לזכות רפואת הרב אברהם יוסף בן חנה הרב שי בן לאה וחי' חנה בת אורנה אדל בתוך שח"י
The pasuk says that Avraham sat at the entrance of the tent כחום היום - in the heat of the day. The Medrash says that this is an allusion to the pasuk [Malachi 3-12] "כי הנה היום בא בוער כתנור" - The day is coming burning like an oven. The heat of that day was a preview, an omen, of the heat of the day of future punishment of the evildoers!! [No AC on THAT day!!]. How do we know that these two hot days are connected??
There are two middos that Hashem has that we may not emulate. One is גאוה. The pasuk says תועבת ה' כל גבה לב - Arrogance is an abomination. Chazal compare גאוה to Avoda Zara!!! Hashem says that He cannot exist in the same world as a בעל גאוה!!!
But about Hashem it says "ה' מלך גאות לבש" - Hashem the ruler is enclothed with גאות - pride and elevation. The Gemara however says that in the place you find Hashem's Greatness and גדלות - there we see his humility.
The other middah is vengeance - נקמה. It is an איסור דאורייתא of לא תקום. Whereas when it comes to Hashem it says "אל נקמות השם". He is the G-d of vengeance.
The reason we may not take vengeance is as follows: There are two motivations to avenge evil. One is with the pure motivation to eradicate evil. The second is the "thrill of victory" and beating the bad guys. The latter is not completely pure. Hashem has no personal pleasure or ego trip in beating the evildoers so He may take revenge. All human beings are trapped in the normal limitations of human emotions and thus it is almost impossible to completely put their egos aside. As such - נקמה is forbidden for them. In the future we will be elevated and the נקמה will be pure, as it says ועלו מושיעים בהר ציון לשפוט את הר עשו - We can judge all the Esav's according to their nefarious deeds b/c we are pure. About Moshiach it says וְשָׁפַ֤ט בְּצֶ֙דֶק֙ דַּלִּ֔ים וְהוֹכִ֥יחַ בְּמִישׁ֖וֹר לְעַנְוֵי־אָ֑רֶץ וְהִֽכָּה־אֶ֙רֶץ֙ בְּשֵׁ֣בֶט פִּ֔יו וּבְר֥וּחַ שְׂפָתָ֖יו יָמִ֥ית רָשָֽׁע - But with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the land. And he shall smite the land with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall slay the wicked. This is permitted b/c of his elevated and spiritual level.The pasuk we quoted earlier says about the נקמה of the future "הנה יום ה' בא בוער כתנור" - It will be a hot, unpleasant day....
Avraham Avinu merited this revelation of the נקמה of the future b/c he removed his ערלה when he performed his Bris. The ערלה is the source of פניות and personal interests and after removing that he could see the נקמה of the future. As long as he had an ערלה this impurity prevented him from being able to envisage the pure, untarnished נקמה of the future.
Avraham asked ענר אשכול and ממרא for an עצה as to whether to perform his Bris. What is THAT all about? Hashem commanded him and he doesn't need the advice of anyone else whether to do this mitzva [he didn't ask any advice when commanded to perform עקידת יצחק nor did he bargain w/ Hashem as he did with Sodom.] The explanation is that these men were the root of all future converts. Had they all encouraged Avraham to do the Bris that would have been a Tikkun for all future converts and we would have been redeemed. Instead, we needed the loooooooooooooooong Galus to gather up all those holy sparks of Gentile souls from the Goyim who would convert. Since ממרא gave the green light he merited that the revelation of the future din of יום ה' בא בוער כתנור was revealed in his portion.
When Hashem told Avraham that He was intending to destroy Sodom which foreshadowed the future destruction of the evildoers, Avraham tried hard to find some type of merit to keep them alive. This shows that his intentions were pure which is a necessary component of the future נקמה. Just like Hashem poured down on Sodom גפרית ואש, so in the future there will be a similar destruction of fire and brimstone יַמְטֵר עַל-רְשָׁעִים, פַּחִים: אֵשׁ וְגָפְרִית, וְרוּחַ זִלְעָפוֹת--מְנָת כּוֹסָם [Tehillim 11-6]. At that time the evil will be eradicated from the earth and the holiness of the Jewish people will be revealed.
About that time it says "עוז והדר לבושה ותשחק ליום אחרון" - There will be laughter at the end of days. It also says about that time "אז ימלא שחוק פינו" - Our mouths will be filled with laughter. Usually when vengeance is taken there is a mixture of anger and enmity involved. At the end of days it will be pure, unadulterated laughter, with no mixture of any negative emotion. ימלא שחוק פינו. So when Hashem revealed to Avraham the birth of Yitzchak ["laughter"] together with the mitzva of Bris Milah it says that Avraham fell on his face and laughed. He laughed the pure [thanks in part to the fact that there is no ערלה] laughter of the future when laughter will be untinged with any unholy emotion and untainted, pure joy at the revelation of Hashem's greatness and glory. He is called "Yitzchak" because he heralds the future Tikkun and pure laughter. No joke!!
