Thank You for Being – Vayeira
וַיִּשָּׂא עֵינָיו וַיַּרְא וְהִנֵּה שְׁלֹשָׁה אֲנָשִׁים נִצָּבִים עָלָיו וַיַּרְא וַיָּרָץ לִקְרָאתָם מִפֶּתַח הָאֹהֶל וַיִּשְׁתַּחוּ אָרְצָה. (בראשית יח, ב)
There are many topics discussed in this week's parsha – the visit by the three angels, the destruction of Sdom and the rescue of Lot, Avimelech kidnapping Sarah and finally, the Akeida. What very few people realize is that the entire parsha in fact revolves around one central subject and that is - the Korban Toda.
It is true that the Torah details the Korban Toda in parshat Tzav (my barmitzvah parsha). However, there it describes the technicalities – which breads and matzot make up the Toda, the animal Shelamim sacrifice that accompanies it, etc. In this week's parsha Vareira, on the other hand, the Torah teaches us the spiritual essence of the Korban Toda, why it is such a central Korban and why, according to the Midrash (ויקרא רבה פרשה ט, סימן ז), it will be the only individual Korban that will persist in the time of the Geulah.
First, we need to establish that this parsha indeed begins and ends with the Korban Toda.
Let us start davka with the final episode in the parsha, the Akeida. The Gemara (Sanhedrin 89b) asks what does it mean by the words וַיְהִי אַחַר הַדְּבָרִים הָאֵלֶּה וְהָאֱ-לֹקִים נִסָּה אֶת אַבְרָהָם ... (בראשית כב, א). After which "דְּבָרִים"? R' Yochanan says in the name of R' Yosi ben Zimra – "After the words of the Satan". According to the Gemara, the Satan said to HKB"H "Ribono shel olam, at 100 years of age you gave this old man (Avraham) the gift of bearing a child. In all the feasts (to celebrate the birth of Yitzchak) he did not sacrifice even one dove, or even a baby dove to you (as a Korban Toda)!"
The closing episode of our parsha takes us back to the opening episode, where the angels came to visit Avraham after the brit milah and to tell Sarah that she will give birth to Yitzchak. In other words, from beginning to end, the crux of the parsha is all about a Korban Toda, or at least according to the Satan – the absence (?) of a Korban Toda.
Let us now analyze the parsha step by step and we will see how everything fits neatly into place and at the same time learn a fundamental principle about the "human condition".
Before we begin, however, a short introduction is necessary.
Prior to creating humans on the 6th day of Creation, it says וַיֹּאמֶר אֱ-לֹקִים נַעֲשֶׂה אָדָם בְּצַלְמֵנוּ כִּדְמוּתֵנוּ ... (בראשית א, כו) – in the plural. The Yalkut Shimoni on that passuk says that before creating man, HKB"H consulted with the angels and asked them if He should create man. The angels asked HKB"H – "Explain to us what man is, so we can offer our opinion!" HKB"H explained to them the essence of man. When the angels heard this, they gave their opinion on the matter. It is immortalized in a passuk from Tehilim (8, 5) מָה אֱנוֹשׁ כִּי תִזְכְּרֶנּוּ וּבֶן אָדָם כִּי תִפְקְדֶנּוּ. The angels advised against creating man. "Look what man does! אָדָם will sin, disobeying your command to refrain from eating from the עֵץ הַדַּעַת. The son of אָדָם, Kayin will sin, killing his brother Hevel. The generation of אֱנוֹשׁ will rebel against HKB"H and serve idols. Do not create man!"
The Yalkut Shimoni says that when HKB"H heard the angels' response, He "burnt them with His finger". Obviously HKB"H does not have a "finger", He has no finite form whatsoever. The description of the Midrash is simply to enable us mortals to understand the principle with our limited intelligence, using concepts we are familiar with.
HKB"H then approached a second group of angels and asked them the same question. The angels replied the same way as the first group and again, HKB"H "burnt them with His finger".
HKB"H then asked a third group of angels the question. This third group of angels said to HKB"H “What good did it do them that the first two groups of angels advised against creating man? The entire world is Yours, HKB”H, Do whatever You will in Your world!”
HKB"H responded to the angels and said (immortalized in a passuk from Yishayahu 46, 4) וְעַד זִקְנָה אֲנִי הוּא וְעַד שֵׂיבָה אֲנִי אֶסְבֹּל אֲנִי עָשִׂיתִי וַאֲנִי אֶשָּׂא וַאֲנִי אֶסְבֹּל וַאֲמַלֵּט. HKB"H said to the angels "You are short sighted and not taking the long view. Wait until זִקְנָה (referring to Avraham - וְאַבְרָהָם זָקֵן בָּא בַּיָּמִים). Wait until שֵׂיבָה (referring to Moshe when he went up to receive the Torah and HKB"H appeared to him as an old man). Then you will see why I created man".
