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Sunday, October 25, 2026

Vayera 1

This opens Parshas Vayera and covers Bereishis 18:1–21. Hashem visits Avraham three days after his bris, and three angels arrive disguised as travelers. One of them announces that Yitzchak will be born, Sarah laughs, and Hashem decides to tell Avraham what He is about to do to Sodom. It ends with a picture of how cruel Sodom was. One idea keeps coming back: Avraham's tent was a school. Washing the feet, resting under the tree and blessing the bread were all there to teach guests that everything comes from Hashem, not from their own efforts. Sodom is the opposite. It was a rich city that shut out strangers and lost the basic human kindness that nobody needs a Torah to teach them.

The pesukim

Bereishis 18:1

וַיֵּרָ֤א אֵלָיו֙ יְהֹוָ֔ה בְּאֵלֹנֵ֖י מַמְרֵ֑א וְה֛וּא יֹשֵׁ֥ב פֶּֽתַח־הָאֹ֖הֶל כְּחֹ֥ם הַיּֽוֹם׃

God appeared to [Abraham] in the Plains of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance of the tent in the hottest part of the day.

"Hashem appeared to him in the plains of Mamre, while he was sitting at the entrance of the tent in the heat of the day." The Alshich, the Toldos Yitzchak and the Tzror HaMor ask three questions. Why tell us he sat at the door? Why tell us the time of day? Why say "to him" and not Avraham's name? His answer is that the verse shows what a mitzvah does to a person. Before his bris, Avraham fell on his face whenever Hashem spoke to him. A prophet normally needs to be alone, with a calm and joyful mind. Yet now Hashem appeared to Avraham while he simply sat at a busy tent door, in the middle of the day, with people coming and going. The verse leaves out his name because this is a general rule: whoever keeps Hashem's command, especially a hard one done with joy as Avraham did, becomes a new person and reaches a closeness to Hashem he never had before.
Bereishis 18:2

וַיִּשָּׂ֤א עֵינָיו֙ וַיַּ֔רְא וְהִנֵּה֙ שְׁלֹשָׁ֣ה אֲנָשִׁ֔ים נִצָּבִ֖ים עָלָ֑יו וַיַּ֗רְא וַיָּ֤רׇץ לִקְרָאתָם֙ מִפֶּ֣תַח הָאֹ֔הֶל וַיִּשְׁתַּ֖חוּ אָֽרְצָה׃

[Abraham] lifted his eyes and he saw three strangers standing a short distance from him. When he saw [them] from the entrance of his tent, he ran to greet them, bowing down to the ground.

Avraham lifts his eyes and sees three strangers standing over him, and he runs from the door of the tent to greet them, bowing to the ground. "He lifted his eyes" means he went to look for himself. As usual, he had sent his servant Eliezer to find travelers, and Eliezer came back saying there was no one. Avraham would not rely on that. He had put off breakfast until after 10 a.m., hoping to share it with someone in need. The three strangers were the angels Michael, Gavriel and Rafael. Hashem sent them in the form of men so they could deliver His messages and also give Avraham the mitzvah of hachnasas orchim, welcoming guests: two things at once.
Bereishis 18:3

וַיֹּאמַ֑ר אֲדֹנָ֗י אִם־נָ֨א מָצָ֤אתִי חֵן֙ בְּעֵינֶ֔יךָ אַל־נָ֥א תַעֲבֹ֖ר מֵעַ֥ל עַבְדֶּֽךָ׃

He said, "Sir, if you would, do not go on without stopping by me:

"My lord, if I have found favor in your eyes, please do not pass by your servant." Hashem was there visiting Avraham, and Avraham asked Him to wait while he went to take care of his guests. The Talmud (Shabbos 127a) learns from this that welcoming guests is greater than receiving the Shechinah, the Divine Presence. Taking in guests counts for more than spending time with Hashem Himself.
Bereishis 18:4

יֻקַּֽח־נָ֣א מְעַט־מַ֔יִם וְרַחֲצ֖וּ רַגְלֵיכֶ֑ם וְהִֽשָּׁעֲנ֖וּ תַּ֥חַת הָעֵֽץ׃

Let some water be brought, and wash your feet. Rest under the tree.

