Vayeira opens with Avraham, still recovering, running to welcome three angels—embodying boundless chessed. They promise Yitzchak’s birth and proceed to Sodom, where Lot is rescued and the cities destroyed. Avraham’s plea for mercy defines covenantal faith’s courage. Sarah is protected in Avimelech’s house, Yitzchak is born, and Yishmael departs. The parsha culminates with the Akeidah—the ultimate test of love, awe, and surrender to G-d.
In Vayeira: Avraham “calls out in the Name of Hashem, Kel Olam,” planting an eshel in Be’er Sheva to publicize the Master of the world.
Narrative roots: Genesis 21:33.
In Vayeira: Avraham’s public proclamation “Kel Olam” frames a singular Master behind all reality; his life of obedience in the Akeidah affirms exclusive allegiance.
Narrative roots: Genesis 21:33; 22:1–12.
In Vayeira: Avraham’s eager hospitality despite pain, lifelong outreach, and the Akeidah model love that places Hashem’s will above self.
Narrative roots: Genesis 18:1–8; 21:33; 22:1–10.
In Vayeira: “Now I know that you are a God-fearing man” is declared at the Akeidah; yir’ah guides Avraham’s absolute surrender.
Narrative roots: Genesis 22:12.
In Vayeira: Avraham’s conduct—truth, generosity, prayer, and the Akeidah—broadcasts Kiddush Hashem; even Avimelech concedes “Elokim is with you.”
Narrative roots: Genesis 18:1–8; 18:23–33; 21:22–24; 22:1–18.
In Vayeira: After the Sarah–Avimelech episode, Avraham prays and heals Avimelech’s household, removing any whiff of chilul Hashem and restoring honor to Hashem’s people.
Narrative roots: Genesis 20:1–18.
In Vayeira: Hashem “visits” the recovering Avraham; Avraham mirrors that rachamim with radical hachnasat orchim, advocacy for Sodom, and compassion for all.
Narrative roots: Genesis 18:1–8; 18:23–33.
In Vayeira: Avraham builds a beit Avraham—household and students—rooted in calling out Hashem’s Name; Be’er Sheva becomes a node of deveikut-community.
Narrative roots: Genesis 18:19; 21:33.
In Vayeira: The paradigm of chessed—running to serve, standing over guests, advocating for others—teaches love expressed as concrete care and dignity.
Narrative roots: Genesis 18:2–8; 18:23–33.
In Vayeira: “Vayikra b’shem Hashem” is Chazal’s prototype of teaching—Avraham turning meals and hospitality into classes in emunah and gratitude.
Narrative roots: Genesis 21:33.
In Vayeira: Avraham stands and pleads—structured, persistent tefillah for Sodom; later he davens for Avimelech’s healing and is answered.
Narrative roots: Genesis 18:22–33; 20:17.
In Vayeira: Avraham’s “eshel” becomes a training ground where guests are fed and then directed to bless the true G-d—classic midrashic source for birkat ha-mazon.
Narrative roots: Genesis 21:33 (with Chazal).
In Vayeira: “Avraham circumcised Yitzchak his son at eight days” establishes the Torah’s timing in practice within the Avraham narrative.
Narrative roots: Genesis 21:4.
In Vayeira: Facing the decree on the Cities of the Plain, Avraham “approaches” and cries out in intercession—prototype of communal tefillah in crisis.
Narrative roots: Genesis 18:23–33.
In Vayeira: The Sarah–Avimelech incident underscores the Torah’s boundaries and the gravity of marital sanctity, even among nations.
Narrative roots: Genesis 20:1–18.
In Vayeira: Sodom’s culture of cruelty and depravity stands as the anti-model; Avraham’s path—kindness, justice, and prayer—rejects foreign mores.
Narrative roots: Genesis 18–19.
Rashi opens the parsha noting: “Vayeira elav Hashem be’elonei Mamrei” — “Hashem appeared to him in the plains of Mamre” (Bereishit 18:1). This visitation, Rashi explains, came as Divine reward to Mamre, who had advised Avraham to perform the Brit Milah publicly. Hashem’s appearance here, immediately after the circumcision, demonstrates that the Divine Presence dwells upon acts done with courage for Heaven’s sake.
