Vayeira 2023/5785

“And God appeared unto him at the oaks of Mamre, and he was sitting in the entrance of the tent in the heat of the day.” (Bereshit, 18:1)
It is written (Malachi, 3:20), “For those who fear My name I will shine the sun of tsedaka (righteousness) and of healing in her wings.”

THOSE WHO FEAR MY NAME = AN UNDERSTANDING OF WORDS OF TORAH

“Those who fear My name” means those who have an understanding of words of Torah and of God. This will necessitate that they have true fear, and this is the explanation of “those who fear My name.” promising them that He will shine the sun of tsedaka upon them, or in other words, refined words of Torah.

"OF HEALING WINGS" = TRUST

“Of healing in her wings” means trust, or taking strength in God and in words of Torah, just as wings are the trust and strength of the bird.

TEKIFUT / SPECIAL STRENGTH

We find that before God was revealed to him, Avraham Avinu derived no satisfaction from all the matters of this world, and even despised them. His true desire was to know “who is the master of the city [the world].” This is as is written (Mishlei, 15:24), “the way of life is above for the intelligent,” meaning that this quest was his principal concern, as something placed on high.

OAKS = SPECIAL STRENGTH

MAMRE = ELDER WHO REFUSES TO ABIDE BY COURT INJUNCTION

T

herefore God appeared unto him and gave him the special strength (tekifut) of refined words of Torah, for “oaks” denotes special strength, and “Mamre” (as in zaken mamre, an elder who refuses to abide by the injunction of the courts) means that he refused all the matters of this world, finding them bitter.

SITTING IN ENTRANCE = FERVENT LOVE OF GOD (THAT IS CALLED "DAY")

“And he was sitting in the entrance to the tent in the heat of the day.” In other words, he was fervent for the love of God that is called day, and it was explicit before him. This is the meaning of “in the entrance to the tent,” meaning that it was open before him.

3 X ANGELS = 3 x 1/3 OF THE WORLD

“And behold, three men were standing upon him” means that God showed him that all the world stands upon him, for an angel is one-third of the world, as it is written in the Midrash. (Bereshit Rabba, 68:12, where it says that an angel is the high officer [shalish, see Shirat haYam, Shemot 15:4] of the world, and based on the similarity of the words interprets that the size of an angel is a third [shlish] of the world, using the verse in Daniel when he saw an angel [10:6], “His body was like tarshish [beryl, a brilliant gem in the urim and tummim, on the high priest’s breastplate, and also meaning the finest ship of the ancient world],” and as Rashi notes, like a ship on the high sea, and the ocean is a third of the world.) He showed him that the entire world exists in the merit of Avraham Avinu.

‎Genesis 18,1. “Hashem appeared to him (Avraham) in the ‎groves of Mamre.” Since we have been told that G’d had ‎departed from Avraham in 17,23, we would have expected the ‎verse here to mention the subject Avraham by name.

DIFFERENT AMOUNTS OF SHEFA/DIVINE BLESSING FLOW

Why does ‎the Torah only write ‎לו‎, “to him?”
G’d, i.e. aspects of the ‎אין ‏סוף‎, G’ds Essence, dispensed different amounts of ‎שפע‎, “original ‎light,” eventually converted in the lower domains of the universe ‎into matter of varying degrees of physical densities.

DISTILLATIONS OF SHEFAH (TZIMTZUM)

Every such ‎שפע‎, represents a distillation, ‎צמצום‎, “shrinkage, of this original ‎light. [If I understood the concept correctly, Ed.] This process is ‎reflected already in the different names we have for G’d, the ‎letters in these names reflecting varying degrees of G’d’s having ‎restricted His manifestations to His creatures in order to make it ‎compatible with what His creature can tolerate.