"Let a little water be brought; wash your feet and rest under the tree." Bereishis Rabbah says these travelers bowed down to the dust on their feet. The Yefeh To'ar explains what that means. Your feet take you from place to place, so bowing to their dust means worshiping your own effort, the attitude of "my strength and the might of my hand made me this wealth" (Devarim 8:17). Washing the dust off meant cleansing yourself of that idea. The Kli Yakar finishes the thought: the tree is Hashem, the tree of life for all creation, so "rest under the tree" means lean on Him completely, because your effort alone accomplishes nothing. The first thing Avraham taught anyone who came into his house was that nothing comes from you; everything comes from Hashem.
Bereishis 18:5

וְאֶקְחָ֨ה פַת־לֶ֜חֶם וְסַעֲד֤וּ לִבְּכֶם֙ אַחַ֣ר תַּעֲבֹ֔רוּ כִּֽי־עַל־כֵּ֥ן עֲבַרְתֶּ֖ם עַֽל־עַבְדְּכֶ֑ם וַיֹּ֣אמְר֔וּ כֵּ֥ן תַּעֲשֶׂ֖ה כַּאֲשֶׁ֥ר דִּבַּֽרְתָּ׃

I will get a morsel of bread for you to refresh yourselves. Then you can continue on your way. After all, you are passing by my house." "All right," they replied. "Do as you say."

Avraham offers "a morsel of bread to refresh yourselves; afterwards you may go on, since you have passed by your servant," and they agree. Who tells a guest he can leave right after eating? The Chen Tov explains. The guests saw their host changing the bandage on his circumcision and turned to leave, perhaps afraid he would ask to circumcise them too. So Avraham reassured them that they could leave as soon as they had eaten. "Since you have passed by" means: make this the purpose of your trip. Eat the bread, say a bracha (blessing) before it and Birkas Hamazon (Grace After Meals) after it, so that your passing by is worthwhile, and you won't go around telling people to avoid Avraham's house. The lesson is that a guest should be welcomed for a purpose: to learn to trust Hashem and not himself, and to thank Hashem through blessings.
Bereishis 18:6

וַיְמַהֵ֧ר אַבְרָהָ֛ם הָאֹ֖הֱלָה אֶל־שָׂרָ֑ה וַיֹּ֗אמֶר מַהֲרִ֞י שְׁלֹ֤שׁ סְאִים֙ קֶ֣מַח סֹ֔לֶת ל֖וּשִׁי וַעֲשִׂ֥י עֻגֽוֹת׃

Abraham rushed to Sarah's tent and said, "Hurry! Three measures of the finest flour! Knead it and make rolls."

Avraham hurries into the tent and tells Sarah to quickly knead three measures of the finest flour and bake rolls. Sarah asked whether to use plain flour or cake meal, and Avraham told her the finest (Rashi; Bava Metzia 87a). The Kli Chemdah says it was flour milled very fine and sifted through the finest sieves. The Alshich adds that Avraham had servants who could do all of this. But the guests looked important, and for important people you do the work yourself, so Sarah prepared it personally.
Bereishis 18:7

וְאֶל־הַבָּקָ֖ר רָ֣ץ אַבְרָהָ֑ם וַיִּקַּ֨ח בֶּן־בָּקָ֜ר רַ֤ךְ וָטוֹב֙ וַיִּתֵּ֣ן אֶל־הַנַּ֔עַר וַיְמַהֵ֖ר לַעֲשׂ֥וֹת אֹתֽוֹ׃

Abraham ran to the cattle, and chose a tender, choice calf. He gave it to a young man who rushed to prepare it.

Avraham runs to the cattle himself, chooses a tender, choice calf, and gives it to "the young man," who hurries to prepare it. Rashi says the young man was Yishmael. Avraham wanted his son to have a share in the mitzvah of feeding guests. The lesson is to train children in good deeds while they are young, so that when they grow up they are already used to doing them.
Bereishis 18:8

וַיִּקַּ֨ח חֶמְאָ֜ה וְחָלָ֗ב וּבֶן־הַבָּקָר֙ אֲשֶׁ֣ר עָשָׂ֔ה וַיִּתֵּ֖ן לִפְנֵיהֶ֑ם וְהֽוּא־עֹמֵ֧ד עֲלֵיהֶ֛ם תַּ֥חַת הָעֵ֖ץ וַיֹּאכֵֽלוּ׃

[Abraham] fetched some cottage cheese and milk, and the calf that he prepared, and he placed it before [his guests]. He stood over them as they ate under the tree.

Avraham serves cottage cheese, milk and the calf, and stands over the guests under the tree while they eat. Rashi notices that Avraham promised bread and Sarah kneaded dough, yet no bread was served. The reason is that Avraham ate all his food in ritual purity, as if it were an offering, and he would not serve a guest anything he would not eat himself. While Sarah was kneading, her period suddenly returned, even though she was ninety. That made the dough tamei, ritually impure, so it could not be served. Another opinion says this day was the first day of Pesach. In her shock, Sarah may have left the dough for more than eighteen minutes, so it could have become chametz, and Avraham, who kept all the mitzvos, would not serve anything that might be forbidden.
Bereishis 18:9

וַיֹּאמְר֣וּ אֵׄלָ֔יׄוׄ אַיֵּ֖ה שָׂרָ֣ה אִשְׁתֶּ֑ךָ וַיֹּ֖אמֶר הִנֵּ֥ה בָאֹֽהֶל׃

They asked him, "Where is your wife Sarah?" "Here in the tent," he replied.