On Avraham’s alacrity in welcoming the three travelers, Rashi underscores that he ran from his tent despite physical pain (Bereishit 18:2). His zeal reveals the Torah’s ideal of zerizut — eagerness in mitzvah performance. Rashi highlights that Avraham stood while they ate, teaching that one should serve guests as though serving the Divine, since hachnasat orchim is greater even than receiving the Shechinah itself (Shabbat 127a).
On Sarah’s laughter at the promise of a son, Rashi contrasts her inner amusement with Avraham’s earlier joy. The rebuke she receives underscores that faith must not calculate impossibility—the covenant’s fulfillment depends upon trusting Hashem beyond the boundaries of human reason.
📖 Sources:
“Hashem appeared to him in the plains of Mamre” (Bereishit 18:1).
For the Rambam, prophecy is not arbitrary bestowal but the culmination of human perfection. In Moreh Nevuchim II:36–48 and Hilchot Yesodei HaTorah 7:1–2, he teaches that prophecy arises when the intellect, imagination, and moral faculties reach harmony — when daʿat becomes a vessel for Divine overflow (shefa eloki).
Avraham’s prophetic vision while sitting “at the entrance of the tent” reflects Rambam’s ideal: holiness revealed within ordinary life. Prophecy, for Rambam, is not separation from reality but the sanctification of mind and deed — the intellect’s illumination within moral action.
📖 Sources:
When Avraham rushes to greet the three strangers (Bereishit 18:2–8), Rambam would see not sentiment but the ethical embodiment of knowing G-d.
In Hilchot De’ot 1:6, he defines love of G-d as imitation: “As He is gracious and merciful, so shall you be.” Avraham’s hachnasat orchim thus fulfills the intellectual imitation of Divine attributes — compassion informed by wisdom.
For Rambam, reason and virtue are one continuum. Avraham’s hospitality demonstrates that ethical action is the natural expression of true knowledge of the Creator.
📖 Sources:
When Sarah laughs at the promise of a son (Bereishit 18:12), Rambam would interpret it as the tension between natural philosophy and Divine possibility. In Moreh Nevuchim III:15–17, he writes that miracles are not violations of nature but rare outcomes within it, preordained from creation.
Sarah’s laughter is reason meeting revelation. The miracle of Yitzchak’s birth signifies that intellectual faith must yield to the higher order of Divine will. The perfection of intellect is not omniscience but humility before the Infinite.
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“Shall not the Judge of all the earth do justice?” (Bereishit 18:25).
This, for Rambam, epitomizes prophetic ethics — rational faith confronting Divine justice. In Moreh Nevuchim III:17–24, he teaches that G-d’s governance of the world (hashgachah pratit) is proportional to human intellect and virtue.
Avraham’s intercession for Sodom reveals the mind perfected in both logic and love: questioning not from doubt but from moral reason. Providence, in Rambam’s view, flows where understanding and righteousness meet; to grasp justice is to participate in it.
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When angels save Lot, Rambam would interpret it through his doctrine of natural providence. In Moreh Nevuchim III:18, he explains that individual salvation occurs through moral alignment, not arbitrary miracle. Lot’s connection to Avraham — a man of perfect intellect and virtue — extends providence to him derivatively.
Thus, Divine mercy operates through the righteous: Avraham’s merit channels protection to others, revealing that moral excellence has metaphysical consequence.
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In the story of Avimelech’s dream (Bereishit 20), Rambam sees a case study in true and false prophecy. The king’s nocturnal vision is not a supernatural event but an instance of “intellectual dream” — imagination informed by Divine influx (Moreh Nevuchim II:45).
For Rambam, G-d communicates only through purified faculties: Avimelech receives warning because his moral conscience was intact. Thus, the Rambam’s principle holds — even Divine dreams occur through the perfection of natural intellect guided by ethical clarity.
📖 Sources:
The Binding of Isaac (Bereishit 22) occupies the summit of Rambam’s philosophy of faith. In Moreh Nevuchim III:24, he distinguishes between irrational submission and rational obedience born of love.
