Vayera

The sicha for parshas Vayera is in Vol. V of Likkutei Sichos

In this week’s parsha we are told about G-d’s visit with Avraham, and Rashi quotes the Gemarrah that G-d came to visit Avraham, as bikur cholim, a visit to the sick and then goes on to say, that that day was the third day after the bris, the circumcision and G-d came to enquire about Avraham’s health, to see how he was feeling.

The question is, how does the Gemarrah know that this visit, “vayera elav,” happened on the third day of the mila. And in fact, why should it happen on that day? Why not earlier? And although we could say on the first day, G-d was there and helped him with the mila, so that constituted a visit, and when the Torah says again, “vayera elav,” it means a new visit, but why can’t that be and why shouldn’t it be the second day after the circumcision?

The Rebbe explains, after showing how other commentaries’ answers are not sufficient, as follows:

Maaseh Avos siman l’banim, that the mitzvos that we are able to fulfill, and the way that we fulfill mitzvahs today after Matan Torah, the Giving of the Torah, is possible because of the fact that the Avos, the Patriarchs, also fulfilled the mitzvahs. So it must be that since the mitzvahs that we do today have to permeate the physical object with which we do the mitzvah, so that it becomes an object of holiness, an object of G-dliness, it must be that there was at least one mitzvah that the Avos performed that had this quality where the mitzvah permeated and had a permanent effect in the physical world. That mitzvah is the mitzvah of circumcision, where the holiness of the mitzvah remained permanent in the physical.

Now in the performance of mitzvahs as we do them after Matan Torah, it is important and necessary that the mitzvahs are performed in tevah, according to nature, and not in a miraculous way. Since the mitzvah is meant to purify the world, it has to permeate into the conditions and the properties that govern the physical world, and not by overruling the nature of the world. Not only in the act of the mitzvah itself, but even in the preparation to the mitzvah, this should also be done according to nature, and by the nature of the world.

This is like the famous story of the Alter Rebbe, who wanted the boatman to stop the boat even after it had already stopped miraculously through the Alter Rebbe’s intervention. However he wanted the boatman to agree to stop the boat, and that was only a preparation to doing the mitzvah, and even that preparation, the Alter Rebbe wanted that to come about in a natural way, that the boatman should stop the boat.

The same is true in the result of the mitzvah, in the consequences of the mitzvah, that they should also happen naturally and not miraculously. And so we understand from this, that wherever there is a difficulty inherent in the performance of a mitzvah because of the nature of the world, we don’t do anything to remove that difficulty. This is one of the reasons we don’t use an anesthetic on a child when we do the bris because it has to be performed in a natural condition without tampering or altering the nature of the mitzvah. And so the difficulty that is inherent in the performance of a mitzvah, we allow that difficulty to remain in order that we do the mitzvah in its natural condition. If you take away the difficulty, then you have tampered with the natural condition in which the mitzvah is being performed.

This doesn’t mean, the Rebbe says, that we have to go looking for difficulties and that we have to make mitzvahs difficult, but where there is a difficulty according to nature, we don’t go out of our way to remove the difficulty. As the Zohar puts it, we don’t do mitzvahs through shortcuts and the easiest fashion, but rather we do the mitzvah according to the laws of nature by effort and by striving. And that is what we are told about the Arizal that he would never argue about the price of an esrog, or any mitzvah and try to bring the price down.

Now this behavior of the Arizal is reflected in an earlier generation, in the times of the Gemarrah, in Rabbi Gamliel. Rabbi Gamliel once paid a thousand zuz for an esrog, to tell you how precious the mitzvah was. From this we learn not only that you should not try to take away the difficulty of a mitzvah, like the steep price of an esrog, but we see from this also, that even if the condition is the result of some secondary external cause – it’s not that an esrog essentially should cost a thousand zuz, it must be that there was some unusual circumstance that was causing the price to be that high. So you might think that since by nature the esrog doesn’t cost that much, Rabbi Gamliel should have refused to pay that price. And yet he didn’t. We see from this that even though the price of the esrog was so high, not because of the nature of the esrog, but because of the nature of business, Rabbi Gamliel did not try to reduce the price. This shows that we don’t try to get around the difficulties inherent in the performance of a mitzvah.

