Vayerah: Angels (in Canaan)

 

Vayerah: Angels (in Canaan)

 

Angels are prominent characters in this parsha entitled “appeared.”

Angels are hard for to see in our times. They are a theologically difficult idea.  More than that they violet the modern sense of relativism.

 

First Gd appears to Avraham when he is sitting at the entrance to his tent.  The parsha also repeats this entrance to the tent idea repeatedly.  I think that it conveys an idea of looking out, actively waiting from a position of relative comfort, and a willingness to leave the comfort.

 

It is unclear whether the three heroes (anoshim) [who turn out to be angels] are the representatives of Gd alluded to in the first sentence; or if Avraham leaves the presence of Gd to greet the strangers.

 

It emerges that they (the Magi) bring a message, an annunciation, predicting the miraculous birth of Yitzchak (who will be brought onto the altar [and rescued by angels in the end]. 

 

The angels rescue.  They rescue Avraham from the fate of an inadequate heir.  They then rescue Abraham’s first potential heir, Lot, from Sodom (providing him with a great deal of accommodation).  They rescue Ishmael, the inadequate heir, after his expulsion into the desert.  And they rescue Yitzchak from the Akeida, as they accept Avraham into their ranks.

 

Angels abound, we merely need to look for them from the doorway.

 

 

lech Lecha: adventure

lech Lecha: adventure

 

Nothing ventured nothing gained,

But if you undertake an adventure, it is good to have a shield, a magen.

In Lech Lehca, Avram ventures out from the settlement ( refugee camp) of his father and family and follows the ( imagined but real) voice of Gd.

He goes to the promised land ... of famine.  That leads him to the next adventure, descent into the cradle of civilization... and stolen wives and murdered husbands.

He emerges from Egypt rich.  I am told that this can also be a challenge.

Then he enters a military adventure, to liberate the (evil) native kingdoms  ( sodom, etc.) from the Babylonian(Shinar [see Onkelos -> Bavel]) and Persian (Eilam) invaders ( who are Avram's biological relatives and the Emporers that his family was fleeing from).

Other adventures include several confrontations with Gd and defining his role as husband, father, etc... including surgery to establish fertility at advanced age.

 

 

 

 

lech Lecha: adventure

lech Lecha: adventure

 

Nothing ventured nothing gained,

But if you undertake an adventure, it is good to have a shield, a magen.

In Lech Lehca, Avram ventures out from the settlement ( refugee camp) of his father and family and follows the ( imagined but real) voice of Gd.

He goes to the promised land ... of famine.  That leads him to the next adventure, descent into the cradle of civilization... and stolen wives and murdered husbands.

He emerges from Egypt rich.  I am told that this can also be a challenge.

Then he enters a military adventure, to liberate the (evil) native kingdoms  ( sodom, etc.) from the Babylonian(Shinar [see Onkelos -> Bavel]) and Persian (Eilam) invaders ( who are Avram's biological relatives and the Emporers that his family was fleeing from).

Other adventures include several confrontations with Gd and defining his role as husband, father, etc... including surgery to establish fertility at advanced age.

 

 

 

 

lech Lecha: adventure

lech Lecha: adventure

 

Nothing ventured nothing gained,

But if you undertake an adventure, it is good to have a shield, a magen.

In Lech Lehca, Avram ventures out from the settlement ( refugee camp) of his father and family and follows the ( imagined but real) voice of Gd.

He goes to the promised land ... of famine.  That leads him to the next adventure, descent into the cradle of civilization... and stolen wives and murdered husbands.

He emerges from Egypt rich.  I am told that this can also be a challenge.

Then he enters a military adventure, to liberate the (evil) native kingdoms  ( sodom, etc.) from the Babylonian(Shinar [see Onkelos -> Bavel]) and Persian (Eilam) invaders ( who are Avram's biological relatives and the Emporers that his family was fleeing from).

Other adventures include several confrontations with Gd and defining his role as husband, father, etc... including surgery to establish fertility at advanced age.