Avraham’s readiness to sacrifice Yitzchak was not fanaticism but emunah be’sekhel — obedience illuminated by understanding that Divine wisdom transcends but never contradicts reason.
This is the ultimate harmony between intellect and devotion: the test that perfects love (ahavat Hashem) and establishes that true service arises when reason itself bows willingly before the Absolute.
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After the Akeidah, “Avraham returned to his young men, and they rose and went together to Beersheba” (Bereishit 22:19).
Rambam would view this descent from transcendence as the perfection of avodah be’olam — serving G-d within creation. In Hilchot De’ot 3:1, he defines the wise person as one who sanctifies the physical through balance and ethical action.
Avraham’s return to ordinary life completes the prophetic arc: enlightenment that does not retreat from the world, but refines it.
📖 Sources:
In Vayeira, Rambam’s Avraham reaches the full synthesis of his philosophy:
prophecy through intellect, morality through compassion, faith through understanding.
Each scene reveals the continuum of his theology — from reasoned love (ahavat Hashem) to sanctified action (imitatio Dei).
Vayeira becomes, in Rambam’s language, the living proof that the intellect perfected in goodness becomes a dwelling place for the Divine.
📖 Key References:
For the Ralbag, Vayeira develops a philosophy of hashgachah peratit (personal Providence) that correlates with one’s moral and intellectual perfection. As a person refines deeds and understanding, Providence attaches more closely; miracles are not capricious interruptions but just outcomes of Divine justice meeting human virtue.
Ralbag unfolds the parashah and derives six benefits (to‘alot):
Vayeira — “And G-d appeared to him” — opens with revelation in the midst of simple human acts. Avraham sits at the entrance of his tent, recovering from circumcision, when the Divine Presence manifests through the arrival of three travelers. The Chassidic masters teach that holiness is not found apart from life, but within it — that revelation comes through hachnasat orchim, acts of kindness and openness to others.
The Baal Shem Tov explains that Vayeira elav Hashem — “G-d appeared to him” — signifies that when a person refines their physical nature in service of Heaven, even the most ordinary moment becomes a vessel for Divine illumination. Avraham’s tent, open on all sides, mirrors the heart made spacious through compassion.
The Kedushat Levi (R. Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev) notes that G-d’s appearance to Avraham came “in the heat of the day” — symbolizing the radiance of love that follows the pain of spiritual effort. When a person endures the heat of trial with steadfast faith, the Shechinah rests upon them. Divine revelation does not descend from above; it arises from the purified warmth of the human heart.
The Sfas Emes (Vayeira 5632) interprets the episode of Avraham’s hospitality as a paradigm of deveikut — cleaving to G-d through the sanctification of worldly acts. The angels’ visit, Sarah’s laughter, and the birth of Yitzchak all reveal that joy and faith are intertwined: laughter itself (tzchok) becomes a sign of redemption.
In the stillness of service and the heat of devotion, Vayeira teaches that the soul’s truest sight is not of heaven above but of the Divine revealed through emunah and love within.
📖 Sources
Rabbi Sacks taught that Vayeira is the Torah’s most daring meditation on faith and ethics — a portrait of Avraham who argues, obeys, and loves in equal measure.
To stand before G-d is to enter covenant as a moral partner: to welcome strangers, to plead for the wicked, and to trust beyond understanding.
“Faith is not the silence of submission, but the courage to speak in the name of the good.”
— Covenant & Conversation, Vayeira 5773
Avraham’s moral audacity and humility fuse into a single vision: covenantal life means answering G-d both with conscience and with devotion.
Rav Kook reads Vayeira as a revelation of holiness through action — prayer, hospitality, mercy, and sacrifice — each transfiguring the ordinary world into the sanctuary of the Divine.
Avraham’s return “to the place where he had stood before G-d” (Gen 19:27) models intellectual humility.
To fix a place for prayer refines imagination and emotion until even space becomes holy.
The mind yields before love; thought learns reverence. In that surrender of intellect to spirit lies the humility of Avraham.
