Congregation Netivot Shalom

Parashah Va-Yera
Genesis 18:1 - 22:24
Delivered on October 30, 1999 / Chesvan 20, 5760
Marcia S. Brooks

So I’m standing here because I’m 50 years old and I want to feel more connected to Torah. Many of you think that this is an old familiar place for me, but its brand new. This parashah is very rich – with many of our values and basic stories of our tradition. I have selected one theme and picked up its strands through out the parashah.

Parashat Vayera begins with Abraham sitting at the entrance or threshold of his tent. It says the Lord appears to him. Some of the commentaries say that means he was in deep prayer or meditation, in direct communication with HaShem. It is the heat of the day and presumably he is healing from the circumcision he had performed on himself, no less, at the end the of the last parashah, Lech L’cha.

So he is deep in prayer, probably in pain, certainly hot, and what does he do when he looks up and sees outright strangers? He runs to greet them, humbles himself, and pleads to be able to serve them. So what are we seeing Abraham do here. I see him demonstrating that welcoming the stranger, offering hachnasat orchim, commonly translated “hospitality,” is a more righteous act, perhaps a higher mitzvah, if they can be ranked, than even prayer.

Next he refers to himself as “your servant”, showing that we must see everyone as an emanation of HaShem. He offers what is most precious in the desert setting: water and food. He tells his wife Sarah to prepare 3 seah of choice flour (apparently a very generous volume.) At the herd he selects a choice young calf and gives it to the na’ar, literally translated as “lad”, to prepare. The commentary says the lad was his only son at the time: Ishmael. The opportunity to pass on to his progeny the importance of this mitzvah is carefully included in his actions.

Abraham waits on them himself as they sit and are served in what appears to be the best seats in the house, under the tree – maybe the sacred terebinths we hear of in the opening of the parashah.

Next we move on to Sodom, where G*d has stated his decision to destroy the city because their sin was so grave. Abraham pleads with G*d to spare the city and G*d agrees to, even if only 10 innocent people are found.

So Abraham’s visitors, who Midrash identify as angels, arrive in Sodom and find Lot sitting at the gate. In those days the gate to the city was where business and trade were conducted and town leaders were found. In Genesis 13:12 we learned of Lot setting up his tents on the Plains near Sodom but now we find he not only has a house in town but a seat at the gate. It would give you the impression that he has been accepted at least on some level into the town of Sodom.

Now the way the story of Sodom and Gomorra has often been taught conventionally was that their terrible sin was sexual debauchery in committing homosexual acts. But, as I read through several translations of the story and searched through commentary and Midrash, I was surprised to find that the homosexual act referred to was actually an act of rape, i.e. a forcible act of hostility and abuse. A rabbinic interpretation in Tosefta Sotah suggests the affluent people of Sodom selfishly adopted a policy of maltreating strangers in order to discourage visitors and to not have to share their prosperity with others.

To me it looks like we have seen two ends of the spectrum of the concept of hachnasat orchim (hospitality to others). On the one hand we have Abraham, who clearly recognizes b’tzelem Elohim, the image of G*d, in everyone and behaves accordingly. At the other extreme we have the Sodomites, who fail even to recognize angels as angels, and whom G*d destroys for the great sin of being abusively hostile to strangers, the extreme of being inhospitable.

The third part of the parashah I want to look at with you is Chapter 20 where Abraham and Sarah go to sojourn (or live for some indeterminate period of time) in Gerar. Abraham puts forth that Sarah is his sister because of his earlier experience in Egypt. There, if someone in power finds a sojourner’s wife desirable they could well act without scruples to kill him to make the wife an available woman. Abraham believes that the people of Gerar are similarly not a G*d-fearing people and the consequences could be the same here as well.

In Abraham’s eyes, the people of Gerar put forth a very mixed message about hospitality – definitely not one to make a stranger (with a beautiful wife) feel secure and welcome. Abimelech, the king of Gerar, does in fact take Sarah into his household, assuming that she is Abraham’s sister. But G*d comes to Abimelech in a dream and condemns him for having taken another man’s wife. Abimelech confronts Abraham and asks, “what have you done to us?” Now perhaps Abimelech would have extended his welcome had he known Sarah to be Abraham’s wife, and perhaps not, but in this case an uncertainty about Abimelech’s intentions about hospitality almost leads to disaster. As we heard in the portion that I read today, to compensate for the misunderstanding and to assure that he would be vindicated Abimelech grants Abraham and Sarah access to his land and gives them 1000 pieces of silver. And in turn Abraham prays to G*d and G*d heals the barrenness that afflicts the women of Abimelech’s household.

So what does this have to do with us here today?

I am blessed to be in the position professionally where I am often contacted by 3 categories of people. 1) People who are new to the Bay Area and are searching for Jewish community; 2) Jews who had left Jewish practice and now seek a way to return; and 3) Jews who define themselves as only culturally Jewish or have little exposure to practice yet know they are missing something. Almost every one of us have found ourselves in one of these categories.

I listen carefully to what they tell me and begin to offer information on where they might find a prayer style that fits, classes at the right level, and community that they seek. And people are grateful for the helping hand they have been given.

Often that’s where it ends and I don’t see or hear from them again. But many times there is further contact and while they have perhaps found a worship style that works or opportunities for learning, often they are still having a hard time connecting to community. They just have not felt welcomed.

Today I have asked friends from three other Jewish groups that I participate in, to join us here at Netivot Shalom: the Aquarian Minyan, Kehilla Community Synagogue and Nishmat Shalom. We are all together one large East Bay Jewish community. We could all do well to better commit to the mitzvah of hachnasat orchim as shown in this week’s parashah.

- as individuals we can warmly welcome newcomers to our homes;

- as communities we are all responsible for making each other welcome at our community gatherings;

- and we need to work to express our clear intention abouthospitality – no mixed messages.

In closing, let’s get back to Abraham as our role model. Fortunately, this is not last weeks parashah where Abraham performed his own circumcision. This week you only have to emulate Abraham’s hospitality.

Enough talk. Go do it.

Shabbat Shalom. [jerry-berkmans-imac:~] jerry%