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A refreshing and clear review of each Parsha in the Torah presented by Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe
00:00 - RAW (Host)
All right, welcome back everybody to the Parsha Review podcast. This week's Parsha is the special Parsha of Vayera. It is the fourth Parsha in the book of Genesis, in the book of Beraeus, and it is the fourth Parsha, the fourth portion, in the Torah. There are 147 verses, 2085 words, 7,862 letters and, like we mentioned every week, the reason we specify the numbers is because there's not an extra word, an extra letter, an extra verse in the entire Torah. We're going to see a few examples of that today. We're going to see a few examples of how we learn a verse of the Torah and don't take it just simply oh well, it was a sunny day, we'll see. There's tremendous wisdom, secrets in every single word, in every single letter of the Torah. There are no direct mitzvahs, there's no prohibitions, no performative commandments in this week's Parsha. And the Parsha begins Vayera, elov, adonai, beeloni mamre, vuhu yoshev, pashah, ol kachom, hayom and Hashem appeared to Abraham when he was in eloni mamre, at the entrance of his tent, at the heat of the day, three days after performing the brismila, the covenant between Abraham and God, with a circumcision.
01:27
It's the most painful day. Three days after circumcision is the most painful day. Abraham at the age of 99 at the time, is visited by Hashem. Hashem unleashes a very, very hot sun more than usual. Why so that no travelers stop by Abraham's house? What God didn't want is that God knew that Abraham loved to be kind and loved to welcome guests into his home, and he wanted Abraham to just rest and not care for others but to rather care for himself. Abraham is sad. Abraham is sad that he has no guests. Hashem sends three angels and Abraham rushes to offer lavish hospitality.
02:12
So we're going to see these verses in a few minutes. We're going to see how we learn every single detail from the verse. Simple words, just giving us the description of what's going on, is not no simple description. It's telling us great detail into the characteristic of Abraham, to his dedication, to his desire, his never ending desire to emulate God in every aspect. So then, who are these guests? These guests are angels.
02:45
These angels came for three missions, for three prophecies. Number one to reveal that in one year, sarah is going to have a son. Now again, sarah at that time is 89 years old and she laughs Chodalios la Orahkanashim. She doesn't anymore have the women's system of having a baby, she doesn't have the women's operating system for nurturing a baby, and that's why she was like laughing. This is impossible.
03:19
The second angel says that he came to destroy Sodom, sodom and Gomorrah because of its wicked people, and the third came to heal Abraham. So there are many lessons we need to learn here. Firstly, that God came to visit Abraham, where there is a special commandment to visit the sick. It's not a commandment in the Torah, but we learned this incredible mitzvah from the Almighty. The Almighty visited the sick. We go out and visit the sick. We see hospitality, we see how Abraham took such great care of his guests, and we'll notice more detail that Abraham tells them just sit and I'll give you a little bit of water and food. Instead, he goes inside and slaughters three animals. And there's another important lesson we're going to see, and that is that he doesn't bring them into his home. He sits them under the tree. Why? Because they were dressed like Arabs and as Arabs they're idol worshippers and as idol worshippers, he doesn't want idolatry in their home. So he gives them water to wash their feet so that all of the idolatry, the sand that they were bowing down on, all of that is cleared off from their feet before he serves them.
04:33
Abraham now is escorting the angels out after they eat and we know that they're heading now to Sodom and Gomorrah to destroy the whole city of Sodom. But Abraham pleads with God to save the city of Sodom if there are fifty righteous people. And he negotiates with God and God says if there's fifty righteous, no problem. If there weren't any, if there were forty, god says no problem. If there were forty righteous, I'll save the city. There isn't any. If there's thirty, I'll save the city. If there's twenty, ten now, less than ten. God can't go less than ten. That's one of the reasons we know ten is a proper quorum that's required for a city to be saved and considered righteous If you have ten righteous people.