The angels ask, "Where is Sarah your wife?" and Avraham answers, "In the tent." Michael was the one asking. The Talmud (Bava Metzia 87a) sees Sarah's modesty here: even at ninety she stayed inside and did not present herself in front of three men. It also gives the reason for the question. Birkas Hamazon is said over a kos shel bracha, a cup of wine for blessing, and Michael wanted to send that cup to Sarah. The Ahavas Tzion answers how there was a Birkas Hamazon when the angels ate no bread: Avraham's students ate bread and said Birkas Hamazon over the cup, and that is the cup Michael sent to Sarah.
Bereishis 18:10

וַיֹּ֗אמֶר שׁ֣וֹב אָשׁ֤וּב אֵלֶ֙יךָ֙ כָּעֵ֣ת חַיָּ֔ה וְהִנֵּה־בֵ֖ן לְשָׂרָ֣ה אִשְׁתֶּ֑ךָ וְשָׂרָ֥ה שֹׁמַ֛עַת פֶּ֥תַח הָאֹ֖הֶל וְה֥וּא אַחֲרָֽיו׃

"I will return to you this time next year," said [one of the men], "and your wife Sarah will have a son." Sarah was listening behind the entrance of the tent, and he was on the other side.

One of them says, "I will return to you at this time next year, and Sarah your wife will have a son," while Sarah listens from behind the tent entrance. The Bris Shalom explains that the question in the previous verse was there to set up this announcement. "Where is Sarah?" really meant "Where is the bread you told her to make?" Avraham knew she was in her own tent and not his because her period had returned, so he understood that something unusual was happening. Because of that, the news of a son would land as a real prophecy, and not as the polite "you should have lots of blessings" that every guest says on the way out.
Bereishis 18:11–12

וְאַבְרָהָ֤ם וְשָׂרָה֙ זְקֵנִ֔ים בָּאִ֖ים בַּיָּמִ֑ים חָדַל֙ לִהְי֣וֹת לְשָׂרָ֔ה אֹ֖רַח כַּנָּשִֽׁים׃

Abraham and Sarah were already old, well on in years, and Sarah no longer had female periods.

וַתִּצְחַ֥ק שָׂרָ֖ה בְּקִרְבָּ֣הּ לֵאמֹ֑ר אַחֲרֵ֤י בְלֹתִי֙ הָֽיְתָה־לִּ֣י עֶדְנָ֔ה וַֽאדֹנִ֖י זָקֵֽן׃

She laughed to herself, saying, "Now that I am worn out, shall I have my heart's desire? My husband is old!"

Avraham and Sarah were old and Sarah no longer had periods, so she laughed "within herself": "Now that I am worn out, shall I have my heart's desire? My husband is old." Rashi, from the Midrash Tanchuma, reads "within herself" as looking at her own body: could this dried-up womb bear a child, could these withered breasts give milk? And even if she could give birth now that her period had returned, her husband was very old and weak, especially after his circumcision. The Ramban notes that she laughed about both of them. Thinking it impossible, she took it as a joke and laughed.
Bereishis 18:13–14

וַיֹּ֥אמֶר יְהֹוָ֖ה אֶל־אַבְרָהָ֑ם לָ֣מָּה זֶּה֩ צָחֲקָ֨ה שָׂרָ֜ה לֵאמֹ֗ר הַאַ֥ף אֻמְנָ֛ם אֵלֵ֖ד וַאֲנִ֥י זָקַֽנְתִּי׃

God said to Abraham, "Why did Sarah laugh and say, 'Can I really have a child when I am so old?'

הֲיִפָּלֵ֥א מֵיְהֹוָ֖ה דָּבָ֑ר לַמּוֹעֵ֞ד אָשׁ֥וּב אֵלֶ֛יךָ כָּעֵ֥ת חַיָּ֖ה וּלְשָׂרָ֥ה בֵֽן׃

Is anything too difficult for God? At the designated time, I will return, and Sarah will have a son."