In another Midrash (Breishit Rabba 8, 5) it says that there were four opinions amongst the angels – Chessed, Tzedaka, Emet and Shalom, as it says חֶסֶד וֶאֱמֶת נִפְגָּשׁוּ צֶדֶק וְשָׁלוֹם נָשָׁקוּ (תהילים פה, יא). Chessed and Tzedaka said to create man, because he performs acts of Gmilut Chasadim and Tzedaka. Emet and Shalom said do not create man because man is full of lies and is always fighting with one another. HKB"H took the angel of Emet and "threw him to the ground", as it says וְתַשְׁלֵךְ אֱמֶת אַרְצָה (דניאל ח, יב). The other angels said "Ribon ha'olamim, how can you shame your "stamp" (the stamp of HKB"H is Emet – a topic for another shiur), Raise Emet back up from the ground", as it says אֱמֶת מֵאֶרֶץ תִּצְמָח (תהילים פה, יב).
Who were these angels? The Yalkut Shimoni above does not say. However, in this week's parsha we learn who they were. They were actually four angels – Michael (Chessed), Rafael (Tzedaka), Gavriel (Shalom) and ס"מ, the Satan (Emet).
Which three angels visited Avraham? R' Bachyei (בראשית יח, ב) says Michael (to inform Sarah she would give birth to Yitzchak and to save Lot), Rafael to heal Avraham from the brit milah and Gavriel to destroy Sdom. Rashi gives the same job descriptions but he does not name the angels as does R' Bachyei.
[Aside: We know that an angel has only one mission to perform, so how could Michael have been given two? Also, why was Gavriel, whose mission it was to destroy Sdom, visiting Avraham? You may read more about this in the shiur on Vayeira 2020]
Aside from each angel's specific task, listed above, HKB"H wanted to show the angels that they were wrong for advising against creating man, so He brought three of the four (the fourth appears later in the parsha) to visit Avraham after the brit milah so they could witness with their own "eyes" the true purpose of creating man – Avraham Avinu.
So far, we know the names of the three angels and each's mission. The Midrash (בראשית רבה מח, ט) adds one additional detail to the story - it tells us what "clothes" each of the angels was wearing! One was dressed as an Arab nomad, the second as a baker and the third as a ship's captain! No, this is not a shiur about Purim costumes, the way they were dressed is symbolic of their character.
Who was the nomad, baker, captain? In a previous shiur (Tzav 2023), we explored one theory, in this shiur I would like to propose a different possibility.
Michael was the Arab nomad, Rafael was the baker and Gavriel was the ship's captain. What is this based on? To understand it, we need to skip ahead to יְצִיאַת מִצְרַיִם. The three angels Michael, Rafael and Gavriel appear there too.
Michael is the "guardian angel" of Am Yisrael. When the Egyptians caught up with Am Yisrael in the desert, on the shores of the Red Sea, HKB"H sent Michael to act as a protecting "wall of fire" between the Egyptians and Am Yisrael (פרקי דרבי אליעזר, פרק מב). Michael continued to accompany and protect Am Yisrael throughout their 40 years of wandering in the desert. Michael is therefore symbolic of the desert "nomad".
When Am Yisrael left Egypt, many of them were maimed. They had suffered 86 years of hard slave labor, incurring many injuries and physical disabilities. To cure them from all their afflictions before Matan Torah, HKB"H gave them "Bread from Heaven", Mann. This miraculous "food of the angels", לֶחֶם אַבִּירִים, has healing powers. In the 3rd level of Heaven called שְׁחָקִים, Gavriel grinds Mann in a mill which Rafael uses to feed to the tzaddikim, thus healing them. To heal Avraham, Rafael was therefore dressed as the baker, symbolic of the לֶחֶם אַבִּירִים.
During קְרִיעַת יַם סוּף, it was Gavriel, the angel of destruction who drowned the Egyptians in the sea and tossed and turned them in the tumultuous waters (ילקוט שמעוני, א, רמג). Gavriel was therefore dressed as the ship's captain, symbolic of the sea which typifies pandemonium and תֹּהוּ וָבֹהוּ.
