of the woman whom you have taken—since she is a married woman.” Now Abimelech had not come near her. So, he said, “My Lord, will You slay a nation, even though innocent? Didn’t he say to me, ‘She’s my sister’? And she herself even said, ‘He’s my brother.’ I did this with integrity of my heart and guiltlessness of my hands.” So, Abraham gets Sarah back, untouched by any man but himself. And, to ensure that G-d would not retaliate for his mishap, Abimelech gave Abraham a lot of sheep & cattle & male slaves & female slaves to Abraham.
Chapter 21 opens with what should be of no surprise. Sarah gives birth, just as Adonai had said.
Abraham circumcised Isaac, whose name means Laughter, on his eighth day just as Adonai had instructed.
Chapter 22 opens with Adonai speaking out to Abraham as a test.
This parashah is called Vayera, which means "And he saw." Adonai appeared to him at Mamre’s large trees while he was sitting in the entrance of his tent during the heat of the day. When he lifted up his eyes to see, suddenly, three men were standing right by him. When he saw them, he ran from the entrance of his tent to meet them and bowed down to the ground. Then he said, “My Lord, if now I have found favor in your eyes, please do not pass by your servant. Please let a little water be brought so you can wash your feet, and make yourselves comfortable under the tree. 5 And let me bring a bit of bread so that you can refresh yourselves—then you can pass on—since you have passed by your servant.
The Sages tell us that this was the third day since Abraham had circumcised himself. Doctors confirm that the third day is the most painful day, yet he RAN to serve these three "strangers."
Although told to only do as he had said, that was, "to wash their feet and give them a bit of bread," Abraham actually served them a fine meal. Notice that this meal did not follow the dietary laws of not eating meat with dairy. But this practice wasn't put into play until the Temples were destroyed and the Rabbinic authority created several interpretations and practices...
Here these "Strangers demonstrate their Divine nature. First by knowing the name of Abraham's wife and her barren state. Then, knowing of Sarah's laughter, although they weren't close enough to have heard it.
Finally, we see that among these three Divine Beings, One is actually Adonai! And this is where we see this well-known mystery play out. When Adonai tells Abraham that He has come to judge and to destroy Sodom, the city where his nephew lives, Abraham begins the very Jewish practice of arguing with G-d. “Will you really sweep away the righteous with the wicked? 24 Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city. Will you really sweep away and not spare the place for the sake of fifty righteous who are in it? 25 Far be it from You to do such a thing—to cause the righteous to die with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked share the same fate! Far be it from You! Shall the Judge of the whole world not exercise justice?”
And we see how this salvation for the 50 righteous is reduced and reduced and reduced, over and over until Adonai relents for the sake of 10. We soon see that there are not even ten righteous in this condemned city. But, it is from Abraham's adamant argument that today, in order to study Torah, and even to pray certain prayers, we must have a minion, 10 assumed righteous soles..
Although we have seen Lot earlier as a man looking out for himself, once he had lived in Sodom for a while he knew that two strange men sleeping in the open plaza would not end well.
Fortunately, the Divine Strangers submitted to Lot, Actually, we also learn that this happened on Passover. When they came into his house, he prepared a feast for them and they baked Matzot, the unleavened bread required of all of Israel on this single week of the year.
As Lot expected, the entire gall the men of the city came to demand of Lot to send out the Strangers so they might "know" them carnally. Back & forth Lot argued until, he offered his two virgin daughters these men. But the perverted man of Sodom had no interest in young women.
When it got so heated that the Divine Strangers had to strike the attackers blind & tell Lot exactly what was going on; that G-d had sent Them to destroy the city & everyone living in it.
They had Lot go get the men engaged to his daughters, but they wouldn't leave their comfortable lifestyle.
Early the next morning, the Angels of HaShem rushed Lot, his wife, whose name we never learn, and his two daughters to get out of the city lest they be destroyed with the rest. He tells them to escape to the hills. It should come as no surprise that Lot wants to negotiate a better deal. Rather than to the hills, he wants to go to a small nearby town. The Angel's relent with a firm word to go right there, and not look back...
The Angels could not start their mission until Lot & his family had arrived in Zoar, which means little or insignificant. On the way, his wife, who it seems is a lot like her husband, disobeyed the one instruction given. She looked back and was immediately turned to stone...
Now Abraham woke early in the morning, as was his practice, and he stood in the very spot where he had stood with Adonai.
As he looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah, he saw only smoke covering the entire area. The smoke was life that from a furnace.
