Abraham sat in his weakness after his circumcision
near the oak by the portal of heaven,
where he called out upon the name of the Lord,
the God of the world
The archangels heard Abraham praying there and trembled
The faithful souls from the end of the ages of suffering
turned and looked back through the fields of time,
to listen carefully to what Abraham prayed there
long before, in the eishel orchard in Be'er-Sheva*
He had pitched his holy tent there,
his tent that was not a tent like any other tent,
but a tower that hung down from heaven
He sat alone in the entrance of that tent, that tower,
And he saw the Presence of Hashem taking hold of that place
The breeze was still
The sun was everywhere,
but it was as if the sun went unnoticed,
when Abraham lifted his face
and saw three radiant people approaching
They had appeared and were coming near in Hashem's unseen,
gentle, all powerful Presence
Abraham ran and bowed down on the ground,
praying them to come his way
What was their prophetic mission?
Why had they come this day?
What would their concealed revelation have to say?
They appeared simply as human strangers
Abraham saw them this way
He would insist on showing them his hospitality
He would ask for conversation with his generosity
Holy conversation was the only price
he would ask them to pay
"Please do not refuse my hospitality, my Lord!"
He spoke to the humble, human-like agents of glory
But he addressed their Master
For the Presence of God came as a friend to Abraham
God came as a Ben Gilu in his time of weakness*
It was the third day of Abraham’s weakness
and the aura of Hashem strengthend him
He was prepared to show hospitality to his guests
"Recline in the cool shade of the tree
Allow me to bathe and soothe your feet"
They stopped at Abraham’s holy, world altering tent
He brought water to wash their feet
We will have a little conversation, he hoped quietly
"First, you can have a little bit to eat," he said
"Stay a little while and refresh yourselves,
seeing that you are passing by my way
Afterward, go and perform your mitzvah,
that you have received”
whatever mitzvah or mitzvot you may have to do
Was there a mitzvah among them
to bring him divine chariot information concerning Sarah?
Abraham's whole soul wondered
They replied to Abraham, “Please, do as you have said.”
After they had eaten, They said to him,
"Where is your wife, Sarah?"
And when they asked this, time was stopped
There was an echo in the universe
The echo could not be heard in time
But time was stopped for Abraham and he heard this echo
Where is your wife, Sarah?
Adam, where are you?
Eve where are you?
Where is the child of Sarah that God promised for life?
What was the cause of Sarah’s endless barrenness?
What was the cause of the exile of Sarah to her tent?
Abraham heard this echo stopping time
And Sarah heard it too
When the angels came to her tent,
Sarah’s prophetic soul knew what would be
from the present to the end of time
When she heard the news,
Her body laughed with fear
Her soul laughed with pain and joy
Sarah’s soul was the great defender of Isaac
She defended him even when she could not conceive him
As the angels approached her tent,
she saw prophetically the day
when Ishmael’s love for his brother was about to sour
Sarah knew that Ishmael’s
soured love would break the heart of Abraham
She knew with Isaac laughter that Abraham’s testimony
would need to be repaired
When Isaac would finally be mysteriously exiled from the land,
Sarah would go with him into exile as his defender
Even though the angels came today,
before Isaac was miraculously conceived,
and even though they hinted at that offering of Isaac,
on the mountain of God,
and that exile, that would seem never ending, to come,
Sarah would hear of none of it without laughter!
Isaac would be a joyous laughter inside of Sarah,
waiting to be born within her dead womb
Sarah carried the weight of the World To Come
upon her shoulders
She had exiled herself to the side of Abraham's tent,
the side where Isaac could not be found,
where he was concealed
But now the angels of Hashem’s Presence
were approaching Sarah’s tent
This meant Isaac was about to be revealed
The weight of the World To Come
would fall on Sarah’s unconceived child
Would that weight crush him and steal his life?
No. Sarah would be carrying him
She was determined that she would always carry him
When the corporate human body is broken
the individual is torn and spun
and swirls around itself and becomes self-centred
Who but the mother of all
can give birth to healing the corporate body?
Who but that mother can endure the birth pangs of the Messiah?
