Vayeira: Of Angels and Men
From terrifying cherubim with fiery swords, to angels in the form of simple wayfarers sent to visit the sick or deliver good tidings—like those we read about in this week’s Torah portion—the Torah is full of examples of G‑d sending angels on all sorts of tasks.
The story is told of a student of Rabbi Israel Baal Shem Tov who, after much preparation, felt himself deserving of a vision of the prophet-turned-angel, Elijah. His master instructed him to journey to a certain town and ask to be hosted at the home of a specific family. “Make sure to bring food,” the Baal Shem Tov added. The student eagerly packed a wagonful of food and set off. Upon arriving, he was directed to an old, dilapidated house, home of a poor widow with many young children.
The student spent Shabbat with them, and was only too happy to share his mountains of food. But Elijah never showed up.
The Baal Shem Tov instructed the dejected student to try again the next week. As he approached the door, he heard a child’s plaintive voice, “But what will we eat on Shabbat?” A reassuring voice replied, “Don’t worry. Just like Elijah came last week, he will come this week again!”
You and I can be angels as well. All we need to do is act the part.
Yehuda Shurpin,
Responder for the Ask the Rabbi team @ Chabad.org
Former neo-Nazi Pawel Bromson tells the story of how he discovered that he was Jewish and returned to the faith of his ancestors.
What would a life look like if it were only about doing, with no emphasis on being?
“Why was the child playing in such an unsafe setting?” criticized one. “Who was supervising her?” demanded a second.
We hear of the miracles that the prayers of the righteous can accomplish. But is prayer also for us regular folk?
It means simple things. It means esoteric things. It’s profound. It’s straightforward. It’s Jewish—the power of Shema Yisrael.
My father’s main priority was not racking up materialistic success. He saw himself primarily as an emissary for G‑d in the courtroom.
Abraham protested strongly on behalf of the lowlife Sodomites, but submitted silently when commanded to sacrifice his own son.
I had always thought of him as “father” and myself as “child.” At that moment, I understood that this man had had a very lonely childhood.
The more trouble he gives you, the more likely he is to impress you—or even amaze you—later on.
“You’re the first teacher to tell me something good that David has done. You’ve made my day.”
“And the number of children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which shall neither be measured nor counted.”
Those who have been granted the means to give were chosen by G‑d to be the givers.
Our bodies are on loan to us from G‑d for the duration of our lives, to enable us to fulfill our mission in this world—a mission which requires having a physical body.
Redeeming captives is nothing new for Jews. What do our past experience and the decisions of our sages have to teach us about prisoner exchanges today?
The Jew is bound with a covenant engraved deep beneath his conscious self, even on his very flesh: a timeless bond G‑d established with his father Abraham.
G-d's visit to Abraham following his circumcision teaches us how to properly perform the mitzvah of bikkur cholim—visiting the sick.
Convert any regular calendar date to its corresponding Jewish calendar date, or vice versa.
Angels visit Abraham and Sarah, Sarah gives birth, father and son face the ultimate test of faith.
If you persist in doing what you know to be just and right, your divine essence will fill your every “empty vessel.”
The roads were piled so high with snow that the farmers weren’t able to reach the city with their produce, and food supplies were dwindling rapidly.
Years ago I came across an all-too-true one-liner: “Every rabbi has only one sermon—the way he lives his life.”
More than six decades after Nazi forces and their sympathizers destroyed the synagogue, Jewish residents are planning to rebuild the 1896 edifice on the same spot where it once stood.
“We have a whole new community being born: young families and new babies who present an entirely new face of the Jewish community,” he says.
I learned the meaning of love from a drunk. I once passed two drunks drinking in a gutter and overheard the following conversation between them:
Drunk #1: "I love you!"
Drunk #2: "No you don't."
Drunk #1: "Yes, yes, I do. I love you with all my heart."
Drunk #2: "No you don't. If you love me, why don't you know what hurts me?"
The sages say that all is in the hands of heaven except for the awe of heaven.
Which puts all the power in your hands.
Because if there is no awe of heaven, heaven is bankrupt. It owns nothing—not you, not your world, not anything at all.
That being so, the greatest power you have is your ability to surrender the delus...