This principle ‎applies not only to creatures in the lower part of the universe, i.e. ‎our planet, but also to the different categories of “angels,” ‎disembodied servants of the Lord in the celestial spheres, ‎according to the spiritual level attained by the creature, angel, or ‎human being, as the case may be.

m: AVRAHAM'S NAME REFLECTS HOW MUCH LIGHT HE CAN ABSORB WITHOUT BEING HARMED BY IT (us too?)

When such a human being ‎has been given a “name” by its Creator, this “name” reflects the ‎degree to which this person is able to absorb G’d’s “light,” ‎without being harmed by it.

When a human being serves his ‎Creator out of awe, ‎יראה‎, by totally negating the limitations ‎imposed on a soul while it is constricted by the body it inhabits, it ‎may be considered as having “disrobed,” shed the restrictions his ‎body imposed upon the free, upward, heavenward motion of his ‎soul. When we express this concept in terms of the meaning of ‎the letters in our G’d-given names, this means that we have ‎divested ourselves of our “names.”

AVRAHAM IS FREED FROM LIMITS OF HIS NAME

Avraham, at the time of his ‎life that the Torah speaks about here, had not yet freed himself ‎from the limits imposed upon him (by dint of the letters in his ‎name) prior to his having been circumcised. This state of flux, a ‎temporary situation, in which Avraham found himself at the ‎beginning of this portion, is reflected in the Torah referring to him ‎only by a pronoun, instead of by his full name.‎

“… and he looked, and he saw three people standing on [in front of] him.” (Bereshit, 18:2)
Why did the angels come before the birth of Yitzchak? The world did not deserve to have born into it a soul as precious as that of Yitzchak, for it was as if the very Shechina, the divine presence, were descending into the world. Yitzchak’s attribute is that of Gevurah (strength), and the Shechina is itself called Gevurah, as it says at Mount Sinai, “thus Moshe heard from the mouth of Gevurah” (see Eruvin, 54b).

This necessitated the arrival of the three angels in order that the atmosphere of the world would be filled with Kedusha (holiness), for “an angel is a third of the world” (see end of previous passage) and then afterwards Yitzchak could be born.

“And Sarah denied it, saying, I did not laugh ….” (Bereshit, 18:15)
There is a great depth in this matter. The saying of the Gemara (Berachot, 33b), “Rabbi Chanina said, all is in the hands of Heaven, except for the fear of Heaven,” applies only to the extent of the understanding of the mortal intellect [what the mind can grasp]. Truly, everyth ing is in the hands of Heaven including the fear of Heaven, yet God hid His way (this consciousness) in the world.

[Ari: here the MS contextualises the perush on the Gemara, clarifying it, in that the fear of Heaven limitation is only in this world]

The attribute of Yitzchak Avinu was to recognize that even the fear of Heaven comes from God, yet the world was not worthy of a consciousness as precious as this. Therefore Sarah found it necessary to say, “But my lord is old [too old to father children].” Here it seems as if she is denying that all is in the hands of Heaven.

Accordingly the Holy One, blessed be He, showed her, measure for measure, that even the fear of Heaven comes from Him, and were it not for the concealment of this understanding from her and from the world, Yitzchak could not have been born into the world. For the preciousness of the attribute of Yitzchak was to clarify and to show that even the fear of Heaven comes from God, and even all the transgressions of Israel occurred under the watch of God’s providence. By means of this God’s great name is exalted and sanctified! Understand this, for it is exceedingly deep.

(See in the Gemara [Avoda Zara, 4b], “Rabbi Yehusha ben Levi said, Israel only made the golden calf to support the position of ba’alei teshuva [penitents], as it is written (Devarim, 5:26), ‘would it were that they gave their hearts … to fear Me all the days.’ R. Yehoshua ben Levi said in the name of R. Shimon b. Yochai, David was not capable of this action [his sin with Bathsheba] as it is written (Tehilim, 109:22), ‘my heart is empty [of the evil inclination] within me [and therefore it has no power over me], and Israel was not supposed to be capable of making the golden calf, as it is written, ‘would that they gave their hearts to fear Me.’ So why did they make it? To show you, that if an individual sinned they say to him that it was entirely up to the individual, and if a whole community sinned then it was the responsibility of the entire community.”