So, Lot went to the small town of Zoar as he requested, but he wasn't satisfied there. So, he took his two adult daughters and lived in a cave. Oy va voy!!! The older one told her sister, "Our father is old, and there is no man in the land to come to us as is the custom of the whole land. 32 Come on! Let’s make our father drink wine so that we can lie with him and keep the seed from our father alive. 33 So they made their father drink wine that night, and the firstborn came and lay down with her father. Lot was so drunk, he had no idea what they had done. The firstborn has a son whom she named Moab. He is the ancestor of the Moabites who caused Israel so much tzuris (trouble). The younger one had a son also, and named him Ben-Ammi, the ancestor of the Amorites, another troublesome foe of the Israelites.
Chapter 20 opens with Abraham moving south into the Negev and settled between Kadesh & Shur, which are two well-defined desert areas. He was dwelling as an outsider in Gerar, where he said of Sarah, she is my sister. So King Abimelech of Gerar sent for and took Sarah. But G-d came to Abimelech in a dream and said to him, “Behold, you are as good as dead, because of the woman whom you have taken—since she is a married woman.” 4 Now Abimelech had not come near her. So he said, “My Lord, will You slay a nation, even though innocent? 5 Didn’t he say to me, ‘She’s my sister’? And she herself even said, ‘He’s my brother.’ I did this with integrity of my heart and guiltlessness of my hands.” So, Abraham gets Sarah back, untouched by any man but himself. And, to ensure that G-d would not retaliate for his mishap, Abimelech gave Abraham a lot of sheep & cattle & male slaves & female slaves to Abraham.
Chapter 21 opens with what should be of no surprise. Sarah gives birth, just as Adonai had said. Abraham circumcised Isaac, whos name means Laughter, on his eighth day just as Adonai had instructed.
Chapter 22 opens with Adonai speaking out to Abraham as a test.
Now it was after these things that God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham.”
“Hineni,” he said.
Then He said, “Take your son, your only son whom you love—Isaac—and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains about which I will tell you.”
So Abraham got up early in the morning, saddled his donkey and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son. He split wood for the burnt offering, and got up and went to the place about which God had told him. On the third day, Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from a distance.
Abraham said to his young men, “Sit yourselves down here with the donkey. As for me and the young man, we’ll go over there, worship and return to you.”
In Perkei Avot, the Ethics of the Fathers, we learn that Abraham was tested ten times. Each requires a little bit more faith.
1. G-d called him to leave his family & his homeland.
2. Immediately after his arrival in the Holy Land he encounters famine.
3. The Egyptians seize his beloved wife Sarah and bring her to Pharaoh.
4. Abraham faces incredible odds in the battle of the four and five kings.
5. He marries Hagar after not being able to have children with Sarah.
6. G-d tells him to circumcise himself at an advanced age.
7. The king of Gerar captures Sarah intending to take her himself.
8. G-d tells him to send Hagar away after having a son with him.
9. His son, Ishmael, becomes estranged from him.
10. G-d tells him to sacrifice his son, Isaac on an altar.
This list put together by Maimonides are not all found in scripture. Some are from midrashic accounts.
Facing the greatest test of his life, notice that Abraham got up EARLY in the morning, saddled his own donkey, although he had servants whom he was taking with he and Isaac. Notice that Isaac noticed they had only two of three required items for a sacrifice. In answer to his question, he told his son, "G-d will provide the lamb."
Telling the 2 servants to chill out while he and his son would go worship and THEY would return to them. When they got to the correct spot, they built an altar together, laid out the wood, bound his son and laid him on the altar.
Now, most of your Sunday school illustrations have Abraham place his young son on the altar. But according to Ibn Ezra's commentary, he was 37 years old...
Since Adonai did provide the sacrificial ram, Abraham called it Adonai Yireh (will provide). Adonai spoke to Abraham again and said, “By myself I swear—it is a declaration of Adonai—because you have done this thing, and you did not withhold your son, your only son, I will richly bless you and bountifully multiply your seed like the stars of heaven, and like the sand that is on the seashore, and your seed will possess the gate of his enemies. In your seed all the nations of the earth will be blessed—because you obeyed My voice.” And to this incredible story, I ask you to join me as I say Amen...
-My desire is for you to share this teaching with everyone you know and that you continue to pray that Debra & I remain in strength with good health so that we may continue to serve HaShem through
our service to His people.
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Sunday mornings @ 11:30 ET
is always worth a half hour of spiritual uplifting:
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Debra has a brand new book on Amazon
that everyone should read & review…
https://a.co/d/aAmG4pH
And here’s an extra special gift from Debra. Avinu, which means “Listen,” is the introductory word to the Song of Moses. Here is her lovely video version:
https://youtu.be/yCJu4HDvma4?si=i9M8mf1eaLkAJs4R
And please share this teaching with those
whom you suspect could do with a little insight
into G-d’s Word & His Ways…