God and Strangers and Angels

Torah Study 7/24 Led by Rabbi Sarah Wolf

Genesis 18:1 – 3 the beginning of Vyera - “He Appeared” AND “greeting strangers”

Vayar – twice – He saw twice -
Rashi – once for God and once for the strangers.
different ways to see: 1 reality – 2 prophesy -

question: Did Abraham know that the ‘strangers’ were angels?
Three strangers / angels
Each has a different ‘mission’
1 – announce about Isaac
2 – overturn Sodom & Gomorrah
3 – Heal Abraham – help his recovery

Later in the story of Lot there were only 2 angels (#3 did the mission)
(“Angels don’t multitask”- Bill L)

v3 - “My Lords if...” (plural)
Interpretation through the vowels!
“don’t leave your ‘singular’ servant”

Does God appear before or after the strangers?

Moment of prophesy intertwined with interaction with people.

Rosenzweig: Abraham sees God in the human situation.

David Kimke: a power of prophesy – Angels appear as people here vs Lot sees them as angels later.

“Heat of the Day” - Rashi – this is a time when normally they will not have visitors – but this time they have strangers.

Abraham “runs” to greet them – Why? To indicate how much Abraham wants to greet them.

Is Abraham hallucinating?