Enjoying Heaven on Earth
In this week’s Torah portion G-d appeared to Abraham and yet He said nothing.
“G-d appeared to [Abraham] in the Plains of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance of the tent in the hottest part of the day. [Abraham] lifted his eyes and he saw three strangers approaching and ran towards them.”
Until now G-d appeared to Abraham to instruct, promise or bless him. The Talmud (Sotah 14A) comments that G-d was visiting sick Abraham who was recuperating from his circumcision. What does this mean?
When you visit a person who is ill it is not in order to say something; your mere presence communicates your pure desire to identify with this person in his/her time of need. You go for the sole purpose of being there. So it was when G-d visited Abraham. For the first time G-d appears to Abraham only to be with him, identify with him and share this special moment.
Sometimes the highest moment of love is when we have nothing to say to each other. We just want to share each other’s presence in silence.
You can be sure this moment was sheer ecstasy for Abraham. This profound meeting in itself was ample reward for fulfilling the mitzvah (religious duty) of circumcision. In fact, this kind of ecstatic intimacy with G-d is the ultimate reward for the fulfillment of any mitzvah.
This will be the eternal joy experienced in the World to Come, which is the era that follows the coming of the Messiah, as it is recorded in the Talmud:
There the righteous will sit with crowns on their heads enjoying the splendor of the Shechina