Parashat Hashavua: VaYera
Though I’m not a big fan of musar – loosely defined as teachings, often with stories, that provide specific instructions for how to live – one example has stuck with me seemingly forever: that I should make an extra effort to be kind and generous to every person I meet because they might be Eliyahu HaNavi, Elijah the Prophet, our eternal defender whose appearance will herald the Messiah’s arrival. (Malachi 3:23) The likelihood it is Eliyahu, I learned, is even greater the more in need someone seems, making it all the more important to do whatever I can to help not only because of the inherent value in doing so, but to catalyze our salvation.
This week in Parashat VaYera, it seems that our founding family is being tested in a similar fashion, because everywhere they look God appears in a different form. At the outset, while Avraham is recovering from his brit milah, “the Lord appeared to him / וַיֵּרָ֤א אֵלָיו֙ יְהֹוָ֔ה.” (Gen. 18:1) Then, in the very next verse, “he lifted his eyes and saw three men standing near him / וַיִּשָּׂ֤א עֵינָיו֙ וַיַּ֔רְא וְהִנֵּה֙ שְׁלֹשָׁ֣ה אֲנָשִׁ֔ים נִצָּבִ֖ים עָלָ֑יו.” (Gen. 18:1) When the verse repeats that “he saw / וַיַּ֗רְא them,” we understand that by virtue of this doubletake Avraham perceived they were divine beings, who he then calls “Adonai / אֲדֹנָ֗י / my Lords.” (Gen18:3) Moments later, it is back to “the Lord / יְהֹוָ֖ה,” asking why Sarah is laughing!
One can imagine that for two people still getting to know God (and for us as well), this could be confusing. And there’s still more! When Avraham and Sarah travel south and end up in the land of Avimelech, it is “Elohim / אֱלֹהִ֛ים” who warns Avimelech away from Sarah, and who Avraham later turns to on Avimelech’s behalf. (20:3, 17) Finally, when Avraham is about to fulfill God’s command to offer Yitzchak as a sacrifice, a "messenger of God / מַלְאַ֤ךְ יְהֹוָה֙” calls out to stop him. (22:11) It is at that moment our parsha comes full circle, as the Torah uses the exact same language here that was used at the very beginning of the parsha: “Avraham lifted his eyes and saw / וַיִּשָּׂ֨א אַבְרָהָ֜ם אֶת־עֵינָ֗יו וַיַּרְא֙” – a direct quote! – “and behold a ram / וְהִנֵּה־אַ֔יִל.” (Gen. 22:13)
What are we to make of all the different ways that God is seen and referred to here? I think the answer can be found in the name that Avraham ascribes to the place he binds Yitzchak and ultimately offers the ram: “Avraham named that site ‘the Lord will see,’ as it is said to this day: ‘on the mountain, the Lord will be seen / וַיִּקְרָ֧א אַבְרָהָ֛ם שֵֽׁם־הַמָּק֥וֹם הַה֖וּא יְהֹוָ֣ה יִרְאֶ֑ה אֲשֶׁר֙ יֵֽאָמֵ֣ר הַיּ֔וֹם בְּהַ֥ר יְהֹוָ֖ה יֵֽרָאֶֽה. (Gen. 22:14) Notice that the name and explanation are not identical, but rather mirror each other: God sees where God is seen, and vice versa.
In fact, there is perhaps no more aptly named parsha than VaYera – “the Lord appeared,” or “was seen” – because of its multiple references to seeing. To wit: When God warns Avimelech away from Avraham, his rebuke of Avraham for concealing his marriage to Sarah references sight: "What did you see, that you did this thing? / מָ֣ה רָאִ֔יתָ כִּ֥י עָשִׂ֖יתָ אֶת־הַדָּבָ֥ר הַזֶּֽה.” (Gen. 20:10) When Avraham approaches the mountain to sacrifice Yitzchak, the Torah tells us that “Avraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar / וַיִּשָּׂ֨א אַבְרָהָ֧ם אֶת־עֵינָ֛יו וַיַּ֥רְא אֶת־הַמָּק֖וֹם מֵֽרָחֹֽק.” (Gen. 22:4) And when Hagar and Yishmael were banished, they ran out of water and awaited death until “a messenger of God calls out / וַיִּקְרָא֩ מַלְאַ֨ךְ אֱלֹהִ֤ים,” (Gen. 21:17) after which “God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water, and she went and filled the pouch with water and gave the lad to drink / וַיִּפְקַ֤ח אֱלֹהִים֙ אֶת־עֵינֶ֔יהָ וַתֵּ֖רֶא בְּאֵ֣ר מָ֑יִם וַתֵּ֜לֶךְ וַתְּמַלֵּ֤א אֶת־הַחֵ֨מֶת֙ מַ֔יִם וַתַּ֖שְׁקְ אֶת־הַנָּֽעַר.” (Gen. 21:19)
What can be learned from the interplay between God’s constant name-shifting presence and the act of seeing? I think the answer, as I said earlier, is in Avraham’s name for the mountain: wherever “the Lord will be seen” – wherever we are open to perceiving God’s presence in any form – that is where God will see us. And, to return to where I started, this idea echoes what I learned all those years ago about Eliyahu. Just as we strive to be as kind as generous as possible to everyone we meet – because of the inherent value of acting that way, and because of the possibility it will bring us closer to salvation – so too should we strive to perceive God wherever possible and as often as possible, in the hope that God will in turn perceive us just as much.
Shabbat shalom!
Rabbi Jack Nahmod
Middle School Judaic Studies Head (Ivrit/Limudei Kodesh/Tefillah) and Rabbi
