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Why does the Torah (תורה) write that Avrohom asked Hashem (ה׳) to stay only after he ran to greet guests? The shiur explains that when a person does chesed (חסד)—especially hachnasas orchim—Hashem accompanies him. Hachnasas orchim is the ultimate chesed because it mirrors creation itself: giving up your space for another, just as Hashem gave up His space to create the world.
Rabbi Zweig opens with Rashi (רש"י) on Bereishis 18:1–3, who points out that the text is not in chronological order. Avrohom first asked Hashem (ה׳)'s permission to leave ("al na ta'avor"), then ran to greet the guests, but the Torah (תורה) writes it the other way around. This ordering raises several questions: Why would the Torah deliberately confuse the sequence? How can we derive from here the principle that judges sit while Hashem stands? And how does the Gemara (גמרא) in Shabbos (שבת) derive that gedolah hachnasas orchim mikabbalas pnei Shechinah—that welcoming guests is greater than receiving the Divine Presence? Rabbi Zweig builds his answer on the Rambam (רמב"ם) in Hilchos De'os (chapter 14), which defines "derech Hashem" as developing character traits that reflect Hashem's attributes—kindness, compassion, generosity. When a person internalizes these middos, his actions flow naturally and he is literally imitating Hashem. The Rambam cites the pasuk "ki yedativ... lema'an asher yetzaveh es banav... v'shamru derech Hashem la'asos tzedakah u'mishpat" (Bereishis 18:19), explaining that Avrohom taught his children not merely to do acts of tzedakah and mishpat, but to embody the character from which these acts flow. This is the meaning of "derech Hashem."
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Parshas Vayeira 18:1-19
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