Rashi comments: “to support the position of ba’alei teshuva,” that is to say that they were courageous and controlled their evil natures, and it was against their very abilities to give in to the evil inclination; yet it was the decree of the King that their evil natures overcome them. Yet it was in order to respond to the penitents, to show that there was value in their return, for perhaps after one sins he would say, “there is no need for me to return to the good, for God would not accept me anyway.” Then they could say to him, “go and learn from the incident with the golden cow, how they made atonement and their penance was accepted.”

And if so, what made it so that the tribes would fulfill the mitzvah of giving the half-shekel, it was to atone for their worship of the golden calf, and if the sin of the golden calf caused them to fulfill the mitzvah of the half-shekel, how much more so would be the effect of the merit of the mitzvot that they are doing! And in the Jerusalem Talmud it is written [Shekalim, Ch. 2, halacha 3], “since they sold the first born of Rachel for twenty silver pieces, thus each one must redeem his first born son for twenty silver pieces.” From the emendations of Yerucham Lainer.)

“All who hear will laugh from rejoicing in me ….” (Bereshit, 21:6)
“Hearing” means understanding. It is said (Bereshit Rabba, 45:8), “when Sarah became pregnant, many infertile women in the world became pregnant at the same time.” In response to this, many of the scoffers of the generation said, “who is to say that this miracle came about through the power of Sarah, were not many other infertile women answered with children?” So Sarah said, “all who hear,” meaning whoever possesses understanding will know that this was the laughter that God made for me.

[MJF: consider the universal connection of Sarah with all infertile women, but also the deep spiritual power of laughter]

“and Avraham returned to his place ….” (Bereshit, 18:33)
After Avraham wholly delivered himself over to the cause of saving the people of Sodom, and after most of the prayer that he exerted in order to save them, God answered him that they were hateful of God, and it hurt Him that he would exert so much over those who hate God. Therefore, “Avraham returned to his place,” meaning to his initial place of strength, for then he truly knew that he only really loves the lovers of God, and certainly this contained a depth far greater than his apprehension.

[MJF notes: consider community - who you are connecting with - and their connection to God.

Avraham connecting with fellow God-lovers as a way of both saving people from Sodom, but also building community for the future].

“And Avraham journeyed from there to the land of the Negev.” (Bereshit, 20:1)
Avraham Avinu refined all kinds of love in the world so that they be dedicated to God alone. Then, when he saw how an action as the incident between Lot and his two daughters could have occurred, he began anew the entire process of refining love. This is “and he journeyed,” from an action such as this, “to the land of the Negev,” meaning a place so dry that it was as if he had not even begun to refine love whatsoever.

[MJF notes: Avraham as connoisseurof love. Inventing love, refining it, learning what to do and what not to do based on other peoples' actions, eg Sodom]

“… for God has greatly closed up all the wombs of the house of Avimelech, concerning [his intentions to take Sarah for a wife] … And God remembered Sarah … and caused her to conceive ….” (Bereshit, 20:18, 21:1)
In the Midrash (Tanchuma, Vaye’chi, 8, on Yechezkel 17:24), “I have dried the wet [fertile] wood, and caused the dry wood to blossom. ‘Dried the wet wood,’ is Avimelech; ‘caused the dry wood to blossom,’ is Avraham.” Concerning Avraham it is written (Yechezkel, 33:24), “Avraham was one.” This means that in himself Avraham was not fit to give birth because he was intensely joined to God at the level of the final and most perfect form of simplicity. Whosoever is joined to God in such completeness only contains within him matters of pure simplicity and oneness with true life. Therefore when the Holy One, blessed be He, wanted Avraham to give birth to Yitzchak Avinu, He did so only after the incident with Avimelech.

