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Why does the Torah (תורה) write 'Vayeira elav Hashem (ה׳)' instead of the standard 'Vayeira Hashem el Avrohom'? This unusual grammatical construction indicates that Avrohom, not Hashem, is driving the action. The pronoun 'elav' refers back to 'Avrohom hamul' from the previous parsha, revealing that Hashem came specifically to visit the circumcised Avrohom in his illness.
This shiur presents a sophisticated grammatical analysis of the opening verse of Parshas Vayeira to understand Rashi (רש"י)'s famous comment that Hashem (ה׳) came to visit Avrohom during his illness from circumcision. Rabbi Zweig argues that the Sifsei Chachamim's explanation—that Rashi is bothered by the Torah (תורה)'s failure to state a reason for the visit—is insufficient, as there could be many unstated reasons for divine appearances. The key insight lies in comparing this verse to the two previous instances where 'Vayeira Hashem el Avrohom' appears in the Torah. In both earlier cases (Bereishis 12:7 and 17:1), the standard Hebrew construction places the subject (Hashem) next to the verb (vayeira), indicating that Hashem initiated the action for His own purposes. However, in our verse, the unusual construction 'Vayeira elav Hashem' suggests that Avrohom, not Hashem, is driving the action.
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Parshas Vayeira 18:1
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