When Going Through the Motions Counts
Many have wondered which is preferable: Good and sincere intentions without action or action without sincerity, The answer is action that impacts the world trumps sincerity without action. However, Judaism’s ideal is to combine the two.
WHEN GOING THROUGH THE MOTIONS
COUNTS
Abraham’s Pain
Abraham was sitting at the opening of his tent in the heat of the day. What was Abraham doing outside on such a hot day? Our Sages note that, as recounted in the end of last week’s Torah portion, Abraham had just undergone circumcision at the age of 99! It was thus crucial that Abraham would rest from this ordeal. That was not to be, however, since Abraham could not bear not serving as a gracious host to the many wayfarers who passed his tent. To ensure that Abraham would not be troubled by guests, G-d made the heat so unbearable that no living being would dare venture out that day.
This did not help. Abraham was more troubled by his inability to serve others than by the physical pain that he was experiencing due to the circumcision. To alleviate Abraham’s emotional pain, G-d then sent him three angels disguised as humans, so that Abraham could fulfill the Mitzvah of Hachnosas Orchim (hospitality).
The Torah then proceeds to recount the extent to which Abraham went to “feed” his guests. And most remarkable was the fact that G-d had been talking to Abraham when the three “guests” arrived. Abraham abruptly curtailed his communication with the A-mighty to serve his celestial visitors in the disguise of men. From this incident our sages derive the lesson that hospitality is even greater than greeting the Divine presence!
An Exercise in Futility?
This entire incident raises a very good question. Granted, G-d wanted Abraham not to experience any emotional pain at not being able to fulfill the mitzvah of Hachnosas orchim (entertaining guests), so he sent him three angels disguised as humans. But, if they were not truly human and did not need his food and lodging, of what avail was G-d’s gesture to Abraham? Did Abraham really accomplish anything by feeding angels who only went through the motions of eating?
It also seemed that Abraham’s interruption of his communication with G-d was unwarranted, inasmuch as the guests whom he was entertaining were not real guests and Abraham performed no mitzvah in hosting them!
Pre-Sinai Dynamics
The answer, provided by the Rebbe (Likkutei Sichos Volume 5), lies in a better understanding of the function of Mitzvos that we perform now – post Sinai – as compared with the Mitzvos that were performed by the Patriarchs before the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai.
At Mount Sinai, G-d gave us more than just a litany of new obligations and responsibilities. G-d also gave us the ability to instill divine holiness within the secular, mundane and finite world. In addition, a mitzvah is a way to enable us to express our own spiritual potential.
Prior to the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai, a Mitzvah did not possess the ability to change the world and make it G-dly. When Abraham – and others who observed certain Mitzvos – their observance was not intended to change the world but to enable them to do to spiritual “exercises” that would release their own spiritual potential and condition themselves and their descendants to act in a compassionate manner.
To accomplish this objective, it made no difference that Abraham was serving angels who did not really benefit by his hospitality. What counted – then, before Sinai – was that Abraham would act in the most compassionate and loving way, so as to express his own spiritual potential and condition and sensitize the world to follow his example.
Once his progeny was so conditioned, they were ready for an even greater challenge: to change the world around them as well as enhancing their own spiritual state.
Is the Lesson Outdated?
One can ask the question why the Torah needed to tell us this story of Abraham going through the motions of hospitality, if after Sinai the dynamics of the Mitzvos changed. Now, the Mitzvah must impact the world. Why relate the Mitzvah of Abraham that did not bring about that effect?
The answer is that we ae always preparing for the giving of the Torah anew, since we receive the Torah every day. One of the preparations for the Torah is to condition ourselves to act kindly and elicit our soul’s spiritual energy. Just to change the world without allowing our own feelings to emerge would constitute a deficient form of doing the Mitzvah.
The Mitzvos that we now observe thus serve a dual function: they enhance our own lives as they alter the world and lead the world inexorably to the Messianic Age when the cumulative effect of all the Mitzvos will permanently transform the world into a dwelling place for G-d.
From the book Light from the Future: Parshas Vayeira by Rabbi Heschel Greenberg, published by the Jewish Discovery Center.
