Rabbi Daniel Siegel

The Divine-Human Encounter

Have you ever been in a situation in which you are speaking with someone and suddenly someone else appears and your friend quickly disappears and goes to speak with him/her.

It is said this most often happens in the workplace when someone else more important, or with greater authority, becomes present so that your friend or peer suddenly is no longer present, for you.

But, in this week’s parashah, we have the exact opposite occurring.

Our parashah begins: “And God appears to Avram as he is sitting at the entrance of his tent”.

The very next sentence says: “And Avram, looked up and saw three people passing by. And Avram ran, from his tent, to greet them”.

Here, is it is God that is literally “left in the dust”. God comes to pay a visit to Avram and is quickly abandoned as three travelers, whom Avram does not know, immediately and completely occupy his attention.

Now, if we were having a visit from God, even if the most respectable of individuals were to pass by, I dare say we would stay for a conversation with God, and perhaps pay a visit, or send regrets, to this honourable individual at a later time.

This surprising text led the Rabbis to make the equally surprising statement: “Welcoming guests is greater than welcoming the Divine presence”.

But, perhaps our parashah is making an even more radical statement.

The Torah is not saying welcoming guests is greater than welcoming God, but that welcoming guests is welcoming God. That is why the text says God appeared to him and, in looking up, Avram sees the presence of three individuals. The divine presence is appearing to Avram through the three individuals.

God is always present in our fellow human beings, but most of us don’t see them and, therefore, don’t see God. So Avram is not abandoning God for a passing stranger, but discovering the divine through truly seeing another and bringing him/Him into his tent.

Not long ago, a renowned Rabbi in Israel wrote a book entitled “Putting God Second”. In his book, he laments those who use religion to make God everything and thereby make humanity nothing. He contends we must make God second if we are to again see our fellow human beings.

Our parashah teaches that eclipsing the human being is eclipsing God, one is present only through the other. When we create a world of first and second, both humanity and divinity become devoid of each other.

It is perhaps ironic that Christianity, Islam and Judaism all see Abraham as the first one to truly encounter God. Yet, many adherents of all three of these religions believe God truly sees them alone, and to keep faith with God the other must be kept second.

Perhaps, we need a visit from Abraham.