Parashas Vayera - Honor me; by being my guest !

This week's Dvar Torah has been sponsored for:
Yeshua: Yakov Moshe ben Faiga
May Hashem grant you Yeshua, Bracha, Hatzlacha, Parnassa, and Briut.
(If you would like to sponsor a Dvar Torah, feel free to email me: SharingTorah@gmail.com)
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In this week's Parasha, we learn the importance of how to look positively at situations. I have been talking to a lot of different people in the last couple weeks, and I find that everyone has different ways of looking at the same situation.

I don't want to get into details of what our conversations consisted of. I do not want to disrespect their views because I accept their views and opinions. I did, however, find that Avraham Avinu also had his own way of looking at things. A special way:

He had just preformed his bris mila and on the third day (the day it hurts the most) he waited by the entrance of his tent in order to invite and serve guests. Even though he was in a lot of pain, the thought of 'not being able to fulfill the mitzvah of hachnasat orchim' hurts even more.

Hashem wanted him to rest and recover from the bris, but the pain of not fulfilling this mitzvah was distracting him. Hashem even brought the sun out - powerfully - in order that Avraham Avinu wouldn't be burdened with travelers. That didn't stop Avraham. When it had been a while since any travelers passed by his tent, he started to get sad. Hashem saw that not being able to serve guests was even more painful, so He sent three angels disguised as men.

There's a saying, "Guests and fish start to smell after three days." Sometimes people feel like guests either intrude, or start to get annoying after a certain amount of days. People feel like they have done so much for the guest, that they might be taking advantage of them to some extent. I've heard it many times from other people. Truth is, it depends on the person staying over. Some people just get 'too' comfortable, you feel like they will never leave.

Avraham Avinu, on the other hand, looks at it much differently than others. He tells the 'men', "I will get bread and you will sustain your hearts. Afterwards you will continue on your way because it is for this reason that you have passed by your servant."

Rashi [5:18] comments, "What does this mean, 'It is for this reason that you have passed by'."? He answers, "You have passed by for my honor, as in, 'It is a privilege to be able to serve you. You are doing me a favor, and I thank you!'"

Avraham Avinu didn't know what type of guests these men would be. He invited them wholeheartedly. His focus wasn't on 'how much will I be taken advantage of?'; 'How long are they going to be here for?'; 'How much is this going to cost me?'; or 'How much do they have to offer?' His focus was solely for the purpose to doing Hashem's mitzvah of serving guests. It was all about giving, and not taking.

That was Avraham and Sarah's midda. They were givers. When someone wants to do something so much, Hashem will make it possible. In the above case, Hashem saw how much Avraham wanted to give so much to guests. Even at a time of recovery from illness and pain, Avraham couldn't think of doing anything else but give. And so, Hashem made sure to give him the opportunity.

In the very same Parasha, Sarah gives birth to Yitzchak at a very old age - 90 years old. Everyone was talking about her, "She probably found a baby in the field and decided to keep him. It's possible it isn't even their child!" etc... [1] Hashem made Avraham and Yitzchak look exactly alike. Nobody could claim Yitzchak wasn't his child. In addition, Hashem made a miracle that all nursing mothers dried up, and Sarah had plenty of mommy's milk. Women were lining up by Sarah's tent to have their babies nurse from her. [2]

The point of bringing the above midrash was to show you the miracle Hashem did for Sarah. It was her nature to give to others, and now, she was able to provide for everyone's child. The same applies by Avraham, who wanted to continuously give - Hashem made it so that angels in human uniform would be guests by him. All this was done in order for Avraham and Sarah to do what they loved doing: GIVE.

I give us a beracha that we see situations in a different light. View them all with positive perspectives and feel optimistic about life.

Have a wonderful Shabbos,
Nisso

[1] Baba Matziah 87a
[2] Bereishis Rabba 43:13