Hashem Visits Abraham: What the Sages Teach About Visiting the Sick and Hospitality

Parashah: Vayera · Drash

The opening of parashat Vayera reads easily: Abraham, sitting at the door of his tent, sees three men arrive and receives them. But the sages paused on every word and found a much richer scene. This is what Rashi and the Talmud teach.

A visit to a sick man

The text begins by saying that “Hashem appeared to him” (18:1), but it does not say for what purpose. Rashi, following the Talmud (Bava Metzia 86b), answers: to visit the sick. It was the third day after Abraham’s circumcision, and Hashem came to ask after his health.

And there is one more gesture. Rashi tells that Abraham wanted to stand up on seeing Hashem, and Hashem said to him: “Sit, and I will stand.” It is a sign for his children: in the future Hashem will stand among the judges while they sit, as the psalm says: “Hashem stands in the assembly of the mighty” (Psalms 82:1).

A sun without guests

The text says that Abraham was sitting “at the door of the tent, in the heat of the day” (18:1). Rashi, with the Talmud, explains why: Hashem took the sun out of its sheath so that guests would not trouble him.

But Abraham, who was in pain, was suffering over something else: because no one was coming. The Talmud tells that he sent Eliezer to look, and that Eliezer returned without having found anyone; so he went out himself. Rashi sums it up this way: seeing him distressed because there were no guests, Hashem sent him the angels in the form of men.

Three men, three missions

Who were the three? The Talmud answers with names: Michael, Raphael and Gabriel. And Rashi explains the reason for there being three: an angel does not carry out two missions. One came to announce to Sarah that she would have a son, another to heal Abraham and another to destroy Sodom.

The proof is in the grammar. Throughout the whole chapter, the text speaks of them in the plural (“they ate,” “they said to him”). But in the announcement of the son only one speaks (“I will return to you,” 18:10), and when it comes to destroying Sodom only one speaks as well (“I cannot do anything until you arrive there,” 19:22).

There is a detail on which the sages do not entirely agree. The text says that two angels reached Sodom (19:1): one would destroy the city and the other would save Lot. For the Talmud, that second angel was Michael, who went with Gabriel. Rashi, on the other hand, says it was Raphael, who after healing Abraham went to save Lot, and that is why Lot is told: “Escape for your life” (19:17).

“Wash your feet”

Abraham offers water to wash their feet (18:4). Rashi, following the Talmud, explains why: he thought they were Arabs who worship the dust of their feet, and he did not want to bring idolatry into his house; so he insisted that they wash before entering. Lot, on the other hand, who did not take that care, offered them lodging first and the washing afterward (19:2).

Imitating His ways

Why do the sages draw so much from this scene? Because for them it is a model. The Talmud (Sotah 14a) asks how it is possible to fulfill the verse “You shall walk after Hashem your God” (Deuteronomy 13:5), if Hashem is “a consuming fire.” And it answers: by walking after His qualities. As He clothed the naked (Genesis 3:21), clothe the naked. As He visited the sick (Genesis 18:1), visit the sick. As He comforted mourners (Genesis 25:11), comfort mourners. As He buried the dead (Deuteronomy 34:6), bury the dead.

And Rabbi Simlai adds that the Torah begins with an act of kindness, clothing Adam and Chavah, and ends with another, burying Moshe.

This teaching, imitating the attributes of Hashem, is the one the Ramak develops in Tomer Devorah. Here it appears in its most concrete form: a visit, an open table, a little water for the feet.

This teaching is part of the commentary on Parashat Vayera.