בראשית פרק יח, א כְחֹּם ה ַיוֹם
Written with a Heh יום)ה(, thus the verse refers to a “known” day. This alludes to a heat that is from a known type of day, which is when the sun comes out of its sheath (when the day is at its fullest).
בראשית פרק יח, ג אַל-נָא תַעֲבֹּר מֵעַל עַבְדֶּך
Avrohom left the Holy Presence to receive guests. How is this considered proper? G-d considers receiving guests as also one of the services of HaShem. And since it is possible that the time might pass and the opportunity would go away, thus, receiving the guest must take precedence.
בראשית פרק יח, ה וְאֶּקְחָ ה פַת-לֶּחֶּם
Written with an extra letter (Heh) at the end of the word, to indicate that due to Avrohom’s great love he took the bread himself to give to the guests.
בראשית פרק יח, ז וְאֶּל-הַבָקָר רָץ אַבְרָהָם וַיִקַח בֶּן-בָקָר
Why did Avrohom take the extra time to prepare food, instead of serving only prepared food? The natural response of a host is to provide food to guests. However, Avrohom felt great love for his guests and desired that they stay longer by him, and thus, took extra time to prepare the food. The same concept is found concerning: HaShem and Shmini Atzeres (“stay with Me an extra day”); with the Jews and “Isru Chag” (the day after the festival); and about Shabbos (adding additional time to Shabbos).
בראשית פרק יח, יח וְאַבְרָהָם הָיוֹ יִהְיֶּה לְגוֹי גָדוֹל
Since the text mentioned Avrohom, it alluded to his blessing, expressing the concept of זכר צדיק לברכה. It is a wonder, that this concept is applied nowadays to those that have left this life, when the Torah shows that concept only by people when they still alive.
A possible explanation might derive from the original custom when one wrote a Tzadik’s name, one would add a word of blessing, such as שיחי', שליט"א, נרו יאיר. Thus, as people mentioned a person that passed away, they wished to bless that soul, adding a blessing נ"ע (נשמתו עדן) נבג"ם (נשמתו בגנזי מרומים). Then, “mistakes” started, such as when the Ran in Nedarim mentioned the Rambam, he originally wrote הר"ם במז"ל (Rabbi Maimon with mazal). However, the error in printing, and the reference now read הרמב"ם ז"ל. Rabbi Epstein explains further in length in his sefer Mekor Beracha.
בראשית פרק יט , כז וַיַשְכֵם אַבְרָהָם בַבֹּקֶּר אֶּל-הַמָקוֹם אֲשֶּר-עָמַד שָם
The Gemara in Berachos (6b) learns that one needs to set a regular place for prayers so that when one dies, others can say “This is the Chasid, this is his humility”. When one is in a new place, one is distracted and is worried about oneself (גאוה). When one is in a settled place, one’s thoughts are not about oneself but about proper intentions during prayer, which is a Chasid. And one should know that it is not enough to have a set House of Prayer, but one must also fix a set place to pray within that Prayer House, and not go from one place to another.
Rabbi Epstein does wonder about the agaddah concerning Rabbi Akiva. When Rabbi Akiva prayed with a minyan, he would shorten the time for his prayers in order not to bother the congregation to wait for him. However, when Rabbi Akiva prayed by himself, one should see him being in one corner and later find him in another corner (due to his strong feelings and intentions throughout his prayers).