Avimelech wanted to steal all that was in the possession of Avraham, and for this he was judged measure for measure. At that time the Gevurah (strength, severity) of the world was with the Philistines, and thus we find that the mighty Samson was always fighting with them. Therefore this very power of Gevurah was given to Avraham. (See Tsidkat haTsaddik, 249, which says, “Thus I have heard that Avraham Avinu received the spirit of wisdom and understanding from Egypt, and the spirit of counsel and Gevurah from Avimelech. This is the reason why they suspected that Sarah became pregnant from Avimelech [as the Midrash Tanchuma, Toldot 1, says, “since Sarah gave birth immediately after the incidents with Pharaoh and Avimelech, they said, ‘from Pharaoh or Avimelech she conceived.’” Then even Avraham began to suspect, so God clarified the matter by making the face of Yitzchak exactly like the face of Avraham] for immediately when the power of birth was taken from Avimelech it was given to Avraham”).

When the power of Gevurah was given to Avraham it was without limit. For all the powers of the nations of the world are limited within them, and when these powers are entered into Israel they are without limit, as they are cleaving to God also at their roots and without limit. For this reason Israel is dispersed among the nations in order that they may receive all the powers residing in each of the seventy nations, and once in Israel it will be without limit. Thus it is written concerning King Shlomo (Bava Metsia, 86b), “He took wives from many nations,” for the strength of each nation is principally in its women, and particularly in the princess. Therefore, when all these powers are conquered, they will sprout good among Israel, “the branch of My planting” (Yesahya, 60:21).

“… and God tested Avraham ….” (Bereshit, 22:1)
The test of the binding of Yitzchak (henceforth, the Akeida) was in the great faith that Avraham Avinu had in God. God had already said to him, “thus will be your progeny” and “I will keep my covenant, with Yitzchak,” so now, when He said to him, “raise him up on the altar for a sacrifice,” even though he remembered what he had previously been told, still he did not fall from his faith.

It is not possible for the intelligence of man to apprehend this kind of faith. Truly, we never find the specific command of God telling him to slaughter his son, so therefore the verse does not say, “and YHV’H tested Avraham” (using God’s name of mercy), but “E-lohim tested” (God’s name of judgment), meaning that the Divine injunction came to him in the aspect of a “mirror which does not illuminate” (a lower level of prophecy) (Zohar Bereshit, 120b) and therefore the name “E-lohim” is used, which denotes tekifut (holy strength).

Therefore concerning Yitzchak it was not really a test, for he believed that this was clearly what God wanted Avraham to do, yet for Avraham it was a great trial because he had not received a clear message from God. So if he were tainted in any aspect of his relationship as a father towards his son, then God would have obliged him to have mercy upon him. Truly, it was the direct will of God that he would not slaughter his son, and the trial was only to shine this understanding into Avraham. This is why, when he prayed for Sodom he said (Bereshit, 18:27), “for I am dust and ashes,” for dust represents an action that has not been disencumbered of impurities and needs fixing.

It is possible that things may grow out of the dust, where ashes represent something completely lost, God forbid. If he had slaughtered his son then there would not have been any way to repair the damage. Similarly with the people of Sodom, if his prayer had been effective and they lived, and then they continued in their evil ways, then it would have been like ashes from which there is no growth. Thus God showed him that his prayer over them had not been in vain, for as we find in the writings of the Ari’zal (Shaar HaPesikim, Parshat Shemot) the generation of Israel in the desert was born from their souls.

Genesis ‎18,2. “when he saw, he ran towards them;” Avraham had ‎still been suffering from the pains of his circumcision. A sick or ‎ailing person is usually the recipient of the loving concern of the ‎attribute of Mercy; Avraham, instead of indulging himself was ‎overcome with the attribute of ‎גבורה‎, overpowering courageous ‎energy, so that he was able to run to meet these men. He was ‎suddenly possessed of the characteristic (the author has “soul,”) ‎that would distinguish his not yet conceived son, Yitzchok. We ‎explained in the previous paragraph that this resulted in his also ‎being endowed with the attribute ‎תפארת‎, harmony, so that he ‎combined all the three characteristics that distinguished the ‎three patriarchs.

