Therefore, the Torah does not describe the greatness of Avraham for feeding guests and taking care of them in other ways until he arrived in Eretz Yisrael, and does not mention his kindness that he performed outside of the Land, even though he was already 75 years old when he was commanded to go to the Land and had done kindness for many years prior to this command.
Rather, since before he was commanded, even if he did mitzvos, he did not draw down anything from the G-dly Lights Above, and he did not affect any Unifications Above.
Until “Hashem said to Avram”: "ויאמר ה' אל אברם" – In this statement, “Hashem said,” refers to how Hashem is the Lofty Source of Atzilus, and that He descended to the Lofty Wisdom of Atzilus, called Av-ram, and this descent is called “speech,” and gave him the ability to “Lech Lecha – Go down and reveal your essence,” so that the essence of this Lofty Wisdom can descend down the levels of the Order of Worlds, until it reaches Malchus, and through that, into the created worlds,
Avraham did (at least) three things for his guests: he gave them food and drink, he gave them a place to sleep, and he provided escorts to accompany them on the next part of their journey.
Lessons in Torah Or
and only after this happened, then it became possible for a Unification Above in Atzilus to be dependent on the mitzvah actions of the people living in the lowest world.
Now, the main revelation of this Unification is through the Torah. However, the Forefathers (Avraham, Yitzchok, and Yaakov) prepared the world for the Torah, as is written, “And the Torah was placed in Yisrael,” meaning, that “By way of Yisrael” the Torah was given. For Avraham drew down the right line, Chesed – Kindness, Yitzchok drew dawn the left line, Gevurah-Severity, and Yisroel (Yaakov) drew down Tiferes-Mercy/Beauty.
The Torah is mainly focused on revealing Hashem in these three channels of Chesed-Kindness, Gevura-Severity, and Tiferes-Beauty, corresponding to Torah-Yaakov, Prayer-Yitzchok, and Kindness-Avraham. Therefore, through the service of Hashem of the Forefathers, they prepared the world for the complete revelation of Hashem through the Torah and Mitzvos that are fulfilled after the Giving of the Torah.
This is the idea of the Book of Bereishis, which does not teach the mitzvos of the Torah, but rather the stories of Avraham and Yitzchak, etc., which preceded the Giving of the Torah – for it is specifically them that drew down the necessary preparatory Lights that there should be the Giving of the Torah in the physical world.
However, based on this we must understand why the Jewish People did not merit to receive the Torah until after they were in exile in Mitzraim (Egypt), about which it states, (Shemos 1:14) “and they embittered their lives with mortar and bricks...”? Did they not already merit receiving the Torah through the spiritual accomplishments of the Forefathers?
Also, how was Avraham able to affect all of the Unifications Above prior to his Milah, since the mitzvah of Milah was given to him only afterwards, when he was 99 years old? The command to Avraham of “Lech Lecha,” that his Lofty Wisdom should descend into Malchus and into this physical world, happened when he was 75 years old. However, the Mitzvah of Milah was only given when he was 99 years old.
(From here comes the explanation on the statement said on Monday, Parashas Vayeira, 2 MarCheshvan 5657 – according to the approach of the Mittler Rebbe and Rabbi Moshe, see note 1.)