Sefer זֶרַע בָּרֵךְ says the three angels were dressed as they were, because each represents a different third of the world. According to the זֶרַע בָּרֵךְ, the world is divided into three (assymetrical) parts, the uninhabited wilderness (desert), the inhabited land (civilization) and the sea. Michael, dressed as the nomad, represents the desert. Rafael, dressed as the baker, represents civilization (bread is a symbol of civilization – the staff of life) and Gavriel, dressed as the ship's captain, represents the sea.
It is not incidental that these three, Michael (desert nomad), Rafael (baker) and Gavriel (ship's captain), represent three (out of four) of the categories of people required to bring a Korban Toda – עוֹבְרֵי מִדְבָּרוֹת, חוֹלֶה שֶׁנִּתְרַפָּא, עוֹבְרֵי יָם (ברכות נד, ב).
They also represent the three types of matzot in the Korban Toda, typified by the way the oil is incorporated with the matza. The רְקִיק has its oil spread above, like Michael and the עַנְנֵי הַכָּבוֹד protected Am Yisrael from above in the desert. The חַלַּת מַצָּה has the oil mixed inside the bread, like Rafael and the Mann who came to cure a sick person who has the illness inside them. The מֻרְבֶּכֶת is "swimming" in boiling water and later in hot oil, like Gavriel tossed and turned the Egyptians in the sea.
Avraham was obligated to bring a Korban Toda for ALL these three categories. He had crossed the desert safely from Ur Kasdim to Eretz Yisrael (עוֹבְרֵי מִדְבָּרוֹת). He was cured by Rafael from the brit milah (חוֹלֶה שֶׁנִּתְרַפָּא). Avraham was also akin to עוֹבְרֵי יָם - this is why he is called אַבְרָהָם הָעִבְרִי, as it says in the Midrash רַבִּי יְהוּדָה אוֹמֵר כָּל הָעוֹלָם כֻּלּוֹ מֵעֵבֶר אֶחָד וְהוּא מֵעֵבֶר אֶחָד (בראשית רבה מב, ח). When Avraham died, the kings of the nations eulogized him saying אוי לה לספינה שאבד קברינטא (בבא בתרא צא, ע"ב)
In fact, Avraham DID bring a Korban Toda.
This is why he directed Sarah מַהֲרִי שְׁלֹשׁ סְאִים קֶמַח סֹלֶת לוּשִׁי וַעֲשִׂי עֻגוֹת (בראשית יח, ו) – to prepare the 30 matzot of the Toda. There is a total of 20 esronim of solet in the Korban Toda - 10 esronim to prepare the ten chametz breads and 10 esronim to prepare the 30 matzot. שְׁלֹשׁ סְאִים is 10 esronim! Sarah was preparing the matzot of the Korban Toda!
Together with the Korban Toda one has to bring a Korban Shelamim. וְאֶל הַבָּקָר רָץ אַבְרָהָם (בראשית יח, ז). Avraham was sacrificing a Shelamim (a hidur mitzva, not just one שׁוֹר, but three - from which he prepared three dishes of tongue in mustard sauce).
If one closely examines the feast Avraham served to the angels, Avraham was in fact bringing a Korban Shelamim, a peace offering, one for each angel and also giving each angel the corresponding set of 10 matzot that each angel represented (רְקִיק, חַלַּת מַצָּה, מֻרְבֶּכֶת).
But there is something missing. We are missing the fourth angel, the fourth category of person who is obligated to bring a Toda and the fourth type of bread, i.e the Satan, מִי שֶׁהָיָה חָבוּשׁ בְּבֵית הָאֲסוּרִים וְיָצָא and the chametz bread.
HKB"H sent only three angels to visit Avraham. What about the Satan, the fourth angel in the group of angels with whom HKB"H consulted before creating man?
The Satan rightly claimed – "With all the bounty you have given to Avraham, including giving birth to a son Yitzchak at age 100, he has not brought a full Korban Toda yet! Yes, he brought part of it, but that is only three quarters of the Korban, it is missing the fourth component. Avraham made peace (Shelamim) with Michael, Rafael and Gavriel, but he has not yet made peace with me!"
Each of the above three angels has their own special character. Michael to protect Am Yisrael (to ensure the lineage of Avraham – to tell Sarah she will give birth to Yitzchak, and also to save Lot to ensure the lineage of Mashiach descended from Lot/Rut). Rafael to heal the sick. Gavriel to perform acts of גְּבוּרָה, sometimes destruction (Sdom), sometimes destruction/redemption (יַם סוּף).