Another aspect of the line: ‎וירא וירץ לקראתם‎. ‎A tzaddik is able to judge the character of a person by ‎merely looking at that person’s face. When encountering a ‎wholesome person, he is suddenly filled with light, whereas when ‎he does not feel his features suddenly exuding brightness, this is a ‎warning to him that he is looking at an evil person. In this ‎instance, the Torah prefaces Avraham’s running to meet these ‎men with the words: ‎וישא עיניו וירא‎, “he raised his eyes and saw;” ‎this meant that he felt himself reacting positively to the ‎appearance of these men as soon as he set eyes upon them.‎

Genesis ‎18,3. “do not just pass by your servant.” Avraham was ‎overcome with a sense of prophecy as soon as he saw these men. ‎We have a tradition (Rashi, Baba Metzia 114) according to ‎which the prophet Elijah was a priest; and that when Pinchas ‎avenged the insult to G’d (Numbers 25,1-9, 11-15) perpetrated by ‎Zimri and the people at Shittim, his soul linked up with those of ‎Nadav and Avihu (who had been priests) and the letters in the ‎word ‎נא‎ in our verse allude to the first letters in the names ‎נדב, ‏אביהו‎, so that he became henceforth identified with the prophet ‎Elijah, who similarly was jealous on behalf of G’d. The words: ‎תעבור מעל עבדך‎, “pass by your servant,” are an allusion to Elijah’s ‎traditional role of briefly attending every circumcision of a Jewish ‎baby, as a symbol of the importance of that covenant between ‎the Jewish people and G’d.‎

Genesis 18,5. “for this is why your journey has brought you to the ‎house of your servant.” On the face of it, this is a very unusual ‎manner of extending an invitation to passing strangers to partake ‎of a meal with the host. The commentators explained that angels ‎are recipients of the largesse provided by G’d for the Jewish ‎people who have performed G’d’s commandments. In other ‎words, it was G’d Himself, Who let the sun out and thus Avraham, personally, was not able to ‎perform his duties as an attentive host due to his not yet having ‎recovered from the effects of the circumcision and from the weather. Under normal ‎circumstances, these men would have been denied his hospitality. ‎He therefore explains that due to his having fulfilled the ‎commandment of circumcision, they would in fact be partaking ‎of a meal provided by G’d Himself. They had been sent to him so ‎that he could take credit for hosting them.

We have to ‎elaborate somewhat on the tradition that Avraham had been ‎observing, voluntarily, all of the commandments that would later ‎on be found in the Torah. The only exception he had made was ‎the commandment of circumcision. In light of the fact that this ‎commandment was the cornerstone of G’d’s covenant with the ‎Jewish people, why would Avraham purposely have neglected to ‎perform this commandment until being told to observe it? ‎

‎Midrash Tanchuma Tazria 5 relates that Turnus Rufus ‎the wicked, engaged in an argument with Rabbi Akiva, ‎concerning whose works are more impressive, G’d’s or Man’s? ‎Rabbi Akiva, sensing a trap, promptly replied that man’s works ‎are more impressive. Turnus Rufus, feeling outwitted, thereupon ‎asked Rabbi Akiva since when “man” was able to create heaven ‎and earth. Surely this was proof that G’d’s works are more ‎impressive! Rabbi Akiva retorted that the subject under dispute ‎did not concern the celestial regions, a domain to which man did ‎not have access, but it dealt with works performed in the ‎terrestrial regions. Thereupon Turnus Rufus questioned why the ‎Jews circumcise themselves.

