Imagine the following scene from our weekly portion Vayera: Three days earlier, Abraham had performed circumcision on himself and the male members of his household. He himself was 99 years old at the time. Now the old man fresh from his self-operation sits at the entrance of his tent, the wound far from healed, and the sun blazes with full force. But Abraham has a prophetic experience (the Lord appeared to him), and that is the highest a human can achieve—or so one might think. The Bible, however, teaches something else:

“He lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, three men were standing opposite him. When he saw them, he ran from the tent entrance to meet them and bowed himself to the earth.”

Abraham invited the three guests into his tent, prepared a feast for them, and thus broke off his private audience with the Creator. Unbelievable, right?! Who would interrupt a meeting with the Creator to care for strangers?

He was right

Amazingly, the Talmud teaches us that Abraham was indeed correct in his actions, for “Hachnasat orchim (welcoming guests) is greater than experiencing the divine presence,” it says there. How can we understand the Talmud’s statement? If the Creator of the universe, the infinite, all-powerful source of existence, appeared to someone, even an atheist would say to seize the opportunity! There is no greater experience than encountering the Divine. So how can welcoming guests surpass that? The answer, however, is clear: Even better than speaking with God is becoming more like Him. The most effective way to understand God and connect with Him is to become similar to Him. “Just as God is merciful and compassionate, so too shall you be merciful and compassionate” (Talmud Shabbat 133b).

Doing good

If one wants to understand the Almighty’s love for a person, one must try to become like Him, and one of the essential ways to imitate Him is by doing good and loving other people. Becoming a giver is truly the only way to understand who God is and what life is about, for God is the ultimate giver who provides for His creation without wanting anything in return.

If one does not change by internalizing God’s attributes, one will never fully understand God. He will always remain an abstraction. An example: One of the criteria for appointing a judge to the Sanhedrin, a Jewish court that can decide on capital cases, is that the candidate must be a father of children. The Rambam explains that this is necessary “to ensure that he will be merciful.” He may be the greatest Torah scholar in the world, but if he has no children, he cannot serve as a judge because he cannot fully grasp the reality of God’s compassion for His children. He can be a prophet who communicates with the Almighty, but he cannot judge capital crimes. To truly have compassion, one must be a father; similarly, to understand God, one must become more like Him.

What is important here is the Jewish approach that it is not just the good thought that makes one a good person, but the good deed. Just as a prospective Sanhedrin judge certainly knows a lot about children, he will only truly know when he has children himself. The experience counts, not the thought, the knowledge, or the theory.

No empty talk

Another interesting teaching in this context is a detail often overlooked. Abraham says to the three guests:

“Let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree, while I bring a morsel of bread.”

In reality, however, something quite different happened:

“And Abraham ran to the tent to Sarah and said, ‘Quickly make ready three seahs of fine flour, knead it, and make cakes.’ Abraham ran to the herd and took a calf, tender and good, and gave it to a young man, who prepared it quickly. And he took curds and milk and the calf that he had prepared, and set it before them.”

Abraham did far more than he had promised! We all know people who talk a lot but ultimately do little. Abraham was the opposite, and the Talmud’s sages admonish based on this story: “Emor me’at ve’aseh harbeh—say little and do much.” Talk is cheap. Temporarily, it may seem like one is doing something, but in the end, one is just a talker, and everyone will recognize it. The sign that someone is serious about doing good is that they talk little and do much. One should not boast. One should not promise much. One should simply do what needs to be done.

In this spirit, the editors of Israel Today wish all readers a peaceful Shabbat, the day when one imitates God by taking a pause.

Shabbat Shalom!