This week’s Parasha is Parashat Vayera 📖
Avraham sat in the heat of the day, three days after his brit milah (the most painful). He sat looking to do the mitzvah of greeting guests, hachnasat orchim.
Why didn’t Avraham take time to lie down, rest and recuperate? Avraham had such clarity about the world he realised there was no time for rest. He LOOKED for visitors because he knew the world is supported by chessed (kindness) and he didn’t want to compromise this characteristic for one moment.
Even a simple gesture, such as giving someone a ride to help speed up their journey has a tremendous impact. The Maharal says that our mitzvot go on to have an affect long after we do them. We just can’t see how. It’s impossible to truly calculate how much impact even one mitzvah has.
When Avraham saw the three guests, the malachim, angels, he ran to them and bowed down. Isn’t that Avodah Zara? No, he was really bowing down to Hashem, in gratitude, for enabling him to do this mitzvah.
When it comes to the Akeidah, the binding of Yitzchak, why is it called the Akeidah? Because Yitzhak knew he was engaged in a mitzvah that had such potential for kedusha for himself and for the generations to come. He was afraid he would flinch and compromise the purity of him being a korban, the perfection of the moment.
He didn’t want to waste any kedusha of the moment, so he asked Avraham to bind him tight, to squeeze out every drop of the mitzvah. What do we learn from all of this?
That when we do a mitzvah, we do not know what ripple effects it actually has! We should always try and go the extra mile. We need to tap into the mitzvot that we do and do them to the best of our abilities! How do we know its out best and enough? Because if you did your best, it is enough!
✨ *Shabbat Shalom* ✨