05:21
The Talmud talks about the Asorabat Lonym that there should be in every city, every Jewish city, ten people who sit and learn Torah uninterrupted. It's an important charity, it's an important cause for people to invest in, to invest in Torah scholars to just sit and learn. But there has to be ten. Ten is a number which is considered a respectable number, that in the merit of ten people, god is willing to save the city of Sodom. But even ten, they wasn't.
05:49
The angels save Lot, abraham's nephew and his family, and the angels warn them not to look back. Don't look back, you're leaving the city. They got him out. And there's many, many details the Midrash talks about of how exactly the angels came to the city, loat, and how Loat offered his daughters. And they're like no, we want the angels, we want these people and to cohabitate with them. And the way in which the sodomites Conducted life was so corrupt and so evil. God didn't want this anymore in the world. And God turns over the city, the angels, it rains, sulfur and fire. The entire city burns and gets overturned and the city is gone. It no longer exists, except for Israelis to sell hand cream in the malls from the Dead Sea products. So it is overturned and it disappears forever.
06:49
Loads daughters fear that there will be no husbands for them, so they decide to perpetuate the human race through their father. They get their father drunk and they both sleep with their father, thinking that there's nobody else alive on planet earth. And this is it. The elder daughter has Moaf and the younger has Amon, and these are two great nations. And Then the Torah tells us in this week's parsha how Abraham and Sarah move to Gurar. We are King of Imelach abduct Sarah.
07:21
Hashem appears to Avimelech in a dream and warns him that he better free Sarah. He does. He sends off Abraham with great gifts and Abraham davins for his healing. He got very sick. There was a plague that hit Avimelech and his entire kingdom and all of them got ill and Abraham davins Avram daven that all of them be healed and they were. And then there's a great celebration of Hashem remembers his promise to Abraham.
07:49
Now, at this point, abraham is a hundred years old, sarah is 90 years old and Yitzchak is born. Sarah looks like she's 20. We'll see this in next week's Torah portion that it says that Sarah was a hundred years and 20 years and seven years. Why? Because when she was a hundred, she looked like she was 20. When she was 20, she looked like she was seven in each one, in purity, in holiness, in beauty. It says in the Talmud that Sarah was one of the foremost beautiful women in the world. So Sarah was incredibly gifted.
08:22
On the eighth day, abraham Circumcises his son Yitzchak, as commanded, and then he makes a feast when Yitzchak is weaned and there's a big Lesson to be learned here about independence, about Yitzchak becoming by the way, this is the first Source in the Torah for a bar mitzvah. That's when Yitzchak was weaned, when he was 13. He was on his own. That's it. He was independent, he was mature, he took responsibility for his own actions. And our Torah teaches us that when a boy turns 13 and when a girl turns 12, that's when they have their own account in heaven for their mitzvahs. Till that point, their sins and their merits are their parents account. Their mistakes are in their parents. Their good deeds are in their parents. After the age of 12 for a girl and 13 for a boy, that goes to their own account. And when they're 20, that's when they open up the heavenly account for Retribution. God forbid if they do any sins.
09:22
The next important segment of the parasha talks about the lesson of Keeping away bad influences. Sarah tells Abraham to banish Hagar and Yishmael because she sees signs of degeneracy. She sees that Yishmael is a no-good Nick. We don't need him here. We don't want him here. We don't want the influence of Yishmael to impact Isaac, our son.
09:45
Abraham is distressed, but Hashem tells him Listen to her voice. Doesn't say listen to what she's saying, listen to her voice. And this is, I think, an important lesson for marriage. It's not the words, it's the voice. It's not the words. She said I can go, so I went with my friends. Yeah, you didn't listen to her voice, you listen to her words. And it's important, a very important, for every single man who wants to be happily married, to listen To his wife's voice. The voice says a lot. She says sure, go ahead. That's a threat, that's not an approval.