The “salt of Sodom,” say the Sages, blinds the eyes.
For Rav Kook it symbolizes the blindness of selfish pleasure that dulls compassion.
Mayim Acharonim — washing after a meal — cleanses this residue of egocentricity, restoring moral vision.
Through small acts of refinement, the soul purifies its appetites and recovers its sight of goodness.
Lot rejected cruelty but failed to build kindness; Avraham transformed chesed into a social architecture.
True opposition to evil, writes Rav Kook, is creative, not merely critical: it founds institutions of compassion.
Avraham’s greatness was to convert kindness from impulse into covenant — a culture of mercy that sanctifies the civic realm.
Paganism displayed passion without purity; monotheism risked purity without passion.
The Akeidah proved that enlightened faith can burn as fiercely as idolatry yet remain moral.
Avraham’s devotion revealed that holiness joins clarity of reason with the fire of love — intellect aflame with faith.
When G-d called, “Avraham!” and he answered, Hineini — “Here I am” — he gathered his whole being into awareness.
Rav Kook explains that true service demands this centered presence: intellect, emotion, and will aligned before the Divine call.
The word Hineini becomes the soul’s purest posture — availability to G-d with undivided heart.
The Torah’s silence over Avraham’s three-day journey hides the miracle of his serenity.
Rav Kook sees in it the ultimate trial: to sustain prophetic calm while walking toward unthinkable sacrifice.
Faith was not a tremor but composure; only a soul at peace could receive the final vision.
Thus “he lifted his eyes and saw the place” — physical sight becoming prophetic perception.
After the Akeidah, G-d swore by His own Essence to bless Avraham.
The blessing’s paradox — conquest and peace, stars and sand — reflects two realms of holiness:
inner aspiration (stars) and outward deed (sand).
Avraham’s love was realized both in thought and in action; his descendants would mirror that union — lofty in spirit, grounded in mitzvah.
Having touched the summit, Avraham descended to rejoin his young men.
Rav Kook calls this the final greatness of the tzaddik: to bring transcendence back into community.
Beersheba — “Well of Oath” and “Well of Seven” — signifies faith translated into the rhythm of the natural world.
Avraham did not flee life after revelation; he returned to sanctify it.
Some souls can reform by witnessing evil’s fall; others are hardened by it.
Lot’s wife turned back and lost her moral awe — becoming a pillar of salt, the symbol of paralysis.
For Rav Kook, faith demands forward motion: to fix one’s gaze on renewal, not on ruin.
True vision belongs to those who look toward becoming, not regret.
Across Vayeira, Rav Kook unveils a portrait of holiness as movement — from imagination to discipline, passion to peace, vision to deed.
Avraham’s faith sanctifies every faculty: the intellect humbled, the heart ignited, the imagination purified.
In prayer, in kindness, in sacrifice, and in return, he embodies the Divine pattern of revelation through compassion.
“Through refining the imagination, the passions, and the heart, man becomes a vessel for Divine compassion — and even judgment becomes light.”
— Orot HaKodesh II §302
📖 Sources
“And Hashem appeared to him in the plains of Mamre, as he sat at the entrance of his tent in the heat of the day.”
(Bereishit 18:1)
Every soul has its own moment of Vayeira — a time when the Divine calls not from the heavens, but from the threshold of our ordinary lives. Revelation does not always thunder through prophecy; sometimes it waits in the quiet act of kindness, in the open doorway, in the willingness to see holiness in the human.
Avraham teaches that chesed (loving-kindness) is the vessel through which the Shechinah rests. Even in pain, he runs to welcome strangers, turning service into sanctuary. His tent is a map of the soul — open on all sides, spacious enough for the Infinite to dwell within compassion.
The Ramban shows that prophecy descends not upon angels but upon those who dare to live mercifully. To see as Avraham saw is to join moral vision with faith — to recognize that G-d’s justice unfolds through patience, empathy, and restraint. True sight perceives the Divine in the measured balance between judgment and mercy.
The Rambam reminds us that knowledge of G-d must become action: intellect flowering into integrity. When our thoughts, emotions, and deeds harmonize, Providence attaches to our lives; the world becomes translucent to meaning.
