This week’s parasha opens with Hashem appearing to Avraham Avinu through prophecy while he was sitting in his tent in the heat of the day. The Midrash famously comments that this interaction occurred on the third day of Avraham’s recovery from his brit milah . Based on this understanding, the Talmud in Masechet Sotah writes: R. Hama son of R. Hanina further said: What does the verse: “You shall walk after the Lord your God ( vehalachta bidrachav )” mean? Is it possible for a human being to walk after the Shechinah (Divine Presence); for has it not been said: “For the Lord thy God is a devouring fire”? But [the meaning is] to walk after the attributes of the Holy One, blessed be He. As He … visited the sick, for it is written: “And the Lord appeared unto him (Avraham) by the oaks of Mamre”, so do you also visit the sick. Through this teaching, our Chachamim convey that we are obligated to emulate Hashem’s ways of relating to the world. As He acts with mercy, so must we be merciful. A...
Rabbi Benjy Owen, Dean, Margolin Hebrew Academy-Feinstone Yeshiva of the South, Memphis, TN