10:22
Avram is distressed and Hashem tells him to listen to Sarah's voice. After nearly dying of thirst in the desert, yishmael is saved by an angel and Hashem Promises that he will be the progenitor of a great and mighty nation. Avimelech enters into an alliance with Avraham and this is the same King Avimelech that earlier abducted Sarah and he sees that Hashem is with Abraham and he says I just want to have peace with you, let's not fight, let's make a treaty. And then we have the marvelous teaching, in the end of this week's parasha, of the binding of Isaac. In the tenth and final, most difficult test, hashem instructs Avraham to sacrifice Isaac at age 37.
11:11
In the early morning, avraham takes Yitzchak, who saddles his donkey, and goes to Mount Moriah. There's a lot of emphasis here on early morning, because Avraham institutes the morning prayer. We will see more about this soon. At the last moment, hashem, via an angel, stops Avraham and sacrifices Avraham. Instead, the horn is saved for later. This is the horn of the chauffeur of Mashiach. That's why every Rosh Hashanah we blow the chauffeur from the horn of Avraham. Because of Avraham's unquestioning obedience, hashem promises him that even if the Jewish people sin, they will never be completely dominated by their foes and the Jewish people will always keep a friendship and a covenant with God that even when we're in total despair, when it looks like there's total annihilation, the Jewish people will always be speared in the last moment.
12:09
The Torah portion concludes with the genealogy of Avraham. Sarah and the daughter of Avraham's nephew, bessuel Rivka, who is soon to be the wife of Isaac, is born. And, if you notice, always the parasha ends with the future being born, with the new redemption coming. We started Beraeus. We have a terrible generation being born, a terrible generation acting in a terrible way that God is going to annihilate all of them with the flood. But the portion of Beraeus ends with the birth of Noach, and Noach was righteous and found favor in the eyes of Hashem. We see the portion of Noach. Terrible things happen and you have the Tower of Babel as well, but the portion of Noach ends with the birth of Abraham, and so on and so forth. You see the blending of the portions, how it always ends on a positive note of hope.
13:14
So some important lessons that we need to point out here on this week's parasha. Number one is life's mission for every single Jew should be to emulate Hashem, to emulate God, and we see this through visiting the sick. Hashem visits the sick. There's another thing, which is Gamelus Chassadim, which is act of loving, kindness, where we see Abraham was the most incredible host, where he's going out of his way to take care of every need of his guests. There's also an interesting note, if you notice there's a specific emphasis that Abraham offers his guest Chema v Chalav. In verse number eight, he offers them cream and milk and then, immediately after that, he gives them the calf and all of the meat. Because we know that the halacha tells us you can eat milk before meat, but not meat before milk. And here we see how Avram, who learned the Torah, knew the proper way, and he gives them the milk first and then they can eat the meat. But also we see there's something Vayitah Ashal he planted an orchard Ashal, our sages teach us, is the three components of hospitality Achila, which is giving someone to eat, shtia, which is giving someone to drink, and the last is Leviah escorting them out.
14:40
Or Lena, giving them a place to sleep, but also escorting them out. And we see that Abraham escorted his guests out. Our sages tell us to be very, very careful of the latter of those three, and that is escorting your guests out. Why? Because if you don't escort them out, instead of having Ashal, aleph Shin, lamed, which is an orchard, which is so beautiful, a beautiful, perfect mitzvah, it becomes ash. Because you left out the Lamed, it becomes ash, and God forbids. Many of our sages tell us it can be a negative omen of bringing fire into your home.
15:15
So my rabbi may he live and be well asked what does that mean? You're going out of your way, you're inviting guests to your home, you're giving them food, you're giving your whining and dining them, but you didn't escort them out and you get a punishment for that. What's going on here? How do we understand this? See, he says no, it doesn't mean that fire is going to come to your house. This is what it means is ash means fire, red embarrassment.