And the same thing with Avraham, that his difficulty in his mitzvah of circumcision is not inherent in the nature of circumcision but to a great degree because of his age, that it was so dangerous for him to have the circumcision, and yet he didn’t try to avoid it.

What we see from this is, that the mitzvah of circumcision has to be performed in such a way that it reflects the mitzvahs as we do them today, after Matan Torah, in that we do them according to nature and not try to avoid the nature. Therefore the pain and the healing that is associated with the bris all had to follow the natural pattern. And that’s why G-d came to him on the third day, when it would be natural for the healing to take place.

Now the question is, if the healing has to take place naturally and not rushed through miraculous intervention, how is it that are told that malach Raphael, the angel Raphael came to heal Avraham? That sounds like supernatural healing.

The Rebbe explains that when natural things happen they are always caused by malachim, as it says in the Gemarrah that every blade of grass has a malach that strikes it and tells it to grow. All natural phenomena are caused by angels, by spiritual powers. Usually we don’t see the angel; we see only the resulting physical phenomenon. But Avraham because of his holiness and greatness, to him all G-dliness was revealed, and therefore he saw not only the behavior, the phenomenon, but he saw the angel causing the behavior as well.

So the fact that malach Raphael came to heal Avraham is not an extraordinary event. Every healing, every cure comes through the malach Raphael, because he is the angel in charge of healing. It is only that we don’t see the angel, whereas Avraham did. Now we understand why the healing and G-d’s visit to Avraham had to come on the third day. Healing by nature happens on the third day and so not to rush it supernaturally, G-d came on the third day and so did the angel. This is how the Gemarrah knows that the visit came on the third day, because earlier than that it would have interfered with the nature of the healing of the circumcision.

What remains to be explained is, why couldn’t G-d come to visit, not to heal, on the first two days.

We are told that every visit to someone who is sick brings healing; it takes away 1/60^th of the illness from the patient which means that 1/60^th of the healing takes place. But certainly when G-d comes to visit, the healing is complete and happens instantly, as we see that immediately after G-d’s visit, Avraham was able to run towards the guest, and run to prepare the sheep, and so on.

This is not a contradiction to the fact that the malach Raphael came to bring the cure. The cure begins on a much higher level where G-d makes the cure, and then the malach brings the cure. So the cure first comes from G-d’s visit, G-d is the ultimate healer, but the way in which is the healing is brought into the world and what form it takes, comes through malach Raphael who brings it down lamatah, in this world, and reveals in its fullness. Therefore G-d didn’t come to visit Avraham which would be a healing until the third day so as not to interfere with the mitzvah.

It’s like the famous story of the chassid who would walk from his home to make a pilgrimage to Lubavitch. It was a very difficult, arduous trek, and as he was getting older, people started urging him to take a wagon, to go by horse. He answered them that when he gets to heaven, and they weigh the mitzvahs on the scales against the sins, he will have the mitzvah of having gone to the Rebbe, and he doesn’t want to share that mitzvah with a horse. So he didn’t take the easier way, the lighter way, because he wanted the effort involved inherent in the mitzvah.

The lesson that we learn from all of this is that the mitzvah of bikur cholim is something that we should be mimicking G-d, that just as G-d visits the sick, we should also visit the sick. And that’s why the Torah says, “vayera elav Hashem”, that G-d appeared to him, and it doesn’t say “G-d appeared to Avraham” because we would think that it was because of Avraham’s greatness that he deserved a visit, and then we wouldn’t be able to learn from that, that every person who is ill, even if he is not as great as Avraham, deserves to be visited.

