Tzipiyah.com

One of the episodes of this week’s parshah is the story of the three angels. In brief, God sent three angels to Abraham’s tent in the guise of men, where he invites them in to rest and eat, demonstrating his immense characteristic of hospitality. We may wonder: why did there have to be three angels?

Rashi (Rabbi Shlomo Yitzhaqi, 1040-1105, famed as the author of the first comprehensive commentary on the Torah) tells us that each angel had a mission of his own. One was there to bring news to Abraham and Sarah that they would have a son in a year’s time. One had the mission to destroy the city of Sedom, a place filled with sin and corruption that warranted destruction. And the last one was there to heal Abraham; it was not long after he underwent circumcision, so God sent an angel to ensure him a complete recovery. This very same angel was also appointed to save Lot, Abraham’s nephew, from the oncoming destruction of Sedom (he was living in Sedom). Rashi tells us that three angels were necessary because one angel can only take on one task. Therefore, three angels were needed to carry out the three mentioned “assignments”.

One question we may ask is why the “destroying” angel had to come to Abraham’s tent? If his mission was to destroy Sedom, why was it necessary for him to pass by and see Abraham on the way there? Two more questions we may ask relate to the statement of Rashi that “only one angel can carry out one task”. In the verses dealing with Sedom’s destruction, the Torah writes:

“The men (the angels) said to Lot ‘…for we are about to destroy this place…’ ” [Genesis: 19: 13]

Why is this verse in the plural? Were both angels going to destroy the city? But isn’t it impossible for two angels to carry out the same task!? Furthermore, in the verses describing how Lot is saved, the Torah says:

“…the men (the angels) grasped him (Lot) by his hand…and they took him out and left him outside the city” [Genesis: 19: 16]

Again the verse is in the plural! Shouldn’t only one angel have been responsible to take Lot out of the city!? Why were both angels involved in this mission if it can only belong to one of them!?

The answer to these questions, and to many more unlisted questions, is not so simple. According to Rabbi Uziel Mylevsky, when Rashi said that each angel has his own task, it really means that each angel encompasses one specific spiritual force. Therefore, each angel is limited to perform only the tasks that pertain to its designated spiritual force. The “destroying” angel represents the divine aspect of Gevurah (Hebrew for “strength”), which basically relates to justice. This angel was therefore in charge of administering justice to the people of Sedom, who were deserving of destruction. The “saving” angel represents Chesed (Hebrew for “kindness”), which, as its name connotes, relates to kindness. This angel was therefore in charge of demonstrating divine mercy and kindness towards Lot, by saving him from the destruction. This is why this very same angel was also sent earlier to heal Abraham, which is in parallel to its trait of kindness.

Our Rabbis have told us that upon creating of the world, God established these two traits (“Justice” and “Kindness”) in two separate stages. At first, God “planned” to have a world built on the foundations of justice alone. But it was not too long until He realized that the world could not possibly survive on justice by itself; unfortunately man does sin, but regardless of our faults and disappointments, we always deserves a second chance. Therefore God had to also incorporate the aspect of kindness into creation, allowing humanity to prevail even in the wake of sin. With God’s investment of kindness in the world, man now had the ability to repent and wash away all his wrongdoings. Of course, sooner or later man would be held accountable for his sins if he would refuse to repent, and the force of justice would mete out his proper judgement. Therefore, inherent in creation we see that the forces of justice and kindness are merged with one another. (*See 1^st footnote*)

If these two forces are so-to-speak inseparable, then the angels who represent these traits should be inseparable as well. Therefore, when the angel of justice was meting out punishment to the inhabitants of Sedom, the angel of kindness was alongside him. The idea being that even in God’s intense moments of strict justice and harshness, He still delivers punishment with an aspect of mercy. Furthermore, this is why the angel of justice was uncharacteristically found at Abraham’s tent, for he was “joined at the hip” with the angel of kindness. Likewise, when the angel of kindness was rescuing Lot, the angel of justice was at his side as well. This teaches us that even when God is pouring out his kindness upon others, He bestows it upon them with a limit. God performs kindnesses to others according to the level they deserve, relating to the aspect of justice.

This idea not only tells us of God’s “personality”, but because we are meant to emulate God’s ways, the idea is crucial when trying to understand how we must act as individuals as well. There will come a time in our lives when we may need to discipline our children, or reprimand somebody because of his/her wrongdoings. But we have to understand that the goal of this discipline is to allow them to realize their mistake and correct their ways, and if we don’t do it in a loving manner, we will eventually push them even further away (*See 2^nd footnote*). On the other side of the coin, there will be times when we will most definitely act kind towards another and perform acts of charity towards others. But we have to realize that even this has limits. If we were to give away all ofo ur wealth and time, there would be nothing left for us to enjoy! Furthermore, placing a limit on kindness is especially important when the act of kindness may lead the benefactor to sin.

May we merit the ability to blend the traits of justice and kindness in every endeavor of our lives.

Good Shabbos,

NZL

* Our Rabbis even point out that this idea is realized in the verses dealing with the world’s creation. At first, the Torah states “In the beginning of Elokim (God) creating the heavens and the earth…” [Genesis: 1: 1] God has many names in the Torah, and the name of Elokim specifically alludes to God’s trait of strict justice. This demonstrates how originally the world was meant to be created upon justice alone. But later on we find that the Torah says: “…on the day that Hashem Elokim (God) made earth and heaven…” [Genesis: 2: 4] Here we find that the name Elokim is joined up with the name Hashem, the name in which God demonstrates divine mercy and kindness. This shows how God decided to add in the aspect of kindness, alongside justice, in the world’s formation.

** The sages tell us that when we rebuke others “we must push them away with our left hand while, at the same time, pulling them towards us with our right hand”. We “push them away”, meaning we rebuke them, with our weaker (left) hand. At the same time, this has to be carried out with the goal of “pulling them towards us”, meaning bringing them closer to God, whom they sinned against. This is done with the stronger (right) hand. Therefore the “pulling” must always overpower the “pushing”.