The Lubavitcher Rebbe zt”l taught that we can learn the essence of a Parsha from its name. This week parsha is named VaYerah, which literally means “and He appeared.” The first instance of appearance is when Gd appears to Avraham in the middle of the day. Following the basic understanding of the text, the next appearance comes in the form of three men, who are actually angles of Gd. The next time the Torah uses the word is when Avraham perceives (Vayar) the three men approaching his tent.
At first it seems a little strange, that things happen to appear, that there appears to be no order or master plan to the world. Gd didn’t approach Avraham as part of a planned out system, rather Gd simply appeared to him, as if Gd seemingly bumped into Avraham in the middle of the day. These three men seem to be wandering through the desert and happen to find Avraham’s tent. Do we believe in a world of happenstance as our first superficial reading of the Parsha indicates?
The next puzzle presented in this week’s Parsha is the clear contrasting personalities of Lot and of his uncle Avraham. When the men approach Avraham’s tent, despite the pain of his recent self-circumcision, Avraham runs around the house to personally prepare food and wash the feet of his visitors. When the same visitors arrive to Lot’s house, Lot simply washes their feet and offers them a place to sleep. No mention of food or real hospitality, just the bare minimum of what he knows is required by a host. How could it be that Lot, who spent years living with Avraham doesn’t know that he should offer the angles some food? What was the difference between Lot and Avraham that caused Gd to find favor with Avraham and barely save Lot from a city of destruction?
I believe the answer to both questions can be found in what appears to be one of the most complicated and crazy sections of Breshiet. Gd commands Avraham to take his son and to slaughter him on a mountain top. In Genesis 22:4 Avraham is already on his way to find this mountain, when he raises his eyes and perceives (vayar) the place that Gd designated. Avraham then turns to his servants and commands them to stay with the Donkey (Chamor) at the bottom of the hill. Our commentaries teach us that Chamor (donkey) and Chomer (material) are spelled the same, because Avraham understood that he and his son were about to transcend the material boundaries of this world and ascend to a world of spirituality. Avraham was commanding his servants to stay with the materialistic aspects of this world because they were unable to perceive anything spiritual.
Avraham and Lot differed in their perspective of this world. Avraham viewed this world and everything that happened as being part of Gd’s master plan, whereas Lot was bound by his simplified understanding of this world. For Lot the world was just a series of events lacking any higher purpose.
As I once heard a graduating senior from Torah High Say “Do not look at a bottle, but rather what is in it.” (Pirkie Avot 4:27) Avraham understood that the actions and events of this world all serve a higher purpose, whereas Lot was unable to see the spiritual implications of actions in this world.
Avraham’s ascent to the top of the Mountain is crowned by the moment he names the mount “Gd Will be Seen (Hashem Yireh).” The future site of the Beit Hamikdash is named with the understanding that it is the responsibility of a Jewish person to transcend the physicality of this world and perceive the holiness which surrounds us.
May this be a Shabbat of Shlemut (wholeness) as we begin to perceive the Gdliness around us.