He said, “My L-rd, if I have found favor in Your eyes, please do not leave Your servant.” (Bereishis 18:3)
According to another explanation, [this Name] is sacred. Avraham was saying to Hakadosh Baruch Hu to wait for him until he runs and brings in the guests. (Rashi)
Chazal learn from here that bringing guests into the home is greater than receiving the presence of the Shechinah. How does the story show this to be true?
Avraham Avinu was experiencing prophecy. On a simple level, he seems to be addressing his guests in this verse. But in fact, he was standing before the Shechinah, and speaking to the Shechinah. Yet, he interrupted this exalted state to go and bring in guests.
This idea is well known. But there is another point here that many people miss: when Avraham Avinu went to fulfill the mitzvah of bringing in guests, he did not break off completely from the Shechinah. He did not just walk away to do something else. On the contrary, his whole request was, “Please do not leave Your servant.” He asked Hashem not to leave him. Although, physically speaking, he was totally involved in the great mitzvah of bringing in guests – because it was Hashem’s Will that he do so – in his heart and mind, he didn’t leave his former state of standing before the Shechinah even while he was running back and forth attending to his guests' physical needs.
It says later on in the parshah:
'י הֵנְפִד לֵמֹ עּוּנֶדֹם עוָהָרְבַאְו – Avraham was still standing before Hashem.
Rashi explains that it really means, “Hashem was still standing before Avraham.” This is two sides of the same coin. Avraham did not take his mind off standing before Hashem, which is why Hashem did not leave and was still standing before Avraham.
This is a very important practical lesson. Nowadays, the presence of the Shechinah, the closest we can come to Hashem, is in Torah learning. Yet, Halachah obligates us to stop learning in order to perform a mitzvah that others cannot take care of. Sometimes you must leave the beis midrash.
This is why we leave yeshivah to go to weddings, and to funerals, and to perform other necessary acts of chesed.
But many people think they are thereby permitted to slam the door behind them, so to speak. They think they can now turn their backs on Torah learning and go do something else. They see themselves as exempt from Torah study. They throw off the serious attitude they had when they were sitting and learning that day.
On their way to the wedding, they chat gleefully about all kinds of nonsense, they act silly and lightheaded, because they think they are released from the yoke of Torah.
But this is not what we learn from Avraham Avinu. Even when he went to bring three Arab wayfarers into his home, and was deeply involved with attending to their needs, he did not go and join them and be like them. “Avraham was still standing before Hashem.” He did not disconnect from kedushah for a moment.
Why did Avraham ask Hashem to wait for him? Why not let Hashem leave, and He will come back when Avraham is finished attending to his guests?
It says in Sefer Daas Torah that if Hashem leaves a person, it is very, very hard to get Hashem back. If a person manages to attain the state of יעלה בהר 'ה, if he reaches an elevated spiritual level, he should try very hard to fulfill also יקום במקום קדשו, to stay there and not drift away from it. Because if he lets himself drift away, he can’t get back so easily. This is why Avraham asked Hakadosh Baruch Hu to wait for him.
We should apply this lesson to ourselves. If we disconnect from Torah learning, even to go do a mitzvah, it’s not so easy to get back the siyata d’Shamaya and closeness to Hashem we had before. This is why Halachah dictates that when a person takes leave of his rabbi, he should not turn his back to him, but should step backwards with his face toward his rabbi.
This indicates that even when we leave Torah learning to do something important, we should keep facing the Torah, we should look forward to the time when we can get back to our learning. Because then, when we get back to it, we will find the siyata d’Shmaya standing and waiting for us, and we will remain always connected to Hashem, as if we never left.
1 Shulchan Aruch, Yoreh Deah 242:16.
