Vayera
R. Moshe Cordovero on Parashat Vayera, read on Shabbat Vayera — with one of this week's three questions for the two of you.
Vayera opens with one of the most beloved scenes in the Torah: Avraham sitting at the entrance of his tent in the heat of the day, then running — running, at his age — to greet three travelers and serve them a feast. This is the Torah's image of hospitality. The tent is open on all four sides. The host is watching for guests, not waiting to be sought out. Cordovero, in Tomer Devorah, treats this as the imitation of one of God's middot: abundance, the divine willingness to give without measuring whether the receiver deserves. Rain falls on the just and the unjust. To make of one's home an Avrahamic tent is to participate in this divine generosity — to give without first calculating who has earned what.
When was the last time we hosted someone in our home in a way that felt truly Avrahamic — open, generous, without calculation? What was different about it?
The full week — the passage itself with its source, the other two questions, and the closing verse of hope — lives in the app. Together Tomorrow on the App Store.