Rabbi Akiva said: “I knew right away ‎that you would raise this question, as in your mind this looks as if ‎we criticize G’d as having made an imperfect creature when He ‎made man, and we are ‘repairing’ G’d’s ‘oversight.’” He added that ‎this was precisely why he had said immediately that man’s works ‎are more significant. Rabbi Akiva then proceeded to show ‎Turnusrufus a freshly baked roll, and some wheat kernels. He ‎pointed to the wheat kernel as an example of G’d’s (nature’s) ‎work, whereas the roll he described as an example of man’s works. ‎He challenged Turnus Rufus to tell him which of the two he ‎preferred. Thereupon, feeling outwitted, Turnus Rufus asked that ‎if G’d did indeed prefer man without a foreskin, why did He equip ‎him with a foreskin in the first place? Thereupon Rabbi Akiva ‎asked, that according to Turnus Rufus argument, why is a baby ‎born with an umbilical cord, which was to be cut off for the baby ‎to start living outside the mother’s womb? If man was born with ‎a foreskin, this was in order to enable his father, or himself, to ‎circumcise himself and thus fulfill a commandment by His ‎Creator.‎

From Rabbi Akiva’s answer to Turnus Rufus we learn why ‎Avraham had waited for the commandment to circumcise ‎himself, seeing that this is a commandment that can be fulfilled ‎only once in a lifetime, the foreskin not growing back. It is a ‎greater credit for man to perform G’d’s commandments when ‎having been told to do so, than to merely do so because one ‎assumes that this is what the Creator would want him to do. ‎‎[Compare Baba Kamma 38 Ed.]‎

Genesis ‎18,5. “let me take a piece of bread so that you can refresh ‎yourselves,……he presented it to them and they ate.” The true ‎meaning of this verse has been best explained by the Or ‎Hachayim, according to whom even the highest ranking angel, ‎Michael is on occasion referred to as “High Priest,” whereas on ‎other occasions he is known by another name. [Not in my edition ‎of the ‎אור החיים‎. Ed.] The point of this is to alert us to the fact ‎that the standing, or even existence, of the angels in the celestial ‎spheres, is affected by the mitzvah performance of the ‎Israelites in the terrestrial part of the universe.

When Israel is ‎meticulous in the performance of G’d’s Torah, then the most ‎senior of the angels in the celestial spheres assumes the title: ‎‎“High Priest.” When Avraham spoke about a ‎פת לחם‎, instead of ‎merely ‎פת‎, bread, he alludes to both the written and the oral ‎Torah. The word ‎פת‎ refers to the written Torah, whereas the word ‎לחם‎ refers to the oral Torah. The word ‎לחם‎ in psalms 78,25 i.e. ‎לחם אבירים‎, is an allusion to the Torah. According to the Talmud ‎‎Menachot 34, the word ‎פת‎ amongst the Africans means ‎‎“two.” [The latter half of the word: ‎טוטפת‎. Ed.] The word is used ‎as an allusion to Torah also in Proverbs 9,5, ‎לכו לחמו בלחמי‎, “come ‎and partake of My bread.” [Compare Alshich, pages 171-172, my ‎translation of Proverbs. Ed.] When Avraham is now described as ‎serving the angels, we may see in this the reward both for ‎Avraham‘s having performed the circumcision on himself, as well ‎as reward for the angels, their being hosted by a person of ‎Avraham’s standing. [Perhaps the mitzvah of hospitality ‎shown the angels by Lot in the following chapter was a factor in ‎his being saved, whereas his wife was not. Ed.] When Avraham, in ‎verse 8, is described as standing next to the angels while the latter ‎were seated while eating, the “tree” mentioned in that verse may ‎be a reference to the tree described as “tree of life” in Proverbs ‎‎3,18, i.e. an allusion to the Torah.

