VAYERAElohim reveals himself to Abraham three days after
the circumcision of the first Hebrew at the age of 99, but
Abraham quickly leaves the meeting to prepare a meal for
three guests who appear in the desert heat. This Parashat
teaches us that it is better to give than to receive. Abraham
pleads with Elohim to save the wicked city of Sedom. Two of
the three angels in disguise arrive at the lost city, where
Abraham's nephew, Lot, extends his hospitality and protects
them from the evil intentions of the crowd. The two guests
reveal that they came to destroy the place and save Lot and
his family. Lot's wife becomes a statue of salt when she
transgresses the command not to look back at the city on fire
as they escape. While taking refuge in a cavern, Lot's two
daughters (believing that they and their father were the only
ones alive in the whole world) intoxicate their father and
become pregnant with him. The two sons born of this
incident are the parents of the nations of Amun and Moab.
Abraham moves to Grar; Abraham, foreseeing the wicked
behavior of the Philistines, presents his wife Sarah as if she
were his sister. The king, Avimelech, takes her captive in his
palace. In a dream, Elohim warns Avimelech not to touch her.