Sarah laughed when she heard that she was going to give birth to a baby and said אַחֲרֵ֤י בְלֹתִי֙ הָֽיְתָה־לִּ֣י עֶדְנָ֔ה וַֽאדֹנִ֖י זָקֵֽן׃
- Sarah laughed to herself, saying, "After I have withered will I have my cycle?! And, my Master is old!" Sarah KNEW that Hashem could perform supernatural miracles but was shocked that this was done in a natural manner which produced laughter. She should have known that Hashem does miracles not only in a supernatural form but also in a natural way as will be in the future where nature will be elevated to the level of the supernatural. So Hashem said "למה זה צחקה שרה"? Why did she laugh? The supernatural becoming natural is totally plausible!! Sarah denied laughing "וַתְּכַחֵ֨שׁ שָׂרָ֧ה ׀ לֵאמֹ֛ר לֹ֥א צָחַ֖קְתִּי כִּ֣י "יָרֵ֑אָה וַיֹּ֥אמֶר לֹ֖א כִּ֥י צָחָֽקְתְּ׃
Sarah denied it, saying, "I did not laugh", because she was afraid, and He said, "No, but you laughed."
She denied it b/c she was afraid that maybe her laughter which she saw in retrospect as a harbinger of the future redemption was in fact not totally pure. She needed not to worry b/c that time was potentially the End. This was b/c of Avraham's removal of his ערלה.
The Jewish people are greater than angels just in the meantime until our full Kedusha is revealed the angels look greater. The angels understand this and therefore don't sing שירה Above until the Jews say שירה down below. However, it is known that angels don't have free choice, so what is the meaning of their singing שירה which should come from a place of free choice to praise the Creator. It also says that they answer with fear "עונים ואומרים ביראה" - fear with no free choice?? The explanation is that the angels don't have free choice on their own but Am Yisrael impacts them and through us they have בחירה. This is b/c we are in fact more elevated than they are. This explains the idea in the Gemara of the angels being punished [with a פולסא דנורא!!] - they are responsible for their actions b/c they attain בחירה through us. At קריעת ים סוף it says that Hashem told the angels that they can't sing b/c His handiwork is drowning - מעשי ידי טובעים בים ואתם אומרים שירה??? So how did the Jews say שירה?? The difference is that the angels were signing for the drowning of the Egyptians while we were singing primarily about the greatness of Hashem "אשירה לה' כי גאה גאה". Kabbala teaches that the angels are only חיצוניות העולמות while Am Yisrael are פנימיות העולמות.
Another Tikkun of the angels before the end is to be enclothed in a human body and to eat as humans [in order that the supernatural become natural]. Avraham said that he is going to get them food and they said "כן תעשה כאשר דברת" - Halevai that we should be able to do as you say!! THAT would be a true Tikkun. But since ענר and אשכול advised Avraham against performing the Bris - the time for the complete Tikkun and transformation of the supernatural to the natural had not yet come [and thus they only APPEARED to eat but didn't really do so]. Sarah didn't fully comprehend the idea that the supernatural would become natural so she laughed. But we see that this is what happened which is why Avimelech wanted to take her as a wife and Yitzchak was born in a natural way.
Since this was potentially the time of the ultimate Tikkun and the light of Moshiach shone, Sodom was destroyed and Moshiach was born. The Medrash says based on a pasuk in Tehillim that Dovid Hamelech [descended from Moav, conceived in the cave] was found in Sodom!!!
"מצאתי דוד עבדי בשמן קודש משחתיו" - והיכן מצאתיו?
בסדום!!!!!
Sarah's thought that Yitzchak would be born in a supernatural way actually happened at the Akeidah. Chazal say that his soul left him when he was almost slaughtered and Hashem restored it. Tchiyas Hameisim in this world. Pretty supernatural.... So we have this supernatural event coupled with the natural event of the supernatural being transformed into the natural. This will be expressed in the future when it is the holy Jews who will take נקמה from the רשעים as it says לעשות נקמה בגויים .... הדר הוא לכל חסידיו. It is splendorous for Hashem's Chasidim to take vengeance against the רשעים b/c their nature will be elevated to the supernatural and there will be zero ego involved but only a pure will to see the glory of Hashem on earth.
במהרה בימינו אמן!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
[עפ"י תורת מרן הרב חרל"פ זצוק"ל]
