In honor of my beloved friend and chavrusa R' Aharon Feit and family on the occasion of the Bris of their newborn son this morning.
וַיֵּרָ֤א אֵלָיו֙ יְהֹוָ֔ה בְּאֵלֹנֵ֖י מַמְרֵ֑א וְה֛וּא יֹשֵׁ֥ב פֶּֽתַח־הָאֹ֖הֶל כְּחֹ֥ם הַיּֽוֹם׃
Hashem appeared to him in Elonei Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance to the tent in the heat of the day.
באלני ממרא – כדמפרש בבראשית רבא (בראשית רבה מ״ב:ח׳): הוא שנתן לו עצה על המילה לפיכך נגלה עליו בחלקו.
יושב – ישב כתיב. אמר לו הקב״ה: שב, ואתה סימן לבניך שיושבין בעדת הדיינין, ואני נצב עליהם.
באלוני ממרא BY THE TEREBINTHS OF MAMRÉ
– It was he (Mamre) who advised him (Avraham) regarding the
circumcision and therefore He revealed himself to him in his (Mamre's)
territory (Genesis Rabbah 42:8). [He also asked ענר and אשכול but they advised against].
ישב WAS SITTING –
The word is written ישב (without the ו) and therefore may he translated
""he sat": He wished to rise, but the Holy One, blessed be He, said to
him, Sit and I will stand. You shall form an example to your descendants
— that I, in time to come, will stand in the assembly of the judges
while they will sit, as it is said, (Psalms 82:1) "God stands in the assembly of the judges" (Genesis Rabbah 48:7)
Why did Avraham need to ask Gentiles advice about whether to follow Hashem's command to circumcise himself?
What do judges have to do with this whole episode??
וַתִּצְחַ֥ק שָׂרָ֖ה בְּקִרְבָּ֣הּ לֵאמֹ֑ר אַחֲרֵ֤י בְלֹתִי֙ הָֽיְתָה־לִּ֣י עֶדְנָ֔ה וַֽאדֹנִ֖י זָקֵֽן׃
Sarah laughed to herself, saying, "After I have withered will I have my menstrual cycle?! And, my lord is old!"
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."
What is the idea behind Sarah's laughter and subsequent denial??
The Meforshim ask: If Avraham kept the whole Torah, then why didn't he already have a Bris?
The Medrash says that the Bris is a secret: סוד ה' ליראיו ובריתו להודיעם. We want to discover a bit of this secret.
The Jews are not holy b/c we have mitvos but rather we have mitzvos b/c we are holy.
Evidence: "כי יעקב בחר לו יה ישראל לסגולתו". Hashem chose Am Yisrael as His people and as a result gave us mitzvos.
Tanna D'bei Eliyahu: Yisrael precedes Torah.
Hashem wanted to purify the Jews so He gave them Torah and mitzvos ['רצה הקב"ה לזכות וכו]. Why isn't one mitzva enough? The Rashba says that there is no שכר מצוה in this world b/c the ENTIRE WORLD is not enough to give reward for one mitzva. So give us one mitzva and that should be enough to purify us? The answer is that we have SO MANY mitzvos b/c of our innate Kedusha.
"אשר בחר בנו" - First Hashem chose us. Then as a result "ונתן לנו את תורתו" - He gave us the Torah.
Before the Bris, Avraham was only holy when he did the right thing. After the Bris, he and his descendants possess innate Kedusha - קדושה עצמית.
Before the Bris he only did chesed when it was needed. After the Bris he sought out people for whom to do chesed. He couldn't live w/o it. Many people perform chesed b/c they are uncomfortable when other people suffer. It is about their discomfort. If they don't know of people in distress they are happy. Not Avraham. It wasn't about him at all. He went out "post op" on a boiling hot day to seek guests. The secret of the Bris is that it makes us innately holy moving us to among other things, pursue chesed. [Shhh - don't tell!!!]. The Medrash says that Avraham sits on the entrance to Gehenom and doesn't let anyone with a Bris in. Holy people don't belong in Gehenom.
When Hashem communicated with Bilaam it says "ויקר" - by chance. מקרה. But when it came to Moshe there was first a קריאה של חיבה. He called him first - "ויקרא ה' אל משה". You know someone is interested in connecting with you when they call/text/email you. But when they tell you something b/c they happen to run into you then they don't particularly value what they are telling you [or maybe don't particularly value even you yourself ח"ו]. If it was so important then they would have invested the effort to initiate contact. Hashem first calls out to Moshe showing that the relationship matters. That is b/c we have קדושה עצמית.
A Jew doesn't only have an external Bris. His ESSENCE is circumcised. That is why if one makes a neder not to benefit from a circumcised person, he may not benefit from any Jew - even one w/o a Bris. And he MAY benefit from any Gentile - even one w/ a Bris. We are intrinsically circumcised, in our פנימיות. If Avraham would have done the Bris w/o a command then he would have lacked the element of being מהול בפנימיות.
Our קדושה is revealed when we judge דיני תורה. Hashem gave us the power to CREATE Torah!!! Judges are called אלהים as in אלהים לא תקלל. So Hashem tells Avraham "sit". You have a Bris and are holy like judges who sit. Usually, the one standing needs the one sitting. That is why the Rebbe sits while the students stand. Our עבודה is for Hashem's sake [עבודה צורך גבוה] to the extent that He כביכול stands while we sit, as Rashi cites from the pasuk אלהים נצב בעדת אל. Hashem stands while the judges sit.
In the future there will be equality and we will sit together with Hashem, reflecting the principle that Hashem, the Torah and the Jews are one. "ואתה קדוש יושב תהילות ישראל". Hashem "sits" on our praises. That is alluded to when Hashem tells Avraham "Sit etc." that is only for now. But in the future indeed we will both sit together.
Avraham asked ענר אשכול and ממרא for advice as to whether to perform the Bris in order to give the Goyim the תיקון they need by appreciating the value of Am Yisrael. They needed to understand and validate our Bris. Had they all given the green light then the complete Tikkun would have been accomplished but, alas, they didn't. So Hashem appeared in the property of ממרא but standing and not in the futuristic לעתיד לבוא posture of sitting.
The laughter of Avraham and Sarah: The secret of laughter is ותשחק ליום אחרון. At the end of days we will laugh. When Hashem is sitting with us it will be a time for laughter. ואתה קדוש יושב תהילות ישראל. Sarah and Avraham were concerned that if the miracle of the birth of Yitzchak which will herald the Geulah is coming from Hashem alone and the birth has no natural element to it then they won't have a portion in it. So Sarah who returned to her youth and had a menstrual cycle laughed as an expression of ותשחק ליום אחרון. She had a portion in the miracle b/c since her body was again young, the birth was natural. But Avraham said הלבן מאה שנה יולד. Can a 100 year old man father a child? That would be a TOTAL miracle and from his side it would be totally from Hashem. In order to prevent Avraham from being jealous of her that she was laughing the laughter of the End - Sarah denied laughing.... ויאמר לא כי צחקת - He [Avraham? A Shaliach of Hashem??] said that indeed you laughed. You will serve as a pipeline for the קדושה העצמית of the Jewish people that will lead to the Geulah.
Lot was commanded not to look back "אל תביט אחריך" when Sodom was being destroyed. Lot was not allowed to look "אחריך" - at how this will lead to Moshaich. That would arouse the power of Esav who battles Moshaich as he did when he injured Yaakov's thigh i.e. the future generations.
[עפ"י תורת מרן הרב חרל"פ זצוק"ל]