Hashem asks Avraham why Sarah laughed and said, "Can I really have a child when I am so old?", and asks whether anything is too difficult for Hashem. Look closely at the words. Sarah never said "I am old." She said "my husband is old." Hashem changed her words when He repeated them to Avraham, because telling Avraham that his wife thought he was too old could have caused strife between them. Bereishis Rabbah and Rashi learn from this that a person may change the truth to keep shalom bayis, peace in the home.
Bereishis 18:15

וַתְּכַחֵ֨שׁ שָׂרָ֧ה ׀ לֵאמֹ֛ר לֹ֥א צָחַ֖קְתִּי כִּ֣י ׀ יָרֵ֑אָה וַיֹּ֥אמֶֽר ׀ לֹ֖א כִּ֥י צָחָֽקְתְּ׃

Sarah was afraid and she denied it. "I did not laugh," she said. [Abraham] said, "You did laugh."

Sarah is afraid and denies it: "I did not laugh." Avraham answers, "You did laugh." How could Sarah deny something to Hashem, who knows every thought? She didn't hear the question from Hashem. Avraham passed on Hashem's words, and she thought it was Avraham asking why she laughed, so she denied it to him. She truly feared Hashem, since not believing Him would have been a sin (Ramban; Yafeh Toar).
Bereishis 18:16

וַיָּקֻ֤מוּ מִשָּׁם֙ הָֽאֲנָשִׁ֔ים וַיַּשְׁקִ֖פוּ עַל־פְּנֵ֣י סְדֹ֑ם וְאַ֨בְרָהָ֔ם הֹלֵ֥ךְ עִמָּ֖ם לְשַׁלְּחָֽם׃

The strangers got up from their places and gazed at Sodom. Abraham went with them to send them on their way.

The men get up, gaze toward Sodom, and Avraham walks with them to send them on their way. Levayah, escorting guests out, is a great mitzvah. It brings great benefit to the guests, because the Shechinah accompanies them and protects them. The Alshich focuses on the words "the men got up." As angels, they could have taken themselves to Sodom instantly. Instead they got up like men and walked slowly, to give Avraham one more good deed: the chance to escort them.
Bereishis 18:17–21

וַֽיהֹוָ֖ה אָמָ֑ר הַֽמְכַסֶּ֤ה אֲנִי֙ מֵֽאַבְרָהָ֔ם אֲשֶׁ֖ר אֲנִ֥י עֹשֶֽׂה׃

God said, "Shall I hide from Abraham what I am going to do?

וְאַ֨בְרָהָ֔ם הָי֧וֹ יִֽהְיֶ֛ה לְג֥וֹי גָּד֖וֹל וְעָצ֑וּם וְנִ֨בְרְכוּ־ב֔וֹ כֹּ֖ל גּוֹיֵ֥י הָאָֽרֶץ׃

Abraham is about to become a great and mighty nation, and through him all the nations of the world will be blessed.

כִּ֣י יְדַעְתִּ֗יו לְמַ֩עַן֩ אֲשֶׁ֨ר יְצַוֶּ֜ה אֶת־בָּנָ֤יו וְאֶת־בֵּיתוֹ֙ אַחֲרָ֔יו וְשָֽׁמְרוּ֙ דֶּ֣רֶךְ יְהֹוָ֔ה לַעֲשׂ֥וֹת צְדָקָ֖ה וּמִשְׁפָּ֑ט לְמַ֗עַן הָבִ֤יא יְהֹוָה֙ עַל־אַבְרָהָ֔ם אֵ֥ת אֲשֶׁר־דִּבֶּ֖ר עָלָֽיו׃

I have given him special attention so that he will command his children and his household after him, and they will keep God's way, doing charity and justice. God will then bring about for Abraham everything He promised."

וַיֹּ֣אמֶר יְהֹוָ֔ה זַעֲקַ֛ת סְדֹ֥ם וַעֲמֹרָ֖ה כִּי־רָ֑בָּה וְחַ֨טָּאתָ֔ם כִּ֥י כָבְדָ֖ה מְאֹֽד׃

God [then] said, "The outcry against Sodom is so great, and their sin is so very grave.

אֵֽרְדָה־נָּ֣א וְאֶרְאֶ֔ה הַכְּצַעֲקָתָ֛הּ הַבָּ֥אָה אֵלַ֖י עָשׂ֣וּ ׀ כָּלָ֑ה וְאִם־לֹ֖א אֵדָֽעָה׃

I will descend and see. Have they done everything implied by the outcry that is coming before Me? If not, I will know."

Hashem says, "Shall I hide from Avraham what I am about to do?" Avraham will become a great nation, through him all nations will be blessed, and he will command his household to keep Hashem's way of charity and justice. Then Hashem says that the outcry against Sodom is great and its sin very grave, and He will go down and see. Hashem decided not to hide it, and the Me'am Loez gives seven reasons. Rashi's are that Sodom was part of the land Hashem had given Avraham, so he should be told before part of it was destroyed, and that Avraham, the "father of many nations," should be told before his children are destroyed. Hashem even waited in Avraham's house while Avraham looked after his guests, so that He could tell him.

