YNA Newsletter 1 of 8 In This Issue Parshat Vayera HaRav Nebenzahl on Parshat Vayera Staff Dvar Torah By Rav Shaul Wiesner Netiv HaChinuch - For Parents and Teachers Petuchei Chotam on Parshat Vayera New Picture Gallery, Dedications, Visitor Log, RAV KORN SHABBAT AT YU! Mazal T ov' s, T ehilim List Join Our List HaRav Yitzchak Korn will be at Yeshiva University Shabbat Parshat Links Vayeishev (December 16-17), and all alumni (even those not in YU) Rabbanit Malke Bina' s are encouraged to join. Details to follow. Parsha Glimpse Keeping Up With The Times Please keep in mind that the US has rolled back the clock and there is now again a 7 hour time difference between Israel and the East Coast. Shabbat at the Yeshiva Friday Night: 4:07 PM -Candelighting 4:25 PM -Mincha in the Beit Midrash followed by Kabbalat Shabbat on Porch Shabbat Day: 5:25AM -Vatikin 8:30 AM -Shachrit Bet 4:15 PM -Mincha YNA.EDU | Ask Rav Nebenzahl | Suggestion Box Contact Us | Alumni Update Form | Parsha Archives YNA Newsletter 2 of 8 HaRav Nebenzahl on Parshat Vayera HaRav Nebenzahl asks that his Divrei Torah are not read during Tefillah or the Rabbi's sermon. We are proud to announce that the English translation of HaRav Nebenzahl's sichot on Sefer Bereishit is now available through the Yeshiva at a cost of 80 shekels. If you plan to be in the Old City of Yerushalayim please let us know ahead of time and we will have one waiting for you. Otherwise, you may email [email protected] with your name and address and we will send you a copy and instruct you how to make your payment. Total cost including shipping to United States - $31, to England - $30. You may also order any or all of the volumes of the Yerushalayim beMoadeha series - HaRav Avigdor Nebenzahl's insights into various periods of the year, written, compiled, and edited by HaRav Chizkiyahu Nebenzahl Shlit"a. The following volumes are currently available (in Hebrew): Shabbat - I and II Pesach Chol HaMoed Shavuot Bein HaMetzarim (the Three Weeks) Ellul and Yamim Noraim Soon to be published - Shabbat volume III focusing on the 39 melachot Also soon to be published - Pesach translated into English Cost of each volume - 45 shekels not including shipping (total estimated cost to USA - $20) PARSHAT VAYERA 5772 OLAM CHESED YIBANE Vayera elav Hashem be-elonei Mamre "Hashem appeared to him in the plains of Mamre" (Bereishit 18:1). Why did Hashem appear to Avraham Avinu? Rashi explains that it was the third day following his brit milah and Hashem came to do bikkur cholim. The following pasuk reads "He lifted his eyes and saw; And behold! Three men were standing over him. He perceived so he ran towards them from the entrance of the tent, and bowed toward the ground" (ibid. 2). Why did Avraham Avinu run towards them if Hashem had come to visit him? From the fact that Avraham Avinu left Hashem to tend to his guests, Chazal teach us: "gedola hachnassat orchim mekabalat pnei haShechina" "Receiving guests is greater than greeting the Divine Presence, for it is written: 'and he said, My L-rd if I have now found favor in Your eyes, please do not pass away from Your servant' (Bereishit 18:3)" (Shabbat 127a). If Avraham Avinu left the Shchina to tend to his guests, should we derive from there that if a guest arrives when one is in the middle of Shmone Esrei then we should leave in the middle of Shmone Esrei to tend to the guests, after all "receiving guests is greater than greeting the Divine Presence." The answer of course is no - we may not run in the middle of Shmone Esrei to receive a guest. How can you even think of leaving the King while talking to Him? The difference between what Avraham Avinu did and one being in the middle of Shmone Esrei is that when we daven we are involved in avodat Hashem - we may not interrupt our serving of Hashem in order to serve a human being. Avraham Avinu, on the other hand, was not serving Hashem. On the contrary - he was being honored by Hashem coming to him. It may have been considred me-ein olam haba but it is not called to serve Hashem. Hashem visiting Avraham Avinu was an honor and a reward for Avraham, he therefore was able to leave the Shchina and tend to his guests. Many have asked how Avraham Avinu knew that "receiving guests is greater than greeting the Divine Presence"? We learn it from Avraham Avinu but how did Avraham Avinu know? I believe the obvious answer is that Avraham Avinu knew the entire Torah, so he knew this as well. I would like to add another possible explanation: the Mishna teaches us "a moment of repentance