G-d vs Man

This week’s Torah portions (Vayeria) starts with an interesting few phrases. Basically it says that G-d appeared to Abraham as he sat outside his tent; then Abraham saw three travelers and went out to greet them.

Two questions should arise from this.

First, G-d appearing to someone (even Abraham) is a big deal. Why does the Torah not record the content of this encounter? Rashi and Rambam give two different accounts.

Rashi says to look back to then end of last weeks portion. Abraham had just circumcised himself. G-d was visiting the sick. That’s why the content of the meeting was not recorded, because when you visit the sick, what you talk about doesn’t matter, it’s your being there that makes the difference.

Rambam takes a different approach. He says to look to the next verse. The three travelers Abraham saw were a vision. This vision was the context of the revelation.

The seconds question is as follows. The text basically describes the scene as follows. Abraham is chatting with G-d, then Abraham sees some visitors. Abraham tells G-d to hang out in his tent for a while so he can go greet his guests. Talking to G-d is a significant event, how can you tell G-d to wait while you greet guests?

If you take Rambam’s explanation (above), there is no problem. The guests were just a vision. But if you take Rashi’s then there could be an issue here. This issue is one of the great ones facing the Jewish world today. What comes first, G-d or Man?

Abraham did not view this as a dilemma. He viewed dealing properly with your fellow man as a way of showing honour to G-d. That is the accepted Jewish view, but too many people seem to loose sight of that and honour G-d instead of man, rather than honoring G-d through man.

Lets all try to keep that in mind when conducting our interpersonal relationships.