English from The Living Torah by Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan, used with the permission of the Kaplan family. Hebrew: Miqra according to the Masorah (CC BY-SA).

Takeaways

  • Every mitzvah, especially a hard one done with joy, changes you and opens a closeness to Hashem you didn't have before.
  • Wash the dust off your feet: what you achieve doesn't come from your own strength, so lean on Hashem.
  • Welcoming a guest counts for more than time with Hashem Himself, and a guest should leave having learned something true.
  • Say little and do much, and when it is a mitzvah, do it yourself.
  • Peace at home is worth changing a word for, and each mitzvah opens the door to the next one.
Going deeper— the stories, Kabbalah and the reasons behind the reasons

Where Avraham's story stands

  • Avram went from Charan to Canaan, went down to Egypt because of the famine, came back, and separated from Lot.
  • Then came the war of the four kings against the five, Lot's rescue, the meeting with Malki-Tzedek (Shem), and the Bris Bein HaBesarim, the covenant between the halves, where Hashem promised Avraham the Land.
  • Sarah gave Hagar to Avraham and Yishmael was born when Avraham was 86. At 99, Avram and Sarai became Avraham and Sarah, and Avraham had his bris milah, his circumcision. Our parsha opens just after the bris.

Why Hashem appeared in Mamre's grove

  • Aner, Eshkol and Mamre were Avraham's three close friends, called his "baalei bris." That can mean his allies by treaty, or that they had a part in his bris.
  • When Hashem commanded Avraham to circumcise himself, he asked the three of them for advice. Aner and Eshkol tried to talk him out of it, or at least to balance what was best for him against Hashem's command.
  • Mamre told him to do exactly what Hashem had said. Because Mamre showed the deepest faith, Hashem appeared to Avraham in Mamre's grove of all places.

Hashem visits the sick, and makes the day hot

  • The verse never says Hashem told Avraham anything. Hashem simply appeared. The Talmud (Bava Metzia 86b) explains that He came to do bikur cholim, to visit Avraham while he was recovering from his circumcision.
  • According to the opinion that the bris was on Yom Kippur, this visit was on the twelfth of Tishrei, the third day after it. The third day is when the inflammation is usually worst, and Avraham was 99.
  • The Talmud says Hashem made the day very hot. The Yefeh To'ar explains that cold weather is bad for an inflamed wound and can bring on infection. Why should everyone else enjoy pleasant weather while Avraham suffers?
  • A similar story is told in Taanis 24b. Rabbi Chanina ben Dosa was walking home with a sack of salt when it started to rain, and he said, "Should the whole world be happy and Chanina sad?" The rain stopped. When he got home he said, "Should the whole world be sad and Chanina happy?" and it rained again. Hashem runs the world for the righteous: "He fulfills the desire of those who fear Him."

The bandage test and the tent with four doors

  • The verse seems to contradict itself. The men were "standing over him," right next to him, yet Avraham "ran to greet them." Why run to someone who is already standing there?
  • The Chen Tov explains. Avraham wanted to know what kind of people these were, so as they came close he began changing the bandage on his circumcision wound. They immediately turned away so as not to intrude on him, which showed they were polite and decent.
  • There is a second problem. If they had turned away, the verse should say he ran after them, not that he ran to greet them. The answer is that Avraham's tent had a door on every side. When they turned the corner, he ran through the tent and out another door, and met them face to face.

Why Avraham checked his guests before leaving Hashem

  • Normally Avraham would host anyone at all. This time he was going to leave the Shechinah waiting, so he had to be sure these were good people. He could not step away from Hashem for wicked men.
  • He saw that the three treated each other with respect. Important people respect one another, even someone of lower rank. Small people's pride will not let them admit that anyone else matters.
  • The Talmud (Yoma 37a) says Michael, the greatest of the three, walked in the middle, with Gavriel on his right and Rafael on his left. When three people walk together, the greatest walks in the middle.
  • Avraham calls them "Adonai," a name usually kept for Hashem. The Talmud (Shevuos 35b) says that here it can refer to the guests.

Shoes, feet, and the foundation of faith

  • The same idea shows up at the burning bush, where Moshe is told to take off his shoes on holy ground. Feet and shoes stand for our tie to the material world and for the feeling that "I got myself here."
  • You can only truly connect to Hashem once you drop the idea that it all comes from you.
  • Avraham started his guests' education at the lowest part of the body on purpose. Once a person knows it is all from Hashem, he has a solid foundation to build everything else on.