Here is how Sarah carried Isaac all the days of her life:
Sarah lived one hundred years
because Abraham was one hundred years old
when Isaac was born
Twenty more years were added to Sarah’s life
because David, her messianic son,
would not count the men aged twenty or under for war
This was an act of faith done because Hashem had said
that He would make Israel as the stars of heaven
And Sarah was then given seven more years,
so that King Joash might reign in Jerusalem
when he became seven years old,
and that he might do what was right in the eyes of Hashem
all the days of Jehoiada the priest
The corporate humanity of Torah-love was broken,
its organic kindness forgotten in Humanity
Even those who obey are a remnant far away
from the Torah way of yesterday,
the day that it was conceived but never born
Adam chose to rely on their own means
and not the word of God
The individual soul is born abandoned,
like a newborn left behind in the wilderness
So that among all nations
people cling to a group like a trauma tribe
or to a relationship like a survival dream
The fiction of the ideal of Humanity
is worshipped like a flag
The portrait of generations forever
is everything to the dreamy orphaned soul
Atrocities are justified in Dream Humanity's name
The civilized human orphan soul says,
hammer the nail,
sweep the floor,
make change, make money
Just keep living until you unconsciously die
Humanity itself will live forever!
But God works like morning in the heart
and says, Awake!
Home the homeless and you will give God a home!
Heal the lonely and you will bring heaven on earth!
Show kindness to those who are oppressed,
for the whole world is oppressed by the spirit of sin!
Mold for yourself ears and hear!
God has for you a Torah of love
There is a way again to righteousness
through corrective judgment falling upon the nations
For a just mercy shall be revealed on earth
and across all the heavens!
Sarah's eyes looked deep into Abraham's,
when he turned and took Isaac to go
to the mountain
of infinite trauma and infinite healing
She knew when he came back
her soul would be gone
Isaac would be offered
Sarah would experience the greatest trial
the greatest suffering
For the holy promise of Isaac was blemished,
filled with Ishmael’s unholy mocking mirth,
when Ishmael acted like a Philistine
and filled Abraham’s well with earth
Then Isaac, Sarah’s holy laughter,
dug Abraham’s well anew
Sarah's holy laughter would redeem
Ishmael’s unholy laughter from captivity
Abraham’s testimony would remain true
The testimony of Abraham would be repaired
And in Sarah's soul
the promise of God would be enwombed,
until the whole world would be reborn from her
and raised with Isaac from the dead,
in the day when a just mercy was revealed on earth
and displayed across all the heavens
Sarah's faith would have the very last laugh,
the laughter of holy love and joy
Laughter in the Presence of God,
Laughter like that of children and angels
in the Presence of
the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob...
This is the laughter of the holy love and joy
that is heard only with the Presence of the God of Jerusalem,
Jerusalem, whose joy will not be contained, but sings:
"His left hand is the arm of Isaac,
His left and is under my head,
and his right hand is the arm of Abraham
His right arm embraces me!"
Footnotes:
eishel orchard in Be'er-Sheva - Genesis 21:33 as translated at Zo Artzeinu - IsraelTrees.org
Genesis Chapter 21:33
"And he planted an eishel orchard in Be'er-Sheva, and he called there in the name of the Lord, the God of the world."
a Ben Gilu - someone who is a contemporary with a special cosmic connection to the person who is sick, so that he can share in the suffering of the one who is ill, even to take upon himself or herself a little of the illness, and in this way be encouraging and uplifting to the person who is ill… as taught on the basis of Bava Metzia 30b2
Attributions:
*Being a mediation on parashat Vayera, with thoughts on two JLI class given by Rabbi Baitelman of ChaBaD of Richmond, B.C. One class on the comments of Rebbe Levi Yitzchak Schneerson on the Zohar’s commentary on this parashah, and another class on Vayera in 5783. In addition, for 5783 reference is made to information and understanding brought by Rabbi Bitton of ChaBaD Vancouver, B.C. from a class on Talmud insights from Vayera. Neither Rabbi Baitelman, Rabbi Bitton, nor the Rohr Jewish Learning Institute have reviewed or approved of the content of this post.