קדושת לוי מדגיש שהכנסת אורחים מגלה את מידת אברהם – חסד ופתיחת שערים לכל אדם – ובכך ממשיכה את השכינה אל תוך חיי המעשה.
כי על כן עברתם על עבדכם (בראשית יח, ה). לכאורה אין זה דרך שיאמר בעל הבית לאורח לזה באת אלי להתארח לאכול אצלי. ויתבאר כי כל המלאכים מקבלים שפע ממצות ישראל והקדוש ברוך הוא הוציא כאן חמה כו', ולא היה אברהם אבינו יכול לעשות מצות עם הכנסת אורחים ונמנע השפע מן המלאכים עליונים. וזה שאמר על כן עברתם על עבדכם, כדי שאקיים מצות הכנסת אורחים להשפיע בכם: ואקחה פת לחם וסעדו לבכם וכו' ויתן לפניהם ויאכלו (בראשית יח, ה-ח). יבואר על פי דכתב באור החיים על פירוש התורה, כי המלאכים אפילו מיכאל שר הגדול לפעמים נקרא כהן גדול ולפעמים נקרא בשם אחר. הבחינה הוא, כי המלאכים יש להם חיות מהמצות והתורה שעושים ישראל עם קדוש וכשישראל הם במדריגה אז נקרא מיכאל כהן גדול. וזהו ואקחה פת לחם, כי פת הוא מרמז על תורה שבכתב ושבעל פה כדאמרינן (מנחות לד:) פת באפריקי שתים, ולחם גם כן רומז על התורה כמאמר הכתוב (תהלים עח, כה) לחם אבירים אכל איש ולכו לחמי בלחמי (משלי ט, ה). וזהו ויאכלו, כי המלאכים החיות שלהם ממצות ישראל כשישראל עושים רצון הקדוש ברוך הוא ועושים מצותו ברוך הוא ונמצא שעשה המצוה של הכנסת האורחים. וזהו הרמז ויקח ויתן לפניהם, המצוה של הכנסת אורחים שעשה ויאכלו, מזה היה החיות שלהם. וזהו והוא עומד עליהם תחת העץ ויאכלו, כי העץ הוא תורה על שם הפסוק (משלי ג, יח) עץ חיים היא: ונבאר מה דאיתא במדרש (בראשית רבה מט) דאברהם אבינו עליו השלום לאחר שאכלו אמר ברכו לאלהי עולם. למה לא אמר להם קודם האכילה שיברכו ברכה. אפס קודם היו גוים והאיך יקבלו עליהם עול מלכות שמים. אמנם לאחר שכבר אכלו עשו מצוה שזיכו את אברהם במצות הכנסת אורחים אם כן זה הזכות גרם להם שיהיו יכולין לקיים ולקבל עול מלכות שמים. ולכך אמרינן במדרש דמי שלא רצה לברך אחר האכילה אמר שישלם לו, כיון דלא נכנס בו ריח קדושה שמע מינה דלא כיון לזכות אותו במצות הכנסת אורחים למה לא ישלם:
Genesis 18,5. “for this is why your journey has brought you to the house of your servant.” On the face of it, this is a very unusual manner of extending an invitation to passing strangers to partake of a meal with the host. The commentators explained that angels are recipients of the largesse provided by G’d for the Jewish people who have performed G’d’s commandments. In other words, it was G’d Himself, Who let the sun out and thus Avraham, personally, was not able to perform his duties as an attentive host due to his not yet having recovered from the effects of the circumcision and from the weather. Under normal circumstances, these men would have been denied his hospitality. He therefore explains that due to his having fulfilled the commandment of circumcision, they would in fact be partaking of a meal provided by G’d Himself. They had been sent to him so that he could take credit for hosting them. We have to elaborate somewhat on the tradition that Avraham had been observing, voluntarily, all of the commandments that would later on be found in the Torah. The only exception he had made was the commandment of circumcision. In light of the fact that this commandment was the cornerstone of G’d’s covenant with the Jewish people, why would Avraham purposely have neglected to perform this commandment until being told to observe it? Genesis 18,5. “let me take a piece of bread so that you can refresh yourselves,……he presented it to them and they ate.” The true meaning of this verse has been best explained by the Or Hachayim, according to whom even the highest ranking angel, Michael is on occasion referred to as “High Priest,” whereas on other occasions he is known by another name. [Not in my edition of the אור החיים. Ed.] The point of this is to alert us to the fact that the standing, or even existence, of the angels in the celestial spheres, is affected by the mitzvah performance of the Israelites in the terrestrial part of the universe. When Israel is meticulous in the performance of G’d’s Torah, then the most senior of the angels in the celestial spheres assumes the title: “High Priest.” When Avraham spoke about a פת לחם, instead of merely פת, bread, he alludes to both the written and the oral Torah. The word פת refers to the written Torah, whereas the word לחם refers to the oral Torah. The word לחם in psalms 78,25 i.e. לחם אבירים, is an allusion to the Torah. According to the Talmud Menachot 34, the word פת amongst the Africans means “two.” [The latter half of the word: טוטפת. Ed.] The word is used as an allusion to Torah also in Proverbs 9,5, לכו לחמו בלחמי, “come and partake of My bread.” [Compare Alshich, pages 171-172, my translation of Proverbs. Ed.] When Avraham is now described as serving the angels, we may see in this the reward both for Avraham‘s having performed the circumcision on himself, as well as reward for the angels, their being hosted by a person of Avraham’s standing. [Perhaps the mitzvah of hospitality shown the angels by Lot in the following chapter was a factor in his being saved, whereas his wife was not. Ed.] When Avraham, in verse 8, is described as standing next to the angels while the latter were seated while eating, the “tree” mentioned in that verse may be a reference to the tree described as “tree of life” in Proverbs 3,18, i.e. an allusion to the Torah. This brings me to Bereshit Rabbah 49,4 where we are told that it was Avraham’s custom after having served his guests a meal to ask them to give thanks to the Creator of the universe. Why did Avraham not ask them to pronounce a benediction before they commenced eating, as is customary among Jews, and even among many gentiles? The reason may be that before eating these people were pagans, and how could they pronounce a blessing that implied that they had accepted the yoke of serving the one and only Creator? Having eaten, they had performed a commandment through conferring upon their host Avraham the merit of fulfilling the duty to be hospitable; having done so, they themselves had been given a merit by dint of having contributed to Avraham’s merits, so that now when they pronounced a blessing thanking the Lord Who provides food for all of His creatures, they were not mouthing empty phrases. This is why the Midrash continues by relating that if Avraham’s guests would refuse to recite a blessing to the Lord, he would demand that they return to him what they had eaten, etc, etc. The embarrassment caused the guest when he realized that he had partaken of what had not been intended for him, would usually cause the guest to reconsider. Avraham had explained to the guest that unless they provided him with the merit of having performed the commandment of being hospitable, they would in fact have robbed him of something that was his.