15:41
He says someone comes to your house. They feel like I need to come on to someone else for food and for drink. But when you escort them out, when you escort those guests out, they get the feeling, no, they love my presence here so much that they even want to spend the extra few seconds walking me out. It softens the entire embarrassment that they might have that I needed to come on to someone else for food and drink. Look, they loved that I was here, they loved that I was present in their home, they loved my company that they even wanted to walk me out. It softens their embarrassment and makes it into a beautiful orchard where they feel loved, where they feel that the mitzvah was complete. It wasn't just here take food and take something to drink, but rather it is a mitzvah that someone with passion and with love has opened their home for us because they want us there. I think it's such a beautiful perspective, such a beautiful understanding of the mitzvah of Haachnassas Archem welcoming guests into our home. It's not only giving them something to eat and drink, it's their entire experience should be a pleasant one. They need to think of everything that they need.
16:54
There's a story told about the Chavitzchheim when he was in his 90s, someone came to stay at his house and the Chavitzchheim was preparing the bed sheet for the guest. The guest was like no, the Chavitzchheim, you don't need to prepare my bed for me, I can do this myself. It's fine. He says you want to take away my mitzvah of being like Abraham, of hosting a guest in my home. This is my mitzvah. For you it wouldn't be a mitzvah. For me it's a mitzvah. It's such a privilege to be like the disciples of Abraham.
17:30
Another important, very important lesson for us to learn is that God, there is sitting at the entrance of the tent with Abraham. God is visiting him, so to speak. Here's a sick man three days after a circumcision. God comes and visits him and they're sitting and schmoozing and then Abraham sees look, there are three guests. God hold on a second Time out, time out. I've got to run, take care of these guests.
17:54
And we see that God indeed teaches us this idea that take care of your fellow man before you take care of God. That's what God wants us to do. So if someone has the opportunity to daven, and at that moment there's a great mitzvah that comes your way, do the mitzvah with your fellow man. God says I'll wait. I'll wait Because I want to see you emulate my ways, wait, the ways of Hashem, where we take care of our fellow man, where we take care of another human being just like God would. God says I'm going to wait and then, when Abraham returns, god is waiting there because he did the right thing. Ben-adam l'Havero, the proper way of conduct between man and his fellow always precedes the conduct of Ben-Adam l'Makam, of the way one conducts himself before the Almighty.
18:53
The next important lesson is to distance from idolatry and cleaning their feet. Abraham makes a special emphasis here is water to wash your feet. He doesn't tell them why. Just wash your feet, you have sand on your feet. But our sages teach us and Rashi emphasizes this that Abraham didn't want idolatry near his house and therefore any remnant of it should be completely removed. Our sages teach us that we always and we see this later with Yishma'el we need to remove negative influences from our lives. If there is an influence and this, by the way, goes down to a very practical level of even a cell phone If you have an app which is taking much of your time or is a negative influence, get rid of it. No one is forcing us to have an app which is a negative influence on our phones. It's our choice and it's our choice to put it there. It's our choice to get rid of it If there is a negative influence even.
19:55
I'll share with you a private story when we lived in Brooklyn, new York. My family lived there from 1981 till 1988. We lived in Brooklyn, new York, and one day my brother and I got into a little bit of a fight, as brothers do, loving brothers and I used a word that probably should never be used by a nice Jewish boy, especially not a nice Jewish boy learning any Yishiva, and my mother was shocked that I would even talk like that and my mother's, like you, just wait till your daddy gets home. My father comes home and instead of reprimanding me and giving me a potch or whatever, my father very lovingly sat with me on the front porch and he says to me I'm not upset that you said what you said. You know that you should never use such words. He said I just want to know where did you learn that from? And I pointed right across the street. We lived right across the street from one of the public schools in New York City and it was. I mean, I used to play with the many, many non-Jews from all different backgrounds you know Puerto Ricans and Italians and African Americans and you name it and that's the way they would talk. And my father said I'm not upset at you, it's my fault because I put you in a place where you have such influences.
21:15
And a few weeks later, my parents were in Muncie for Shabbos with us to look for a new home and we moved to Muncie because of that, because in Muncie you don't have public schools, you don't have those same influences that your kids could be influenced from. And I think it's a very important lesson for us as parents to constantly monitor the influence of our children and if the influence is not a good one, don't blame your children. You're putting your child in a situation which is going to influence them. You're putting them into an environment where they're going to be influenced and if it's not a good influence, move them out of that situation. So, on a very direct, personal level to each and every one of us to take note if there's something which is a negative influence in your life, make it your point to remove it or to remove yourself from it.