and good deeds in this world, is worth more than all the life in the Next World" (Avot 4:14). Hashem's visit to Avraham Avinu was YNA Newsletter 3 of 8 me-ein olam haba but the mitzvah of hachnassat orchim is greater. I can prove that Avraham Avinu felt a sense of olam haba at that point. When he went to pray on behalf of Sodom he pleaded with Hashem: "It would be sacrilege to You to do such a thing, to bring death upon the righteous along with the wicked; so the righteous will be like the wicked. It would be sacrilege to You." (Bereishit 18:25). Why does he repeat "it would be sacrilege to You"? Avraham meant that the chillul Hashem would be so great not only in this world which is temporary and passing but even in the eternality of the Next World? How does Avraham Avinu know what is happening in Olam Haba? Clearly he is already there to some extent. The Torah describes Avraham's hachnassat orchim: "Avraham hastened to the tent to Sarah and said: hurry! Three se'ahs of meal, fine flour! Knead and make cakes." (Bereishit 18:6). We find in the Gemara that many generations later Avraham Avinu was rewarded for everything he did on this particular day when Hashem gave something corresponding to the Jewish nation in the desert many years later. The Gemara however finds something lacking in one of Avraham's good deeds: "whatever Avraham did for the ministering angels (i.e. his three guests) himself, Hashem likewise did for Avraham's children Himself, but whatever Avraham did only through an agent Hashem likewise did for his children only through an angel ... 'Avraham took cream and milk' (Bereishit 18:8) - 'Behold I shall rain down food from Heaven' (Shmot 16:4)" (Baba Metzia 86a). The Gemara then goes on to mention what Avraham did only through a messenger: 'let some water be brought (through someone else)' (Bereishit 18:4) ... 'and you (Moshe) shall strike the rock and and water will come forth from it and the people will drink'" (Shmot 17:6). Because Avraham did not bring the water himself, Hashem sent Moshe Rabenu to bring the water. One can ask, does it make that much of a difference whether Hashem Himself provides the water or Moshe Rabenu, was Moshe Rabenu not a good messenger? There was however a major difference, for Moshe's bringing the water resulted in his infraction of hitting the rock rather than speaking to the rock and therefore being barred entry into Eretz Yisrael. The Kabbalists state that had Moshe Rabenu entered Eretz Yisrael the Beit HaMikdash would never have been destroyed and there would have been no exile. This means that from a certain perspective the exile we have been suffering for the past 2,000 years is due to Avraham Avinu not providing water himself to his guests but rather through a messenger. What a difference there is between doing a mitzvah yourself and through a messenger? We may wonder, surely Avraham Avinu fulfilled hachnassat orchim many times throughout his life and most likely gave water himself to the guests, must this one act be viewed in a negative light? The Gemara explains that the payment here was for what he did on this particular day. What was special about this day? This day marked the ultimate in hachnassat orchim - he was an old man, recovering from his brit milah and he ran towards his guests in very intense heat. Every act, mitzvah or otherwise, which may seem insignificant to us may have incredible ramifications. One example we read in Parshat Noach. The Torah describes Shem and Yefet's covering their naked father: "and Shem and Yefet took a garment" (Bereishit 9:23) - "it is not written 'and they took' (vayikchu) rather 'and he took' (vayikach), this teaches us about Shem that he exerted effort in the fulfillment of the commandment more than Yefet" (Rashi there). That extra effort that Shem placed in carrying out this Mitzvah, on the surface, does not seem to be of any significance, yet it is immediately clear from the Torah's description and Noach's reaction that there is a major difference between them. Noach's blessing of Shem was: "Blessed is Hashem, the G-d of Shem" (Bereishit 9:26), while Yefet was blessed with "May G-d extend Yefet, but he will dwell in the tents of Shem" (ibid. 27). Yefet was given everything the physical world had to offer - Europe, America, Australia along with all their Dollars and Pounds Sterling. Regarding physical rewards it is written that their "end will be eternal destruction" (Bamidbar 24:20), Shem's reward, on the other hand, was spiritual and therefore of far greater and long lasting value.