As soon as Rabbi Gurary opened his mouth, to his shock and surprise, Reb Zalman Moshe gave him a playful slap. “Whatever you say of Atzmus,” he told his startled friend, “cannot possibly be true of Atzmus!” * The Rebbe’s teachings are truly radical and breathtaking, but they are meant to be practiced in our day-to-day lives and in our general outlook.
Although the natural course of healing from circumcision requires three days, prior to day three G-d did not send an angel to heal Avrohom of his pain and suffering… * Since the natural process of healing from circumcision takes three days, why was Malach Refael required for this task?
G-d sends His angels to destroy the city of S’dom but first they are to save Abraham’s nephew Lot and his family. An angel instructs them: “Run for your life! Do not look back nor stop anywhere in the plain.”
The Talmud states that one trait endemic to the Jewish people is kindness. Our Sages teach us that we inherited this trait from Abraham. Nowhere is Abraham’s kindness more evident than in this week’s description of his hospitality.
The principal manifestation and revelation of “And G-d appeared to him” will take place with the true and complete redemption through Moshiach Tzidkeinu. But this should not be seen as a remote, distant event
When G-d sends angels to destroy the city of Sodom and save Lot, Avraham’s nephew asks to be allowed to stay in a nearby city.
“When the Rebbe Rashab (Rabbi Sholom Dovber Schneersohn, the fifth Lubavitcher Rebbe) was a little boy of about four or five years of age, he entered the room of his grandfather, the Tzemach Tzedek (Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneersohn, the third Lubavitcher Rebbe), and with tears in his eyes he asked his grandfather why Hashem revealed Himself to Avraham but not to us. His grandfather answered him, ‘When a Jew who is a tzaddik decides at the age of 99 to circumcise himself, he deserves that Hashem should reveal Himself to him.’”
Following the pact made with Avimelech, the Torah relates that Avraham Avinu planted an Eshel, “and he proclaimed in the name of Hashem, kel olam - ,א-ל עולם G-d of the universe.”
When the Rebbe instructs us to publish a book or pamphlet, he intends that we publish it as widely as possible, so that the subject matter may be understood by the greatest number of people. This includes issues previously hidden and known only to a select few in an entire generation. * Chapter Two of Rabbi Shloma Majeski’s Likkutei Mekoros Vol. 2.
Abraham was the epitome of kindness. Abraham was suffused with love for G-d and other people. Abraham was extroverted. He was an open person, who wore his emotions on his sleeve. The Philistines were also people who possessed a zest for life, open and gregarious. Their lives too were filled with joy and love. The salient difference between these two models is that while Abraham was an open person filled with love for life and for others, his openness and love was always directed towards the right ends…
Since every single Jew can experience [what is said in the verse regarding Avrohom Avinu], “And G-d appeared to him,” why do they not actually perceive this revelation?
Sodom is the lowest point to which exile conditions can take us. And that is one of the dangers of living in exile even in its most benign forms; once we come off the “mountain” we can fall into the abyss…
December 1, 2019