31 Oct PARSHAS VAYERA: THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A ‘BAAL CHESSED’ AND A WELFARE GIVER

At the start of this
week’s parsha, the
Almighty appears to
Avraham, who was
sitting at the
doorway of his tent
“in the heat of the day” [Bereishis 18:1].
Rashi quotes a teaching of Chazal: “The
Holy One, Blessed is He, brought the
sun out of its sheath (i.e. He made it
shine intensely), so as not to trouble
Avraham (who at the age of 100 had just
undergone circumcision), and because
He saw that Avraham was pained that no
visitors were coming, He brought the
angels to him in the form of men.”
The question must be asked, why was
Avraham pained by the fact that he had
no guests? We understand that Avraham
was a Baal Chessed [‘Master of
kindness’] who would go out of his way
— even while suffering the pain of
recovery from a major operation — to

help out wayfarers in need. But if there
was not anyone on the road (because of
extreme weather conditions), there
would not be anyone in need of food or
drink or a place to stay. Everyone would
ostensibly be comfortably resting in
their own homes.
We know what happens on the night of
a big snowstorm. People are not on the
streets. We do not need to worry if the
streets are empty — we know everyone
is sitting at home, warm and cozy.
Everyone is taken care of!
Avraham should have been thrilled by
the hot weather. No one was on the road.
Everyone was happy and taken care of.
Why was he pained? What was his
problem?
The premise of our question is that the
‘tachlis’ [purpose] of a ‘Baal Chessed’ is
to provide for people’s needs, and if no
one is in need, the ‘Baal Chessed’ should

not have anything to do.
However, our premise is incorrect.
Avraham Avinu is indeed the
personification of a ‘Baal Chessed’, but
he is the personification of a ‘Jewish
Baal Chessed’, not the personification
of a welfare dispenser. The Government
gives welfare. It gives welfare because
people need welfare, and would be very
happy if no one was in need of welfare.
Agencies that help the poor or homeless
ideally would prefer to have no business.
They dream of a world where no one is
homeless and everyone has food. It is
ostensibly the goal of every helping
agency to go out of business.
This is the case of someone interested
in providing welfare. But the ‘Baal
Chessed’ realizes that “more than the
homeowner provides for the poor
person, the poor person provides for the
homeowner.” [Vayikra Rabba 34] A Jew

needs to perform Chessed — “not for
YOUR sake, but for MY sake!” To
become a better human being, to become
a human being in the image of the
Almighty, emulating HIM in the most
perfect way, I MUST do Chessed.
Therefore, it doesn’t follow that if
everyone is taken care of, then I can be
happy and not have to worry about
dispensing welfare. If Avraham Avinu is
incapable of providing Chessed — for
whatever reason — then he knows that
he is not doing what he is supposed to be
doing.