Parashat: Vayera

Parashat: Vayera
Genesis 18:1–22:24

“‘Let me fetch a morsel of bread that you may refresh yourselves; then go on — seeing that you have come your servant’s way.’ They replied, ‘Do as you have said.’ Abraham hastened into the tent to Sarah, and said, ‘Quick, three seahs of choice flour! Knead and make cakes!’ Then Abraham ran to the herd, took a calf, tender and choice, and gave it to a servant-boy, who hastened to prepare it. He took curds and milk and the calf that had been prepared and set these before them; and he waited on them under the tree as they ate.”

— Genesis 18:5–8

In this week’s Torah portion, Abraham is visited in his tent by three visitors (understood in our tradition to be angels), who tell him that in the next year he and his wife Sarah will have a son. When Abraham greets the visitors, he promises them an offer of “a morsel of bread,” then hurries off to prepare a veritable feast. The Talmud offers a teaching from Rabbi Elazar on this passage: From here we learn that the righteous say little and do much, whereas the wicked say much and do not do even a little.

— Rachel Petroff Kessler