Say little, do much

  • Avraham promised only "a morsel of bread" and then served a feast. The Talmud (Bava Metzia 87a) learns from this that the righteous say little and do much.
  • Rabbeinu Bachya connects "pas," a morsel, with "pisom," suddenly. Avraham was telling them that if he had known they were coming he would have made a great feast, but they came so suddenly. They answered that a little bread was enough and he shouldn't trouble himself.

How the Sages read what the verse leaves out

  • The verse says bread was offered and dough was kneaded, but bread was never served. Once you notice a gap like that, you can lay out every situation that could explain it.
  • This shows one way the Sages reached their conclusions: through careful logic about what the words force us to say. Some of it may also be mesorah, a tradition passed down to them.

When it is a mitzvah, do it yourself

  • Avraham had 318 servants, he was old, and he was in pain from his circumcision, yet he served the guests himself, bringing in Sarah and Yishmael only so they would share the mitzvah.
  • The Shulchan Aruch rules that it is always better to do a mitzvah yourself.
  • The Talmud (Shabbos 119a) tells how great sages prepared for Shabbos with their own hands even though others could have done it for them. Rav Chisda cut vegetables, Rabbah and Rav Yosef chopped wood, Rav Zeira lit the fire, and Rav Nachman bar Yitzchak carried the shopping home.

Why Avraham stood over his guests

  • Cheese and milk served together with meat raises the problem of basar b'chalav, meat and milk.
  • When two people eat meat and dairy at the same table, one might take a bite from the other's plate and mix the two. Avraham stood over them so they would be embarrassed to taste from each other's plates, and so that anyone who wanted dairy after meat would be reminded not to (P'nei Shlomo).
  • This shows how much Avraham cared about other people's mitzvah observance, not only his own.

Do angels eat?

  • Angels don't eat physical food, so what does "they ate" mean? The Yefeh To'ar and the Zohar say Avraham taught them Torah, and Torah nourishes the soul the way food nourishes the body.
  • The Me'am Loez brings that they only looked as if they were eating. They lifted the food to their mouths and it burned up in their hands, so it disappeared bit by bit and Avraham assumed they were eating.
  • The Talmud (Bava Metzia 86b) learns from this that in a strange place you should always follow the local custom and not stand out. In human form, the angels acted like people who eat.
  • Tosafos there says they really did eat, out of respect for Avraham.

Why three angels, and why Hashem came Himself

  • Each angel had a job. Rafael came to heal Avraham, Michael to bring Sarah the news of a son, and Gavriel to destroy Sodom.
  • Tosafos and Rabbeinu Bachya explain that one angel cannot carry out two opposite missions, such as strict justice for Sodom and mercy for Sarah.
  • Hashem also wanted no jealousy among the angels, since all of them wanted to do His will for Avraham. So He gave each one a part, as it says, "He makes peace in His heights."
  • Hashem could have done all three jobs Himself. He sent the angels for the practical work, so we see that He came to Avraham only to honor him.

When the promise would be fulfilled

  • There are two opinions on when this visit took place. The Targum says it was on Pesach. Others say it was two days after Yom Kippur, since the Talmud (Rosh Hashanah 11a) also disputes whether Avraham's bris was in Tishrei or before Pesach.
  • Everyone agrees that Yitzchak was born on Pesach. One explanation of "this time next year" is that the angel marked the wall where the sunlight fell, and said that when the sunbeam reached that spot again, Sarah would have a son.

Delivering big news with strategy

  • The angels did not just announce a son. They hinted, built up to it, and then gave the news, so it would be believed and not brushed off as a polite blessing.
  • The same goes for us. When you need to tell someone something important, first build the conversation and the trust, hint at it, and only then say it. If you want to be believed, don't just blurt things out.

Why Sarah laughed

  • When a person hears a blessing, he should answer amen. Amen comes from emunah, faith, and means "I believe this can happen." Since the angel spoke in Hashem's name, Sarah should have said amen instead of laughing.
  • Sarah was a greater prophet than Avraham; that is why she was also called Yiskah. But when her period returned she became tamei and lost her prophecy, so she took the prediction for a guest's courtesy.
  • A second opinion says Sarah believed Hashem could do anything, but thought the guests were ordinary old men. She was laughing at an old man promising "I will return next year" when he could not know he would still be alive. Read this way, "adoni zakein" means "my lord is old" and refers to the guest, not her husband.
  • Ashmedai, king of the demons, laughed the same way (Gittin 68b). He was being brought in chains to King Shlomo, who needed the shamir, a creature that could cut stone, to build the Temple. On the way, Ashmedai laughed at a man ordering shoes to last seven years, when the man did not know he would live seven days.
  • On this reading, Hashem told Avraham to let Sarah know that the guests were His messengers. It is Hashem who says "I will return," so the promise is not a joke.