This brings me to Bereshit Rabbah 49,4 where we are ‎told that it was Avraham’s custom after having served his guests ‎a meal to ask them to give thanks to the Creator of the universe. ‎Why did Avraham not ask them to pronounce a benediction ‎before they commenced eating, as is customary among Jews, and ‎even among many gentiles? The reason may be that before eating ‎these people were pagans, and how could they pronounce a ‎blessing that implied that they had accepted the yoke of serving ‎the one and only Creator? Having eaten, they had performed a ‎commandment through conferring upon their host Avraham the ‎merit of fulfilling the duty to be hospitable; having done so, they ‎themselves had been given a merit by dint of having contributed ‎to Avraham’s merits, so that now when they pronounced a ‎blessing thanking the Lord Who provides food for all of His ‎creatures, they were not mouthing empty phrases. This is why ‎the Midrash continues by relating that if Avraham’s guests would ‎refuse to recite a blessing to the Lord, he would demand that they ‎return to him what they had eaten, etc, etc. The embarrassment ‎caused the guest when he realized that he had partaken of what ‎had not been intended for him, would usually cause the guest to ‎reconsider. Avraham had explained to the guest that unless they ‎provided him with the merit of having performed the ‎commandment of being hospitable, they would in fact have ‎robbed him of something that was his.‎

While on the subject of the meal Avraham prepared for these ‎heavenly guests, we need to understand why he served them ‎meat instead of fish. The motivation may have been to afford his ‎guests to perform many commandments in short order; in the ‎terrestrial regions, nowadays, before being able to consume a ‎meat meal many more commandments must be fulfilled than ‎before preparing a fish meal. This is in contrast with the world to ‎come, where, according to our tradition, G’d will present the ‎righteous with a meal consisting of the Leviathan. There are ‎many more commandments associated with the preparation of a ‎meaty meal than with the preparation of a “fish meal,” i.e. ‎Leviathan. (Baba Metzia 86) According to the Talmud, Avraham ‎slaughtered three calves in order to be able to offer each of his ‎guests a tongue and mustard (as seasoning), considered the ‎choicest meat of the animal.‎
The Talmud Eyruvin 53 relates that when Rabbi Yossi ‎bar Avion wished to say something that only people familiar with ‎him would understand, he would say: ”‎עשו לי שור במשפט בטור ‏מסכן‎;“ he deliberately used some Hebrew words, ‎שור‎, ‎במשפט‎, ‎which have a different meaning in Aramaic. Similarly, the word ‎חרדל‎ used by our sages for the seasoning Avraham provided for ‎his guests is really a translation of the words ‎הר דל‎, “a low hill.” In ‎short, the Rabbi making excuses for the errors committed by the ‎Jewish people, referred to the evil urge as an almost ‎insurmountable obstacle, a tall mountain, whereas the urge to do ‎good given to every human being, appeared like a low hill, so that ‎it is not surprising that many Jews many times found it difficult ‎to climb over the tall mountain in order to avoid sinning. When ‎the sages spoke of the “seasoning” Avraham served his guests, ‎this is merely a euphemism for saying that he tried to provide his ‎guests with merits by the type of food served that would make it ‎relatively easy to overcome the temptations offered by the evil ‎urge. When the angels would reflect on this, they in turn, in the ‎future, would tone down their accusations against sinful Jews, ‎having realized through their visit on earth how difficult it is to ‎fight these temptations.

Genesis ‎18,8. “He remained standing next to them while they ‎ate.” We have a rule that the host should not visibly display ‎physical satisfaction greater than that enjoyed by his guests. The ‎reason for this rule is to avoid causing the guest to become ‎jealous of the host. A tzaddik is also known as a ‎מהלך‎, “a ‎person constantly on an upward spiritual move,” [compare ‎Zecharyah 3,7. Ed.] Angels, by comparison, are considered ‎עומד‎, ‎‎“standing still,” not ascending in a spiritual sense (as they do not ‎have an evil urge to overcome). Avraham was anxious that his ‎guests, the angels, should not become jealous of him; this is why ‎he made a point of standing still.‎