The character of the ס"מ, the Satan, is to be the מְקַטְרֵג. Of all the four angels, it is the ס"מ who is eternally responsible for making sure that human beings justify their very being. HKB"H said to the Satan, wait and see וְעַד זִקְנָה אֲנִי הוּא, wait for the זָקֵן, Avraham - and then you will see what mankind is truly capable of.
When the Satan said "What about me?", HKB"H said to Avraham – you have one last, fourth, Shelamim to bring. You need to make peace with the fourth angel in the group, by setting yourself free from the קִטְרוּג of the Satan. The last Shelamim was Akeidat Yitzchak. The Satan tried with all his wiles and might to trip Avraham up and prevent him from going through with the Akeida, but he failed. Avraham, in his tenth trial, finally freed himself from the קִטְרוּג of the Satan, the fourth category of the Korban Toda מִי שֶׁהָיָה חָבוּשׁ בְּבֵית הָאֲסוּרִים וְיָצָא. At the end of the story the Torah says וְאַבְרָהָם זָקֵן בָּא בַּיָּמִים וַה' בֵּרַךְ אֶת אַבְרָהָם בַּכֹּל (בראשית כד א) and the Yalkut Shimoni there says ר' לֵוִי אָמַר ... שֶׁהִשְׁלִיטוֹ בְּיִצְרוֹ. Avraham, by controlling his יֵצֶר הָרַע was like a prisoner being set free. Finally, the fourth angel in the group, the Satan, had to admit עַתָּה יָדַעְתִּי כִּי יְרֵא אֱ-לֹקִים אַתָּה (בראשית כב, יב).
After that introduction we can begin the shiur.
The question is why HKB"H didn't send four angels to visit Avraham, including the Satan, at the beginning of the parsha. Avraham could then have brought the complete Korban Toda and that would have been the end of the story.
Avraham was the reason that HKB"H created man. Avraham was supposed to be Adam Harishon. HKB"H said, "If I create Avraham straight away as Adam Harishon and something goes wrong, there is no backup!" And, indeed something went wrong with Adam Harishon. Adam Harishon was devoid of yetzer harah. That is why he was tardy in performing the mitzva of פְּרוּ וּרְבוּ. Without the yetzer harah there is no פְּרוּ וּרְבוּ. Adam lacked simcha, controlled by the yetzer harah, that is essential for פְּרוּ וּרְבוּ (see shiur on Breishit 2022).
Avraham was the tikkun for Adam Harishon. Until the Akeida, Avraham was devoid of yetzer harah, just like Adam Harishon before the sin of עֵץ הַדַּעַת. After Lech Lecha, Avraham goes down to Egypt because of the famine. As they approach the border to enter Egypt, Avraham says to Sarah הִנֵּה נָא יָדַעְתִּי כִּי אִשָּׁה יְפַת מַרְאֶה אָתְּ (בראשית יב, יא). Avraham is 75-years-old, he has been married to Sarah for fifty years! and only now he notices that she is beautiful? This means that Avraham never really looked at Sarah in "that way", he was devoid of yetzer harah! Perhaps that is why he and Sarah never had children until Avraham was 100 (yes there are perushim that Avraham and Sarah were biologically not able to have children, but if Avraham had davened earlier, Yitzchak may have been born sooner). When HKB"H told Avraham that he was to have a son Yitzchak, for the first time it says that Avraham laughed, he had simcha! The simcha essential for פְּרוּ וּרְבוּ. The name Yitzchak, the embodiment of simcha, is a testament to that fact.
If HKB"H would have sent the Satan together with the other three angels to visit Avraham at the beginning of the parsha, the Satan would not have been allowed in to Avraham's tent, which was akin to a Beit Hamikdash! (with the Shechina resting on the tent, the candle/Menorah remaining lit from Shabbat to Shabbat and the blessing in the dough/Lechem Hapanim). Chazal say that Avraham first seated each of his many guests under the Eshel, the miraculous tree. If they were not worthy, the foliage of the tree would not cover them and Avraham would not allow that guest in. Avraham's home was a yetzer harah free zone!
Avraham was tested with ten נִסְיוֹנוֹת. There is a machloket in the Mefarshim which these ten trials actually were. What is indisputable, however, is that only once in the Torah does it categorically say that HKB"H "tested" Avraham. The word "nisayon" is not mentioned with Lech Lecha, nor with Sarah being kidnapped by Pharaoh, etc. The only time the Torah mentions that word is וַיְהִי אַחַר הַדְּבָרִים הָאֵלֶּה וְהָאֱ-לֹקִים נִסָּה אֶת אַבְרָהָם – with the tenth trial, the Akeida.