22:11
Hashem controls all of creation, all of nature. Hashem brings out a very steamy, hot, hot, hot sun. And as the verse says in chapter 18, verse number one, the first verse in this week's partial, we said there's no extra verse, there's no extra word, there's no extra letter. It says towards kichom hayom, in the heat of the day. And our say-to-say? What does that mean? Why is there an emphasis about that?
22:39
Rashi says hoci akodeshboru hu chamom inartikos shololah atricho ba'ochim. God took out the sun from its case, its protective seal, and made it extremely hot, just so that Abraham will not be busy welcoming guests into his home. Vilefishur au shemitzdair. And because God saw that Abraham was so upset, shulohoyu au rechem, that he didn't have guests bo'im coming to him. Hayvim al-ahim a love bidmus anoshim. God brought angels in the form of humans so that Abraham can have the privilege of doing the mitzvah of welcoming guests into his home. All this we learned from two words kichom hayom, at the heat of the day. Much an important lesson for us to see that there's not an extra word. God is in control of everything.
23:38
Another perfect example in this week's parasha is Sarah's inability to have children. She doesn't have a womb. We mentioned this last week. She doesn't have the weirdwithal to produce a child when she laughs. God asks, chapter 18, verse 14, hayipoleh mehashem davar lamo'ed ashoov eylechok e'eschayolus arabayn? Is there anything beyond the capability of Hashem, anything? At this point of time, at this appointed time, I will return, meaning next year I will return to you and Sarah will have a son. And this demonstrates to us that, even though there are things that seem to us impossible, it will never happen. It's against the laws of nature. Well, god controls nature and, just like he created the laws of nature a certain way, he can change the laws of nature in whatever way he wishes. So we have to understand and remember. The son that God made extremely hot, hotter than normal, was a change of nature, and the womb of Sarah, being able to carry a baby at the age of 90, was God showing us his control over all of nature.
25:02
Another very important lesson to talk about is prayer, the power of prayer. Always ask Hashem for everything. I've had people say well, god doesn't care about my son's little league game. Yes, he does, because it's something in your life. God wants to communicate. God wants to have the relationship between him and his creations. Not only that that, you can ask for everything, but you can negotiate, just like Abraham did. Abraham negotiated with God for 50, for 40, for 30, for 20, for 10 righteous in the city of Sodom and God would save them. You can negotiate.
25:44
Abraham instituted the prayer of Shacharist, the morning prayer. He says he got a vayashkeim Avram Babokar. He got up in the morning to pray to God and that's one of the sources for the morning prayer being instituted by Abraham. Abraham founded the morning prayer, isaac the afternoon and Jacob the evening prayer. Another thing that we see is that Abraham prayed for someone else. He prayed for Avimelech.
26:14
Our sages teach us that when you pray for someone else, you will benefit first. If you know someone else, there's actually an organization in New York that matches up people who have the same issue. Whatever the issue is, two people who are looking for a job pray for each other, because the Talmud says when you pray for someone else, you will benefit first. So if you're looking for a job, someone else is looking for a job, pray for them. You will benefit by finding the job first and they peer people up to pray for each other so that you merit. From what our sages tell us and the idea is not so that you're being selfish the Talmud says you can go ahead and try to be selfish when you pray for someone else with your whole heart. That's what Hashem wants. Be selfless, even if, in the back of your mind, you have an intention that you will benefit first. It's not easy. Try it. Try to pray wholeheartedly for someone else, for something that you really want, and you'll see that it brings about a whole new level of love, care, concern and affection for another human being.
27:22
Another incredible teaching is how Yishma El is sent away with Haggar, his mother. They're sent away. Abraham is concerned. What do I do? Hashem says listen to Sarah's voice. And they're sent away.