And Rav Kook, in his radiant synthesis, teaches that holiness is not escape but return — to the table, to the street, to the world that still needs healing. After the fire of the Akeidah, Avraham descends to Be’er-Sheva, bringing his vision into life. So too, faith matures when we translate spirit into compassion, revelation into responsibility.
So today, Vayeira calls each of us:
to open the tent of the heart;
to see the stranger as guest and the guest as Divine;
to lift our eyes toward what might yet be redeemed.
When we meet the world with kindness and courage, when we act with humility and hope, we too behold G-d “in the heat of the day” — not above us, but alive within us.
📖 Supporting Sources:
“Hashem appeared to him in the plains of Mamre” (Bereishit 18:1).
Rashi explains this appearance as bikur cholim — the Divine visiting Avraham after circumcision. The choice of Mamre’s grove was reward for Mamre’s counsel to perform the mitzvah publicly. The Shechinah rests upon those who act with courage for Heaven’s sake.
📖 Sources:
When Avraham sees the three men, he “runs from the entrance of his tent.” (Bereishit 18:2)
Rashi highlights his zeal (zerizut) in welcoming guests despite suffering. “He stood by them while they ate” teaches that serving others is greater even than welcoming the Shechinah itself (Shabbat 127a). Avraham’s hospitality becomes the paradigm of hachnasat orchim — revealing G-d’s presence through kindness.
📖 Sources:
Hearing she will bear a son, Sarah laughs inwardly (Bereishit 18:12). Rashi contrasts her laughter with Avraham’s earlier joy — his was of faith, hers of doubt. Hashem’s rebuke “Why did Sarah laugh?” teaches that faith must not calculate impossibility; the covenant depends upon trust beyond human measure.
📖 Sources:
Before destroying Sodom, Hashem says, “Shall I hide from Avraham what I am about to do?” (Bereishit 18:17).
Rashi reads this as Divine transparency: G-d teaches Avraham His ways of judgment so his descendants may walk in tzedakah u-mishpat (righteousness and justice). Avraham’s plea — “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do justice?” (18:25) — reveals that arguing for mercy is itself faith.
📖 Sources:
Rashi explains that G-d “descended to see” (Bereishit 18:21) — teaching judges to investigate before punishment. The sin of Sodom, rooted in cruelty and selfishness, brought destruction middah keneged middah: their refusal to share led to fire consuming all. Lot was saved only in Avraham’s merit — zechut tzaddikim protecting others.
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Rashi comments that Lot’s wife looked back “to see what would become of her father’s house.” (Bereishit 19:26)
Her backward glance revealed attachment to sin; thus she was turned into a pillar of salt — a punishment mirroring her fault, for she sinned with salt when refusing guests any. Compassion withheld becomes a heart of stone.
📖 Sources:
When Sarah is taken by Avimelech (Bereishit 20:2), Rashi explains that Avraham’s statement “she is my sister” was cautious prudence. G-d afflicts Avimelech’s household to protect Sarah’s honor. Healing comes only when Avraham prays for them (20:17), teaching that even the wronged must pray for others’ recovery, and that tefillat tzaddikim restores mercy to the world.
📖 Sources:
“Hashem remembered Sarah as He had said” (Bereishit 21:1).
Rashi notes the threefold fulfillment — “as He had spoken… promised… said to Avraham” — underscoring Divine faithfulness. The laughter of Avraham and Sarah becomes tzchok shel simchah — holy joy. Yitzchak’s name (“he will laugh”) marks disbelief transfigured into delight in the impossible realized.
📖 Sources:
“Take your son, your only one, whom you love — Yitzchak.” (Bereishit 22:2)
Rashi notes the gradual revelation softening Avraham’s heart. “On one of the mountains I will show you” — the location was hidden to test his serenity and faith. When Avraham lifts the knife, an angel calls twice — “Avraham, Avraham!” — revealing unwavering readiness. His act becomes the eternal zechut Avot sustaining Israel.
