Vayera (5786)

 Drash Cards for VaYera  (5786)

by Marc Mangel

  • This is the kind of Torah portion that Cecil B. DeMill/Jerry Bruckheimer/British Steve McQueen would love. There is so much here (follow closely as it is read), I decided to drash on something not from our Aliyah, but rather the name of the parsha, which comes from the very first word “appeared”. [The final negotiations between God and Abraham about the destruction of Sedom and Gomorah; Fleeing that destruction and Lot’s wife turning to a pillar of salt (which you maybe can still see on the way to the Dead Sea); Lot’s daugthers seducing him; Abraham and Sarah going to Gerar where he again plays  the “she is my sister” move, and Avimelech being more righteous than Abraham. The birth of Isaac, which you will remember from first day Rosh Hashanah.]

• Three visitors appeared to Abraham. The commentators are not sure who they were, (Talmud, Rashi): They were  three angels in the guise of men; (Rashi): Abraham perceived them as human throughout their visit; (Nachmanides, Rebenu Bachya, Ohr-Ha Chayim): Abraham immediately recognized that they were angels; (Zohar, Yefeh Toar): Abraham initially thought them to be human but when the birth of Isaac was prophesized, he realized that they were angels; (Bechor Shor, Ralbag): Abraham recognized that they were human prophets who came as men.

• In verse 2 we read “He lifted his eyes and SAW” and that “He SAW and ran toward them”. Here commentators agree that the same word “V-yar” appearing twice is to be interpreted the physical act of seeing the three visitors (saw) is followed by understanding (saw) what their appearance means.

  • The physical vision told Abraham that the visitors were human beings; intellectual vision told him that they were angels. Regardless – Abraham behaves the same way: he is hospitable and welcoming to his guests.  If they were angels then the meal Abraham prepared for them is an offering to God. If they were men then the meal represented an act of hospitality in keeping with Abraham’s character and that is why Abraham asked them to say grace – to thank God.
  • We are all the children of Abraham, so all of us can aspire to welcoming every soul we encounter.
  • In 2006 we spent a fall sabbatical in Tasmania – Van Dieman’s land — that used to house transported convicts once Britain lost the American colonies and transportation started in the late 1700s. When we were there, Hobart had about 150 Jews in a city of 55,000   To be Jewish in Tasmania was to barely be noticed.The synagogue in Hobart is the oldest continuously operating synagogue in Australia – services have been held there since 1845. When we visited, the synagogue was shared by a group of Orthodox Jews (who rarely had a minyan) who davened every Shabbat and a group of Progressive (Reform) Jews who davened once a month (before the Orthodox, who daven to Baruch She-Amar at home).
  • The reception we received in Hobart would have made Abraham proud of his descendants who live there. We arrived and told people that we were Jewish. Everyone – secular to Progressive to Orthodox – made us welcome and showed us hospitality keeping with Abraham’s character.
  • Thus, we davenned Shabat Shuvah, Sukkot and the other Shabbatot with the Orthodox and spent Yom Kippur with the Progressive congregation (the Orthodox went to the rarely used Chabad house in Launceston).
  • At the Progressive service on Yom Kippur, Susan chanted Yona from the central, elevated bima on the ground floor. On Shabbat Sukkot, she was the only one who could lead Hallel, and did so from the women’s gallery.
  • What we saw in Hobart – and which is taught to us today by the behavior of Abraham in Parsha Vareya – is that we should show great hospitality to everyone whom we meet.
  • This a behavior we can all aim to achieve.