And so the Torah says, “vayera elav”, that you have to go a visit any person who is ill. And we need to know that it happened on the third day, to tell us how a mitzvah should be performed and how precious the mitzvah should be, so that even the pain, or the expense, or the difficulty involved in the mitzvah should not only be accepted but we shouldn’t go out of our way to avoid it, so that the mitzvah is performed in its most natural condition, and thereby sanctify the world, rather than nullify the world.

There is another sicha on Vayera, in Vol. XV of Likkutei Sichos, which is very informative and very interesting. The Rebbe speaks there about the Midrash that says, vayikra sham b’shem Hashem Kel Olam, that Avraham called there in Beersheva where he lived, he called there in the name of
G-d. The Gemarrah says, don’t read it “vayikra”, that he called, but “v’yakre” that he caused others to call in the name of G-d.

This tells us that Avraham set up a food distribution center, a restaurant, and when everyone after finishing eating and would try to thank him for the food, he would tell them to thank G-d instead. Thereby he made known G-d to the people. Those who refused, Avraham would make very uncomfortable for them by presenting them with a very large bill, until he would force them to thank G-d.

So the Rebbe asks, those people who bentched after Avraham explained to them that the food didn’t come from him but that it came from the Creator of the world, from G-d, they came to recognize G-d. But the people who were forced to bentch because he gave them a big bill and they couldn’t pay it, they were only saying the words, because they had no choice, how does that constitute recognizing the Creator, and coming closer to G-d, that it should be included in the statement that Avraham caused people to call in the name of G-d? How is that calling in the name of G-d?

In fact the Gemarrah goes on to say that when Avraham did this, G-d said to him that by doing this you become My partner in creation, because My name was not known to My creations. But you made Me known and recognized to My creations. So how does this constitute being recognized and being a partner in creation?

The Rebbe says that we find this idea, that a person could come to recognize G-dliness through being forced, through being hit, by weakening the yetzer hara, until the person says I want to do a mitzvah in the laws of divorce. If a man doesn’t want to give his wife a divorce, he is whipped until he says I want to and then it is considered a voluntary authorization of a get.

How is it voluntary? The Rambam explains that the essence of a Jew is to do the mitzvah, and it is only the yetzer hara that was gets in the way. By removing the external resistance, you reveal the true desire of a Jew and that is that he wants to do the mitzvah, because a Jew has a G-dly soul that wants to do what’s right. Even though he is being forced to say it, we believe concerning his inner will, his pnimiyus haratzon, that he wants to do the mitzvah.

We find that there are deeper ways in which the inner will of the person is itself revealed. As we find, for example, by the meraglim, the spies that Moshe sent into Israel. They came back and said, we don’t believe that G-d can capture the land from the nations and the kings who live there; we don’t believe that He can do it. But then after Moshe spoke to them harsh words, he hit them with strong words that G-d was angry with them, and called them a wicked congregation and so on, then it says that the people were very sad about what they had done, and then they turned around and said we are ready to go.

So we see here that their inner will was changed, just by harsh words. And their inner will came out and revealed itself in that they asked to go, they wanted to go up and engage in the war.

Also we find where the Mishnah says that there is a heavenly voice that calls out every day, and says, woe to the creatures who insult the Torah by not studying it, and they are rejected and excommunicated and so on. The question is, if the purpose of this heavenly voice is to arouse people to study Torah, then the message, the content of this heavenly message should be, how great Torah is and how great the study of Torah is.

Why then does it emphasize the negative, woe to the creatures who don’t study Torah?

The answer is that since every Jew has a G-dly soul that wants to fulfill mitzvahs, and what’s more, that the inner truth of every Jew is that he is a treasure house of great spiritual wealth, like belief in G-d and love of G-d, which is the source and the motivation of all mitzvahs, so in essence, the person doesn’t need by virtue of his G-dly soul, to be told the greatness of Torah, the greatness of mitzvahs.