📖 Sources:
Rashi’s Vayeira reveals holiness through human life: G-d appears where kindness dwells; justice is balanced with mercy; faith acts through love. Avraham’s open tent mirrors the open heart — where Heaven and humanity meet.
📖 Key References:
The Ramban explains “Vayeira elav Hashem be’elonei Mamre” (Bereishit 18:1) as a moment of true prophetic revelation. Hashem’s appearance, he notes, was not a dream or allegory but a real encounter that occurred while Avraham sat in physical recovery after his brit milah. The scene teaches that prophecy does not remove one from ordinary life; rather, it sanctifies human experience itself. The Shechinah rests precisely where compassion and courage meet.
When Hashem says, “Shall I hide from Avraham what I am about to do?” Ramban (Bereishit 18:17–20) interprets the statement as Divine instruction to humanity. Avraham is granted access to the heavenly counsel so that he may learn the pattern of Divine justice. The “investigation” of Sodom is, for Ramban, a moral pedagogy—a model showing that Divine judgment is deliberate, measured, and just. Hashem reveals His process to Avraham so that Avraham’s descendants will emulate tzedakah u-mishpat — righteousness and justice — as the foundation of covenantal life.
Finally, in 19:29, Ramban observes that Lot is spared only in Avraham’s merit. This moment illustrates his doctrine of hashgachah pratit (personal Divine providence): the tzaddik becomes a conduit through whom mercy enters the world. Avraham’s moral stature transforms Divine compassion into historical reality — a vision of faith that unites prophecy, prayer, and ethical responsibility.
📖 Sources:
Hashem appears specifically in Elonei Mamre where Avraham and his entire household had just been circumcised. The appearance is a covenant-sign (like Atem nitzavim; Vayichrot lifnei Hashem). Avraham is most worthy to receive it. This is the root of preparing a chair at a brit (a symbolic welcome for the Shechinah).
📖 Sources: Sforno on 18:1
Avraham “lifts his eyes,” focuses to see, runs from the doorway (zerizut shows importance), and bows because their appearance is awe-inspiring (he assumes royal emissaries).
Though Avraham already knew of Yitzchak, the angels seek Sarah: her joy and gratitude will perfect the conception. “Shuv ashuv” = the anniversary of the brit; Sarah hears from behind the speaker.
Sarah treats the angel’s words as a blessing (like Elisha), not a prophecy — and thinks only direct Divine decree or prayer could reverse old age (like reviving the dead). The angel corrects her; she admits fear internally; the angel does not accept the denial (“Lo”).
📖 Sources: 18:12, 18:14, 18:15
“Vayashkifu” = a negative gaze; Sodom is the opposite of Avraham’s tent (cf. Yechezkel 16:49). Hashem reveals His ways because Avraham is walking his guests out — mitzvah → more intimacy with G-d (“sechar mitzvah, mitzvah”). If there is a quorum that gives hope of teshuvah, He tilts to mercy; otherwise, justice proceeds.
📖 Sources: 18:16-19
The parsha now rises from “vision” to prophecy. Hashem will “descend” to expose Sodom’s evil in action (attacking Lot). If all are complicit, destruction is warranted.
📖 Sources: 18:20-21
Avraham keeps standing to pray even once the angels are en route. He argues: judging by majority would doom the world (“rov bnei adam resha’im”). Ten tzaddikim per city is the minimum saving quorum; fewer means the fifth city falls for lack of an eidah. Hashem agrees progressively: 50…10; He will carry the whole place for the few.
📖 Sources: 18:22–33
The angels delay entry until evening (once Avraham’s advocacy is closed). Lot fears street violence (a known urban practice); the mob’s blindness doesn’t stop their evil — the wicked won’t repent “even at Gehinnom’s gate.” The angels hurry Lot so punishment coincides with sunrise, the time of their “god.”
📖 Sources: 19:1-15
Lot is saved in Avraham’s merit, plus Divine pity for his hesitant nature; looking back lets the evil “catch up” (Lot’s wife). The overthrow is not volcanic: the land and its moisture are chemically transformed to brimstone/salt by Divine act.
Avraham returns to his prayer-place; seeing the smoke, he knows it’s too late to plead. Lot flees the plain (he fears Tzoar’s stay was only for his sake) and settles in the mountain.
