STAM
TORAH
PARSHAS
VAYERA 5778
“A
DIFFERENT MANNER”[1]
It was one of the most intriguing stories I have
ever read, and yet, I don’t know how many people are familiar with the story:
A few years ago, a
high-ranking minister and member of the private security cadre of the Queen of
Denmark, was walking alongside the Queen at a public gathering. The minister
noticed that a wooden plank in front of the Queen seemed shaky, and he jumped in
front of the Queen to stop her from stepping down on it. In doing so, he indeed
protected the Queen, but broke his own leg.
A few days later, the Queen did something unheard
of. As an expression of her gratitude to her loyal minister, she herself paid
the minister a visit, together with her royal entourage and security detail.
It seemed very strange that, even as she sat
opposite him, he had his cell phone on the table in front of him, which he kept
glancing at. He apologized profusely to the Queen for his seeming indolence, and
explained that it was actually for the protection and security of her majesty.
He always had to be vigilant and on-call, because any security breaches or
potential dangers would be directed to him first.
Sure enough, in midst of their conversation, the
minister looked at his buzzing phone, then stood up, and grabbed his crutches.
He asked the Queen to please wait for him to return, as he tended to an urgent security
matter. Then he hopped out into his waiting car, and was driven off, to the
utter shock of the Queen’s entourage.
The truth is, that we all know the story. Only
some of the details have been altered. The story did not occur with a Queen,
but with the King of kings, G-d Himself. The beloved minister was Avrohom
Avinu. On the third day following his circumcision, when he had “injured
himself in the line of duty” while performing the mitzvah, the ninety-nine-year-old
Avrohom was weak, and in great pain.
Hashem Himself came to visit Avrohom, setting an
example about performing the mitzvah of bikur cholim – tending[2]
the sick.[3]
Then, suddenly, Avrohom saw in the distance, three
Bedouins traveling across the desert under the blazing heat of the midday sun.
Avrohom immediately arose, and asked Hashem to please wait for him until he
returned.[4]
Then, ignoring his pain and discomfort, Avrohom ran towards the trio and
beseeched them to allow him to host them.
The gemara derives from Avrohom’s actions that
“hospitality to wayfarers is greater than receiving the Divine Presence.”
Rav Shimshon Pincus zt’l views Avrohom’s request,
that Hashem not pass before Him while he tended to the guests, in a novel
manner. Avrohom was not asking that Hashem “wait for him” until he returned.
Rather, he was asking Hashem to accompany him, as he set out to fulfill the
mitzvah. In other words, it was as if Avrohom was saying, “Until just now, I
was receiving Your Divine Presence in one manner. Now, I am going to receive it
in a different manner, i.e. by fulfilling one of Your mitzvos, to help another
in need.”
Rav Pincus concludes, that this is our goal
whenever we conclude davening or learning Torah. As we close our siddur or
sefer, we should not feel that we are ‘leaving from before the Divine Presence’,
but rather that we are requesting that Hashem accompany us into our next
endeavor. A Jew seeks to live his entire life in the service of His Creator,
even when he is not actually “standing” before G-d in prayer or Torah study.
We can add that our observance and fulfillment of
the laws of Shabbos, is not only for Shabbos itself. The real goal is that
Shabbos is the beginning of the following week, which gives us the spiritual
boost to spiritually catapult us into the coming days.
The Torah describes Shabbos as “לדרתם ברית עולם... אות היא לעלם”[5],
simply translated as “for their generations, a covenant forever… a sign
forever”. But the word “olam” also means ‘the world’. Thus, Shabbos is also a
“treaty and a sign for the entire world”. No matter where in the world
we find ourselves during the work-week, the previous, and coming Shabbos, are
signs of who we are, and in Whom we place our trust.
On Shabbos we serve Hashem
and feel close to Hashem in shul, at our Shabbos table, and even while walking
down the street. Then, throughout the week, we seek to take that feeling of
closeness with Hashem with us, wherever we go.
That is how Avrohom Avinu
lived his entire life, and that is the model we all seek to follow.
“If I have found favor in Your eyes, please do not pass from your
servant”
“A covenant for the entire
world”
Rabbi Dani Staum,
LMSW
Rabbi, Kehillat New
Hempstead
Rebbe/Guidance
Counselor – Heichal HaTorah
Principal – Ohr
Naftoli- New Windsor
[1] Based on the
speech delivered at Kehillat New Hempstead, Shabbos morning, Parshas Vayera
5777
[2] literally the
word bikur means investigating. The true mitzvah is to investigate
whether all of the needs of the one who is sick are being tended to.
[3]
Sotah 14b
[4] Shabbos 127a.
According to this explanation, when Avrohom said (18:3) “My Master, if I have
found favor in Your eyes, please do not pass from your servant”, those words
were directed to Hashem Himself.
1 comments:
Great reead
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