Genesis Cycle 3 Vayera 18:1 to 22:24

Vayera


In Vayera we each receive a distinct message. This is what happens. Abraham is sitting by the opening of his tent in the Oaks of Mamre. It is the hottest part of the day. Having just taken on the covenant of circumcision, he is about as ready as ever to greet the Holy Messengers from God. As Genesis Rabbah (48:2) quotes: And when after my skin is destroyed then through my flesh shall I see God (Job 19:26).

This is intense. The question though revolves around the many vibrations within the visitation of these messengers. How can we understand? How can we possibly relate? Not many of us circumcise ourselves without pain-killers in the middle of the desert with our son and the men in our employ. Not many of us are sitting at our front porch or tent opening when suddenly there are three beings, whether angels, or men, standing erect and staring at us and giving us word that our 99 year old wife will be giving birth. This story (to our modern perspective) is outrageous. It’s best therefore to propel ourselves beyond it, beyond what we think we read and see.

This process is not new. It comes from our Talmudic sages, our mystics of kabbalah. They, through their teachings, emphasize that Torah-connection and (in this case) angel-connection does not occur on ground level immediately but many stories up. So if connection is what we want (and it is) then we want to find the metaphoric Oaks of Mamre, then find the opening (of the tent) within, and climb through the opening to where the heat is God-fire-hot. Only then can we embrace the vibration of the angel-message (we are each meant to receive) and as the Sfas Emes points out, our personal angel-work on this earth.

So let’s begin. What are the metaphoric Oaks of Mamre? How do we find it? Clearly it’s the place where Abraham does the work to circumcise himself. It’s the place of holy-action, covenant-action. As the Sfas Emes says, Shabbat is to time as circumcision is to the soul. Therefore, if Shabbat is the essence of time, circumcision is the essence of soul-action. When we circumcise ourselves we are doing more than cutting away physical foreskin. In my opinion (and some rabbis might not agree) we are taking our physical being-ness and soul-ness and we are constricting them into a circular boundary. Then, we are cutting away all but the quintessence. This way, we help God to constrict and we make room for a greater flow of His light into the enlarging center. This is how we continually love God. The moment of the cut is the moment of our most profound vision. This moment is the metaphoric Oaks of Mamre.

And it’s this moment when the holy messengers can visit and enter our realm. Talmud says they are the angels Gabriel (there to destroy Sodom) Michael (there to announce the birth of Isaac) and Raphael (there to heal Abraham). They are each guides for Abraham in that they show him how we do God’s work. This way he (and we) can emulate them. They are anashim netzavim (standing men). Netzavim though means more than the action of standing. It means being erect like a pillar. The kabbalists connect the idea of the pillar to the way of the Shechinah and to the sefirotic structure. Matt says (in his commentaries on the Zohar) that (the sefirot) yesod and tiferet constitute the central pillar. Therefore the angels are within the action of the God-pulse, within the action of sparks rising and falling.

What’s interesting though is this: The word Netzavim is repeated in Deuteronomy 29:9 and here encompasses not three angels but all of the Israelites. It can be inferred therefore that each Israelite can fit in some way into the three angels. Each Israelite can pull his/her work on earth from the work of the three angels and from the one God. In fact, we must know and do this work in order to enter the place of divine consciousness. The space between Genesis and Deuteronomy is the road map. Here, in Torah, we see how (through angels and prophets) we can transform into beings who manifest potential and fulfill God’s covenant.

This is why the study of Torah is so important. Hidden there are the secrets that make us into sacred beings, beyond-human, angels who can look upon the face of God. Talmudic sages discuss how an Israelite must be merciful, bashful and benevolent. We are to walk in God’s ways, clothe the naked (3:21) visit the sick (18:1), comfort mourners (25:11) and bury the dead (Deut. 34:6). We are to follow the mitzvoth. There’s more within the letters and words. Much more

So, may we open ourselves to God. May we touch and do our sacred work on earth. May we rise through the opening to God’s fire, as Abraham does in the almost-sacrifice of his only son. May we learn to be netzavim before Moses just as the angels are netzavim before Abraham. May we cut away and rise to where it will take (yes) an angel to keep us from entering the fire of God. And may we bring that radiance down to the community to our home so we may be the angel who births angels as we all rise as one.