📖 Sources: 19:27–30
They publicize the fathers of their sons to show no immoral partner was involved; good intent earned them becoming mothers of nations that would inherit portions east of the Jordan (a paradoxical “bechol derachecha da’ehu”).
Avimelech’s dream is not prophetic vision (dibbur/mar’eh are absent for wicked people) — only a Divine voice. “Hin’cha met” = the impotence will lead to death unless he returns Sarah; returning her heals all wombs. Avimelech rebukes Avraham; Avraham answers: “There is no fear of G-d here” = weak government; he explains hit’u oti Elokim (wandering from idolatrous lands). The king’s gift (“elef kesef,” “kesut einayim”) demonstrates Sarah’s honor publicly.
📖 Sources: 20:1-18
Hashem remembers Sarah through Avraham’s prayer for Avimelech; she’s released from Chavah’s curse; Avraham circumcises his son personally though old; Sarah’s “tzchok” = joy that outweighs the pain of milah.
Sarah hears disparaging remarks from Yishmael about Yitzchak claiming Sarah became pregnant from Avimelech; she demands expulsion to protect the inheritance. Halachically the child follows the defective parent — “ben ha’amah” — so “ki b’Yitzchak yikarei lecha zera.” Avraham sends them with signs of servitude (water-skin on Hagar’s shoulder) yet in righteousness escorts them and provides; when lost, Hashem gives Hagar the presence of mind to see water.
📖 Sources: 21:9–19
Avimelech fears Avraham because Elokim is with you. Avraham swears but rebukes him: a king must curb robbery; Avimelech pleads ignorance. The seven ewes function like a chalitzah-style token to confirm title. They return to Philistia (implying Be’er Sheva is not Philistine land). Avraham proclaims Hashem El Olam — G-d as the Eternal.
📖 Sources: 21:22–33
The test proves Avraham’s love and fear are in action, fulfilling tzelem Elokim by resembling G-d’s beneficence in actuality. He sees the place from afar with Divinely aided sight; tells the lads to stay to avoid interference. The angel says “Now I know” — your fear of G-d exceeds ours. The ram’s sudden appearance removes any theft concern; “tachat beno” = intention equals deed. Avraham names the site Hashem Yir’eh (the future Temple mount).
📖 Sources: 22:1–14
“Ne’um Hashem… bi nishbati” confirms the promise. When Israel will publicly call in Hashem’s Name, the nations will be blessed through them by emulating them. Sechar mitzvah mitzvah — this obedience earns Avraham a future of children who will be a banner and teachers to humanity.
📖 Sources: 22:16–18
The genealogy signals a Divinely prepared spouse within the family (Rivkah via Betuel), with Ma’achah as an alternate if needed — avoiding Canaanite lines.
Sforno’s Vayeira traces a single arc: covenant → chesed → justice → teaching → nationhood → universal blessing.
Abarbanel opens by asking why Hashem appeared to Avraham here and now, immediately after the circumcision:
🪔 Theophany is thus not a reward for ritual but a manifestation of Divine companionship in human vulnerability and devotion.
Abarbanel explores the classic question — were these angels, prophets, or men?
His speed and humility, even in pain, reveal that the true covenantal life is lived through service, not status.
Abarbanel defends Sarah with nuance:
Even the matriarchs’ inner thoughts become part of prophetic dialogue — faith purified through introspection.
Abarbanel frames the Sodom episode as the meeting of Divine justice and human compassion:
🪔 The Judge of all the earth invites human advocacy — justice tempered by mercy is the covenantal ideal.
Abarbanel contrasts Avraham’s tent of generosity with Sodom’s culture of cruelty:
Lot’s act of welcome becomes the final evidence condemning his city.
Abarbanel emphasizes the supernatural nature of the punishment:
Even in wrath, rachamim mitgaber al hadin — compassion guides justice through measured precision.
🌍 Covenant protection extends beyond Avraham — G-d preserves His promise through moral order even among nations.
🪔 Faith is fulfilled when Divine promise ripens at its appointed hour, not by human calculation.
