Vayera: Mutual Miracle Momentum

וַיְמַהֵ֧ר אַבְרָהָ֛ם הָאֹ֖הֱלָה אֶל־שָׂרָ֑ה וַיֹּ֗אמֶר מַהֲרִ֞י שְׁלֹ֤שׁ סְאִים֙ קֶ֣מַח סֹ֔לֶת ל֖וּשִׁי וַעֲשִׂ֥י עֻגֽוֹת׃

Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah and said, “Hurry, three seahs of choice flour! Knead and make cakes!” (Genesis 18:6).

וְאֶל־הַבָּקָ֖ר רָ֣ץ אַבְרָהָ֑ם וַיִּקַּ֨ח בֶּן־בָּקָ֜ר רַ֤ךְ וָטוֹב֙ וַיִּתֵּ֣ן אֶל־הַנַּ֔עַר וַיְמַהֵ֖ר לַעֲשׂ֥וֹת אֹתֽוֹ׃

Then Abraham ran to the herd, took a calf, tender and choice, and gave it to the young man, who hurried to prepare it (Genesis 18:7).

וַיִּקַּ֨ח חֶמְאָ֜ה וְחָלָ֗ב וּבֶן־הַבָּקָר֙ אֲשֶׁ֣ר עָשָׂ֔ה וַיִּתֵּ֖ן לִפְנֵיהֶ֑ם וְהֽוּא־עֹמֵ֧ד עֲלֵיהֶ֛ם תַּ֥חַת הָעֵ֖ץ וַיֹּאכֵֽלוּ׃

He took curds and milk and the calf that had been prepared and set these before them; and he waited on them under the tree as they ate (Genesis 18:8).

The first verse (18:6), is when we most explicitly see our matriarch and patriarch collaborating and in a special way. It is also the event where Sarah is finally told that she will bear a child, and she becomes pregnant shortly after. Perhaps after the mishap with Hagar, her desire to have a child is intense, fueling a new harmony in the family and bringing about Isaac. There is reason to believe that the mitzvah of hospitality they shared was a form of prayer. In fact, this parasha tells us about the last stages of the most transformative of blessings.  

If every single word in the Torah has meaning, why does the verse use “hurry”/מ.ה.ר three times (in Hebrew it uses the same root)? The idea is also conveyed a fourth time, when Abraham gets the cattle, but uses a different word (“run”/ר.ו.צ), perhaps because it precedes the act of killing which doesn’t convey the same feeling. One interpretation from the Malbim and Chizkuni on this passage suggests that it was to ensure the guests did not wait too long. This indicates sensitivity to their guests’ needs. There are other Rabbis such as Alshekh who understand it to mean that we are to perform mitzvot with fervor and if we can do a mitzvah presented to us ourselves, we should. Why quickly? It reflects the state of doing a mitzvah with zeal, a joyful feeling that places mind, body, and emotions in symphony, and therefore allows one to be united with Gd.

Perhaps they acted quickly so as not to overthink the mitzvah and question further who these guests were before putting in so much effort to make them a meal. It wasn’t just any mitzvah, but one Abraham and Sarah enjoyed deeply because it represented their particular shared identity around the divine attribute of chesed. 

Why employ a young man in this important mitzvah if not to give the boy something in particular and a blessing to themselves. Midrashim suggests that the “young man” who is helping them is in fact Ishmael (who would be around 12 at this point). Perhaps this act of selflessness and honor to his father develops his own young character to merit many blessings. Gd does eventually give Ishmael many descendants of his own, and indeed, Muslims (who have a particular connection to Ishmael) are also known for their hospitality.

Also according to midrash, this canvas of hospitality happened while Abraham and the other males in his household were still recovering from brit milah (possibly the point when it was most painful) which was initiated at the end of the previous parasha. This makes Abraham’s actions in this story all the more praiseworthy, but it could also be that hurrying allowed Abraham, Sarah and Ishmael to be in the flow of the mitzvah to avoid thinking too much about pain. We can assume that even the women would have felt distress for the pain of all the males in the household. My friend Laurence Muller suggests that the nuance of “ran” in this case could indicate that in front of his son, he was trying to set the best possible example of doing a mitzvah with joy even when in pain.  

