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Follow Jewish TimesAbraham: The Ultimate Host
Mayaan Jeffe
Staff Reporter
This week we read Parshat Vayera (Bereshit 18-22). In the beginning of the selection, Abraham (or Avraham) is visited by three travelers (angels, we learn later). When he sees them approaching, he summons his wife, Sarah, to prepare cakes and offers them pastries with bread and his best calf meat. In greeting them, he tells the men he will bring them a piece of bread. This will, they say, suffice.
Commentary in the Gemara raises a question: If the bread was enough, why did Avraham bring so much more? The answer: because Avraham had the quality of the righteous. He went above and beyond what was required in the performance of this mitzvah of hachnasat orchim, welcoming guests. He provided the travelers with everything they wanted — and more.
This idea is a fundamental Jewish principle –– that each of us should go out of our way to do mitzvot and not cut corners when fulfilling mitzvot. We are supposed to find the best way to complete each mitzvah –– big or small.
–– Maayan Jaffe
A longer commentary on Vayera is on page 43.
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