Therefore were it not for the fact that these people find themselves in a situation where the only thing that can be said of them is that they are creatures – woe to the creatures who insult the Torah – were it not that they had fallen to such a low level where the treasures, the goodness and the G-dliness of their souls is so buried and so hidden that they can’t be revealed, and even if you talk to them about the greatness of Torah, it doesn’t reach them because of their coarseness and insensitivity, then what needs to happen is the coarseness has to be removed, the shell, the kelipah has to be broken, and that comes through the harsh words where the heavenly voice says, woe to you, and that breaks insensitivity and the callousness of the yetzer hara and the true essence of the Jew shows.

There is a lower level, where even that wouldn’t be enough, to say woe to you that you are insulting the Torah. For this you have to assume a certain amount of sensitivity, that Torah is precious to them and meaningful to them, and when you say to them that you are insulting the Torah, and woe to you for doing such a thing, that itself is enough to break the kelipah, to break the callousness and make them sensitive again.

But then there are those who are on an even lower level and for them this wouldn’t be enough, and what you have to say to them is that you are rejected, you are excommunicated because of what you are doing, and that is like what is says in Tanya, where you have to scream at the yetzer hara, you are wicked and disgusting and so on. And only then, do they become ready to receive G-dliness, does the kelipah breaks and allows them to pursue the holiness.

We find a story in the Gemarrah where Rabbi Elazar was traveling on the road and he met a person who was exceedingly ugly, and Reb Elazar said to him, empty one how ugly you are. And the man responded, go and say to the Craftsman, to the Creator who made me, how ugly is the vessel that You have made.

The question is, what was Reb Elazar thinking? Certainly Reb Elazar also believed that G-d is the Creator and Former and Shaper of all things, so that this body that this person had, which was exceedingly ugly, was also the handiwork of Hashem, so what did he think before he said it and what did he gain by hearing the man say it?

And in general, we need to understand how Reb Elazar could say such a harsh thing to a person. The explanation is that with these words, Reb Elazar’s purpose was to remove and to correct a spiritual ugliness that was reflected in the physical appearance. And what’s more, the only virtue that existed in this person is that he is a creature, a creation of G-d, and yet, this person failed to recognize that.

So Reb Elazar wanted to accomplish was at least this one little thing: that the work of G-d’s hands should recognize its Creator. And therefore, Reb Elazar said to him, how ugly you are, and this caused him to respond, go speak to the Craftsman who made me. And for the first time, this man came to recognize the significance and the relevance of the fact that he was created, and that he had a Creator and not only a Creator that creates creatures but a Craftsman who fashions the vessels as He needs them. This means that he is not only a creation of G-d but a necessary creation that exists to fulfill a purpose for which G-d created him. And by using this harsh approach, he broke through that kelipah and revealed the ability in this person to recognize his Creator.

And so we find also by Avraham, that when Avraham used this harsh method of putting the person into an uncomfortable situation where he is forced to recognize that he ate of G-d’s food, having first tried to explain to him the existence and the greatness of G-d and to arouse in him a feeling for G-dliness, he would then cause him this discomfort to remove the callousness and the cynicism, so that he became capable of recognizing and appreciating what Avraham had tried to explain to him previously. By removing the resistance, he moved them to a true recognition and appreciation of G-dliness, and thereby made G-d recognized in His creation.

Therefore the lesson is for all of us, maaer avos siman l’banim, that we have to make G-d known not only to people who come to us, but we have to go and reach out to the people who are street people, who are passers-by, and this should be not only in words, but even if we have to feed them, bring them food and drink, in order to get them to recognize and feel something for their Creator. And at times we might have to put them under pressure, like Avraham did: there were those who were of Shem and Yafet, whom he was able to reach with words and explanations about the greatness of G-d, and then there were those of Ham, with whom he had to use this other method, of first breaking the kelipah, and then getting them to understand.

And certainly now, after the Flood, and after Matan Torah, it is much easier to reach people, so that when we tell people to do a mitzvah, by putting on tefillin in the street, and it may seem that he is only doing it to get rid of the pressure, to get you off his back, yet through this mitzvah, he comes to recognize G-d, and one mitzvah leads to another, until, as the Rambam says, the world will be filled with the knowledge of G-d.

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