A mitzvah brings another mitzvah

  • The more a person takes on mitzvos, the more opportunities Hashem seems to send his way.
  • This is "s'char mitzvah mitzvah": the reward of a mitzvah is another mitzvah. It snowballs, putting you in situations with more chances to do good, just as the angels slowed down so Avraham could escort them.

Seven reasons Hashem told Avraham about Sodom

  • Rashi and the Zohar: Sodom and the cities around it were part of the land of Canaan that Hashem had given Avraham, so he should be told before part of it was destroyed.
  • Rashi and Bereishis Rabbah: Avraham was the "father of many nations," and it is not proper to destroy children without telling their father so he should be told. The Yefeh To'ar adds that Lot, Avraham's nephew, lived in Sodom.
  • The Ramban: if Hashem hadn't told him, people would ask why the beloved Avraham wasn't told, or why he didn't pray. Telling him showed the world how beloved he was and that he did everything he could to save them.
  • Bereishis Rabbah: Hashem had shown Avraham the punishments of Gehinnom. Seeing Sodom's sins and its punishment come true would show people that what Avraham taught about punishment was accurate.
  • Hashem had taught Avraham all the secrets of the Torah, and since nothing was hidden from him, Sodom's fate should not be hidden either.
  • The Tanchuma: in the war of the kings, Avraham took Sodom's side. When he saw its men retreat rather than fight, he took them for peaceful people who would do anything rather than kill, and could not imagine them as sinners. Hashem wanted him to see that Sodom was not being destroyed for no reason.

Sodom's wealth and its four sins

  • Gavriel, the angel of fire, was sent to destroy Sodom and Amorah.
  • Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer says Sodom was extremely wealthy and exported gold and precious stones. No other city was blessed like it, and its people had no money worries.
  • Last week's parsha called its people "ra'im v'chata'im laHashem me'od," wicked and sinners to Hashem, exceedingly. The Talmud (Sanhedrin 109a) reads each word as a separate sin. "Wicked" means with their bodies, "sinners" means with their money, "to Hashem" means blasphemy, and "exceedingly" means bloodshed.
  • The Me'am Loez lists four sins of its own: immorality, refusing hospitality, crime and corruption, and murder. Sefer HaYashar describes the first. Every July the people of the five cities, Sodom, Amorah, Admah, Tzevoyim and Tzoar, gathered at an oasis of springs and fruit trees six hours from Sodom for four days and nights of eating and drinking, where, married or not, they committed adultery, incest and every kind of immorality.

No room for strangers

  • The second sin was refusing hospitality. The people had an agreement that no one would host a traveler, so every stranger slept in the street. They even cut down trees so the birds would have nowhere to rest, and anyone who gave hospitality was burned alive.
  • A poor man would be given coins with the givers' names engraved on them, but no shopkeeper was allowed to sell him anything. When he starved to death, each giver took his coin back, the people held a raffle for his clothes, and the loser had to bury him.
  • The Talmud (Sanhedrin 109b) describes Sodom's special beds for strangers. A guest who was too tall had his feet cut off to fit, and one who was too short was stretched by three men while the people laughed at his screams.
  • Avraham's servant Eliezer knew their customs. When he passed through, he said that since his mother died he had vowed not to sleep in a bed for twelve months, and so he escaped the beds.
  • Anyone who brought a stranger to a celebration was stripped of his clothes and sent home naked. Eliezer would come to their banquets uninvited, and when someone asked who invited him he would announce loudly, "You invited me!" The man would run off rather than be stripped, and Eliezer ate in peace.

Lot's daughter and the cry that reached Hashem

  • Lot's daughter, who had married a man of Sodom, felt sorry for a poor man who had not eaten for days. Every day at the well she secretly left bread for him.
  • The authorities could not understand why he was still alive, so they investigated, caught her, and according to Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer and Sefer HaYashar, burned her alive in public so that people would learn not to pity strangers.
  • Another girl was punished for the same kindness. The Talmud (Sanhedrin 109b) says they smeared her with honey and set her on the city wall, where hornets devoured her; the Me'am Loez tells it with an anthill. The Zohar says this girl was Lot's daughter, left on a roof for the bees and wasps. Her screams are the outcry that reached Hashem.