In the haftarah for this Torah portion, the Shunammite woman also acts quickly when she wants to bring her son back to life. The word there which is featured repeatedly is  “run” – with the same sense of speed as in Abraham’s story. Gd’s miracle of making a woman who physiologically cannot have children to have a child and bringing someone back to life are both examples of Gd going above nature.

When does acting upon something quickly bring functional benefit? It is when you don’t want to overthink what you are doing – to fully suspend judgment and let Gd act without questioning the “how”. The Zohar on this parasha (Vayera Chapter 10) explains that Gd is only limited by our consciousness, so if Abraham wants to let Gd do something that transcends what he thinks are the laws of nature, he needs to not get in the way with his own consciousness. This needs to be organic because to try not to think of something can make one think of that very thing. Now, some say that Gd always performs miracles with some logic but still it is not always up to us to figure out the steps of a blessing that is more complex than our comprehension and to define them would minimize Gd’s glory. That is why doing a mitzvah relatively quickly can help focus the mind, body and feelings in unity with Hashem.

When we do a mitzvah with some zeal, it can be a way to naturally make us feel more joy in performing it. Some people will probably say that doing something quickly would mean doing it without proper kavvanah (focus/intention). Yes, this is true if you are missing the intention in the different steps. If you are doing all the steps of a mitzvah, you don’t want to be thinking of anything extraneous in between, and so doing a mitzvah somewhat quickly, at your own pace, has some benefit. Of all the rules of prayer, perhaps the rule that matters most is that our essence is fully united with God, and the way to do that is if our body, mind, and emotions are completely in unity. When we act relatively quickly, we allow ourselves to create this state without overthinking, making it natural.

Abraham may not know his guests are angels, but he has Sarah prepare cakes of flour and then goes to select a calf to be slaughtered and prepared for the meal – this seems quite similar to a sacrificial offering being prepared for Gd. Those offerings which were done throughout Temple times eventually became the basis for the prayer services we have today – the modern form of worship. Perhaps we can therefore understand this meal preparation as a form of mutual divine worship by the couple and “family” whether they realized it consciously, subconsciously, or not at all.

In fact, it is interesting how the Torah describes making the unleavened bread: mentioning the physical movement involved and maybe also alluding to the work involved in character formation. I have heard several times that making bread is often seen as a metaphor for how a woman helps her husband to achieve his best potential. In fact, these three guests also represent divine attributes that he is trying to connect with. These are Chesed, Gevurah and Tiferet, according to the Zohar.  

The making of the cakes is particularly significant. When Abraham wants to feed his guests, why does he start by talking about the cakes? Right afterwards, he goes off to select a calf, which takes longer to prepare than bread (keeping in mind that the text implies the calf is initially alive and needs to be slaughtered as well). Abraham assigns this task to the young man (possibly Ishmael), but we hear nothing of Sarah having a servant help her with the cake-making. Another midrash suggests that this was the time of Passover, assuming that they would have commemorated that future event even before it happened, so it would have taken even less time for her to make (unleavened) bread, but she is assigned with this sensitive duty. 

One could say that it looks like Abraham is orchestrating the initially intended family (keeping in mind that the intention was that Ishmael would be Sarah’s son through Hagar’s surrogacy) to do something in harmony together. Perhaps the identity of the young man could not be mentioned because it was in a state of superposition, spiritually ambiguous in that moment and somewhat taking the place of the future Isaac. 

Each person in this holy dynamic is doing what they can do best and for a common creative process. Abraham also sets an example by preparing part of the meal himself and then goes to attend to his guests who are under the shade of a tree. Could the tree also be a metaphor of family?

The famous saying goes “As above, so below and as below, so above.” By recreating this dynamic of family harmony, he created the right mental state for the blessing of Isaac to materialize. All three of them hurried to prepare something, suspending judgment to be focused on this special composition. This mitzvah that was special to Abraham and Sarah and a gift for Ishmael and his descendants was an act that delighted God, arousing the last stage of creation for Sarah to become pregnant. 

To learn about uniting mind, heart and body in a natural way, check out my recent book Better Than You Wished For