There were nine trials preceding the Akeida, they were trials in the realm of Chessed, in the realm of Gvura, in the realm of Tzedaka, as reflected by Michael, Gavriel and Rafael, but they were prequels to the only real, ultimate nisayon, the Akeida. All the previous trials were buildups to that.
The passuk says וְהָאֱ-לֹקִים נִסָּה אֶת אַבְרָהָם. Was this not a trial also for Yitzchak? The answer is that the previous trials set the stage for this ultimate trial. It was not simply being ordered to sacrifice Yitzchak, but to sacrifice everything Avraham stood for, everything he preached to all his disciples, testing the very essence of Avraham's being.
The Midrashim describe how the yetzer harah "let rip", trying every trick in his arsenal to trip up Avraham, playing all kinds of mind games with him, until it got to the stage that even when the angel said to Avraham - אַל תִּשְׁלַח יָדְךָ אֶל הַנַּעַר וְאַל תַּעַשׂ לוֹ מְאוּמָּה, Avraham couldn't trust his own ears – he wasn't sure who was talking to him, the Satan or HKB"H - that is how much the Satan messed with his mind! Despite this, Avraham was steadfast and passed the test.
By controlling his yetzer harah in the Akeida, Avraham achieved the final tikkun for Adam Harishon, who failed to control his יֵצֶר הָרַע and sinned by eating from the עֵץ הַדַּעַת, a chametz bread (Meir Panim) - the fourth bread of the Korban Toda. Avraham's Korban Toda was now complete.
The halacha according to the Rambam (הלכות מעשה הקרבנות ט, כב) says that although there are ideally 40 breads in a Korban Toda, this is a hidur mitzva. If someone brings a Korban Toda and there is only one of each of the four types of bread, they are יוֹצֵא. However, if one or more of the types of breads are missing, that disqualifies the Korban Toda. The baseline requirement for bringing a Korban Toda is that it must reflect a nisayon of all four types – Chessed, Gvura, Tzedaka and Emet.
Like Avraham, when Am Yisrael went out of Egypt, they too had to bring a Korban Toda, for all four categories. They were עוֹבְרֵי יָם, crossing over the Red Sea. They were חוֹלֶה שֶׁנִּתְרַפָּא, HKB"H cured their ailments by giving them Mann to eat. They were עוֹבְרֵי מִדְבָּרוֹת, travelling in the desert and finally they were מִי שֶׁהָיָה חָבוּשׁ בְּבֵית הָאֲסוּרִים וְיָצָא, shedding the shackles of slavery in Egypt, reaching the 50th level of purity at Har Sinai and achieving control of the יֵצֶר הָרַע when they proclaimed נַעֲשֶׂה וְנִשְׁמָע. We commemorate our national Korban Toda on Pesach and Shavuot, by eating three matzot in the Seder and by offering the Shtei Halechem, chametz bread, on Atzeret fifty days later.
The very reason for our "being" is because of a Korban Toda. Perhaps that is why we are called human "beings". The Korban Toda is the essence of our lives. Each and every living moment we have to reconcile all four of the angels, those that were in favor of creating man and those that were not. We have to embody a combination of Chessed, Gvura, Tzedka and Emet.
If we cannot make our "peace" with the four angels then HKB"H will give us נִסְיוֹנוֹת. He will force us to undertake journeys in the desert, voyages at sea, send us illness. HKB"H will test us with all three parts of the world - the uncivilized world and all the wild creatures that inhabit it; the tumultuous and dangerous waters of the sea; the challenges and dangers of "civilization". We will be tested with parnasa, shidduchim, children, health, etc. and by far the most difficult test - controlling our yetzer harah. If we repent and are worthy, HKB"H will perform a miracle and we will be saved. That is what the Korban Toda is about, giving thanks for a miracle that HKB"H gave us out of chessed, after we messed up and repented!
In the time of the Geulah, there will be no יֵצֶר הָרַע, and the Korban Toda will be the only Korban we will continue to bring as individuals, as everlasting testament to our very being. To thank HKB"H for disregarding the advice of the angels and going ahead and creating us after all.
In the pre-Geulah period which we are currently experiencing, we are in a very similar situation to Am Yisrael after יְצִיאַת מִצְרַיִם. We have left "Egypt", but are still very much in the midst of the purification process prior to Matan Torah. Our purpose and destiny in this time is to reacquire the unity we attained as a nation at Matan Torah. To re-accept the Torah and achieve a state of "matrimony" with HKB"H, freeing ourselves once and for all from the slavery of the יֵצֶר הָרַע and thereby meriting the Geulah and bringing the only Korban that will continue for all eternity. בבי"א.