Exile is not rejection but re-direction.
Faith expresses itself not only in prayer but in ethical governance.
Abarbanel views the Binding of Yitzchak as the consummation of Avraham’s faith:
🕯️ Faith matures when love and awe become one movement of the heart.
🌍 Avraham’s legacy is universal — one family’s faith becomes humanity’s hope.
Abarbanel reads Vayeira as the unfolding of covenantal faith in motion:
🪔 In Abarbanel’s eyes, Avraham’s greatness lies not in certainty but in courage — the courage to walk forward through the unknown and find G-d waiting there.
Theme (5786): Chessed isn’t “being nice”; it’s imitating the Borei Olam. Avraham waits at the tent, runs to strangers, and serves them himself — not because they’re great, but because Hashem serves the world every moment (food, air, water, sun). Hospitality becomes avodas Hashem.
Lesson: When I give a drink, a ride, a meal, a smile — Every kindness I do is my way of honoring Hashem’s kindness.
Source: Toras Avigdor – Vayeira 5786: Avraham’s Teachings.
Idea (5786): Colors, tastes, fragrances, soil, oceans, the “cocktail” of air — all are custom-made pleasures. Avraham studies creation and concludes: Hashem is chofetz chessed.
Practice: Breathe fresh air, drink water, notice flavors — and say it: “Hashem is feeding me.” Turn awareness into love and gratitude.
Source: Vayeira 5786: Avraham’s Teachings.
Idea (5786): Avraham plants an orchard, shades guests under trees, serves meat and fruit, then sends thanks upward: “Don’t thank me; thank the Host.”
Takeaway: Build “mini-orchards” — a stocked home, a ready thermos, a cheerful seat, a generous schedule — that advertise Hashem’s generosity.
Source: Vayeira 5786: Avraham’s Teachings.
Idea (5782): In a group, speak to the greatest first (Avraham addressed the central malach). Focusing on the superior magnifies honor and trains us to value greatness.
Everyday: Give primary attention to parents, rabbeim, elders; don’t “equalize” everyone in one greeting.
Source: Toras Avigdor – Vayeira 5782: Towering Greatness.
Idea (5782): Like a spotlight on the main actor, Heaven’s interest centers on the most dedicated. Even among tzaddikim, the one who does a bit more towers above.
Madrigah: “100 vs. 101” — reviewing one time more changes your class of avodah.
Source: Vayeira 5782: Towering Greatness.
Idea (5779): Emunah = loyalty (ne’emanos). We are am k’shei oref: unbudging in bris, Torah, and minhagim. That stubbornness is our defense and our glory.
Chip of Loyalty: Even consistent “Amen” responses are precious diamonds of fidelity.
Source: Toras Avigdor – Vayeira 5779: The Loyal Nation.
Idea (5784): “Ahavas Hashem” isn’t romance; it’s behaving like Hashem — steady kindness, guarded speech, added kavanah, small sacrifices done for Him.
Picture: Akeidah-love is dramatic; weekday love is adding one minute to Shemoneh Esrei, one extra compliment, one more favor — for Hashem.
Source: Toras Avigdor – Vayeira 5784: Finding True Love.
Idea (5786): Chessed has many sub-dinim: honor people, encourage, avoid ona’as devarim, be careful with others’ property, return what’s lost, be polite and warm.
Mindset: “I’m copying Hashem, the tov u’meitiv.”
Source: Vayeira 5786: Avraham’s Teachings.
Idea (5786 & 5779): Don’t hide the reason. When you help, think and speak: “Baruch Hashem,” “Thank the Host,” “This is from Hashem.” That publicizes the Banquet-Master.
Source: Vayeira 5786: Avraham’s Teachings; Vayeira 5779: The Loyal Nation.
Vayeira through Rav Miller’s lens: See Hashem’s kindness everywhere; imitate it deliberately.
Avraham’s greatness wasn’t a one-time test — it was a life of serving like the Host. Add a little more (the “101”), stay stubbornly loyal (the “Amen”), honor greatness, and make each small kindness a public monument to Hashem’s goodness.
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