27:36
And Yishma El, the Torah tells us, became very, very ill. He was deathly ill. He was thirsty in the desert and he was going to die. And the angels came before God and said this is an opportunity. Get rid of Yishma El. He's going to be a wild maniac, he's going to be a beast. Just get rid of him. God says how is he at this moment? At this moment, ba'ashir Hu Sham and the angels say at this moment, he is at a repenting state. Right now he was remorseful. Right now he was dignified and proper before Hashem. God says if that's the case, we're going to save him and immediately there was a well there and he was healed from his illness. But there's an incredible lesson Many people assume incorrectly comes the time for Rosh Hashanah, comes the time Yom Kippur, how can I talk to God and say I'm just going to go right back to eating the stuff that I shouldn't be eating, I'll keep on doing the things I shouldn't be doing.
28:46
I keep on going to the places I shouldn't be going. I'm being too faced, I'm being disingenuous by asking for forgiveness for something I'm just going to resort right back to God says, on Rosh Hashanah, yom Kippur, ba'ashir Hu Sham, how are you at that moment? At that moment, god looks. He doesn't look at what you did in the past, he doesn't look at what you're going to do in the future. God looks at you at the moment and therefore, never, ever push away from a moment of truth, from a moment of sincerity, from a moment of genuine remorse. If someone feels something, you have a moment of truth, maximize it, utilize it, ask for forgiveness, because God looks at us, at the sincerity we have at that moment.
29:36
The last piece here is the tests that Abraham had. Abraham had 10 tests. Hashem knows you better than you know you, hashem is your manufacturer. Hashem created you. Hashem does not give us a test that we are not capable of excelling at. The 10 tests that Abraham got were unique for Abraham. They're not for us, right? You're not going to get the test of being thrown into a burning furnace by King Nimrod. That was Abraham. Abraham was a unique individual and was given tests that only he can excel at. The 10 tests were number one according to this.
30:18
According to Rashi, avraham hid underground for 13 years from King Nimrod, who wanted to kill him because the astrologers saw that someone's going to be born soon and he's going to identify a monotheistic God and he's going to reveal that to the world and he's going to teach monotheism to the world. And Nimrod was convinced that he himself was God. He didn't want a competition, so he was looking for this little Abraham that was going to be born. He was hidden in a cave for 13 years. Nimrod threw Abraham. When he did find him, he finally threw him into a burning furnace and they looked into the furnace and they see Abraham walking around like it's just a regular spring day.
31:03
Avraham is commanded to leave his family in his homeland. That was a test. To where To the land that I will show you. He didn't even know his destination. Imagine someone says pack your bags, you're leaving. That's it. You're leaving your home, you're leaving Houston, you're leaving Des Moines, you're leaving wherever you're, from when to, I want to know how to pack. Well, in the place that I'll show you. That takes a lot of trust, reliance on the person who is, or the being, the almighty God, creator of heaven and earth. He's got the right intentions for us. He's going to take care of us.
31:37
Upon arrival, a famine hits the land of Canaan and Abraham is forced to leave. Then we learn about Avimelech abducting Sarah. Then we have the king's capture loat. Avraham is forced into war to rescue him. The odds were against him. Avraham is told by Hashem that his offspring will suffer under four monarchies. And then, at an advanced age, avraham is commanded to circumcise himself and his son. If you remember from last week's portion, he does so immediately. And then Avraham is commanded to drive away Hagar and Yashmael. And the last of his 10 tests was that Avraham was commanded to sacrifice Yitzchak at the arcade of the binding of Isaac. And these 10 tests, these 10 trials, affirmed the relationship of Avraham as being the leader of the Jewish people, the leader of the nation that was going to receive the Torah. And that, my dear friends, concludes the partial review.
32:43
My dear friends, those of you out there listening on podcast, you're welcome to write to me at awolbe at torchweborg, wwwtorchweborg. I look forward to hearing your feedback. If you enjoy the class, what you enjoy, if you don't enjoy what you don't enjoy, and if you have any questions, you're always welcome to reach out as well. I look forward to hearing from you. Have a fabulous Shabbos.