Theft and crooked courts

  • The third sin was crime and corruption. They would befriend a wealthy traveler, get him away from the servants and guards traveling with him, murder him and take his money. A merchant with a caravan whose money they couldn't find was asked to store some expensive perfume with his valuables; then they attacked the caravan, followed the scent and plundered everything.
  • When a merchant came with produce, everyone took just one piece until nothing was left. If he complained, each one said, "I only took one onion, what's the big deal?"
  • Sefer HaYashar tells of a merchant who left his costly purple wool with a Sodomite for safekeeping. When he asked for it back, the host, Hidur, said he must have dreamed it, interpreted the dream for him, and complained that he usually charged four gold coins for a reading and had done it for free. The judge ruled that with no receipt the host owed nothing, and the merchant was driven out in disgrace.
  • The fourth sin was murder, made possible by courts that protected the abusers. A woman struck so that she miscarried could not prosecute, and if she complained she was given to her attacker until she became pregnant again (Sanhedrin 109b).
  • Sarah once sent Eliezer to Lot in Sodom. There he scolded a man who was beating a poor traveler, and the man hit him in the head with a stone. The judge ordered Eliezer to pay the man, because he was a "bloodletter" who had let his blood. Eliezer struck the judge with a stone and told him: pay my fee straight to that man.

Why Sodom could be judged before there was a Torah

  • Even so, Hashem gave them every chance. The Yefeh Toar says Sodom stood for 52 years, and for 25 years before its destruction Hashem sent signs: great earthquakes with a rainbow after each one, and torrential rains. Sodom's priests read them as signs of doom, but the people did not change.
  • Usually an outcry is more dramatic than the wrong behind it. Here, Hashem found the sin was even greater than the cry.
  • The verse says "ha'ketzaakasah," "her outcry," with a feminine ending. That tells us it was the screams of the girl smeared with honey that brought Sodom to judgment.
  • Why punish them when there was no Torah yet? Because kindness is logical and comes naturally. Anyone who sees a starving stranger feels pity, and you don't need a Torah to teach you that. Sodom lacked even ordinary humanity, and Hashem listens especially to the cry of the poor.
Review questions
  1. What three questions does the Alshich ask on Bereishis 18:1, and how does the power of a mitzvah answer all of them?
  2. How does the Chen Tov explain why Avraham "ran to greet" men who were already standing over him?
  3. What does it mean that the travelers bowed to the dust of their feet, and what were Avraham's guests taught by washing it off and resting under the tree?
  4. Avraham promised bread but never served it. Why not?
  5. What did Hashem change when He told Avraham about Sarah's laughter, and what do we learn from it?
  6. If there was no Torah yet, why was Sodom held responsible for its cruelty?
Sources
  • Me'am Loez — the book we follow; among other things, the angels' food burning up in their hands
  • Alshich — three questions on 18:1; Sarah baking herself for important guests; the angels getting up "like men" so Avraham could escort them
  • Rabbeinu Bachya — the hour of the visit; pas (morsel) linked to pisom (suddenly); why one angel cannot do two missions
  • Talmud, Bava Metzia 86b–87a — Hashem visiting the sick; the heat; Eliezer finding no guests; say little, do much; Sarah's modesty and the cup of blessing; follow the local custom
  • Talmud, Shabbos 127a — welcoming guests is greater than receiving the Shechinah
  • Talmud, Yoma 37a — Michael in the middle, Gavriel on the right, Rafael on the left
  • Rashi — the young man was Yishmael; why no bread was served; Sarah's withered womb (from the Tanchuma); why Hashem told Avraham about Sodom; changing words for shalom bayis
  • Bereishis Rabbah — the three angels; worshiping the dust of the feet; shalom bayis; Gehinnom revealed to Avraham
  • Yefeh To'ar — why the heat helped Avraham; dust of the feet as worshiping your own effort; Torah as the angels' food; Lot living in Sodom; Sodom's 52 years
  • Kli Yakar — "rest under the tree" means lean on Hashem, the tree of life
  • Chen Tov — the bandage test; Avraham reassuring guests they would not be circumcised
  • Bris Shalom — "Where is Sarah?" as the lead-in to the news of a son
  • Ramban — Sarah laughed about both of them; why Avraham had to be told (so people would see he was beloved and had prayed); Sarah's denial
  • Talmud, Sanhedrin 109a–b — Sodom's four sins, the beds, the banquets, the bloodletter judge, the girl whose cry was heard
  • Sefer HaYashar and Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer — Sodom's wealth, the festival, Lot's daughter, the merchant's stolen wool
  • Talmud, Taanis 24b — Rabbi Chanina ben Dosa and the rain
  • Talmud, Shabbos 119a — the sages preparing for Shabbos with their own hands
  • Talmud, Gittin 68b — Ashmedai laughing at the seven-year shoes
  • Talmud, Rosh Hashanah 11a — Yitzchak born on Pesach
  • Ahavas Tzion — Avraham's students ate the bread, and their cup of blessing went to Sarah
  • Midrash Tanchuma — the sunbeam marked on the wall
  • Zohar — the girl on the roof was Lot's daughter