Avrohom was in the middle of speaking to Hashem when three angels, dressed as travelers, passed by. He interrupted his communion with Hashem in order go greet the guests. Our Sages teach us that the lesson we can derive from this is that welcoming guests is greater than communing with God.
Connecting to God is a Mitzvah, ובו תדבק, that we are commanded to connect to Him. We have a principal that עוסק במצוה פטור מן המצוה, one who is involved in the performance of one Mitzvah is exempt (perhaps even prohibited) from stopping to do the Mitzvah with which he is currently engaged and performing another Mitzvah. This is true even if the latter Mitzvah is greater than the former, one should continue what he is already doing and not start to engage in another Mitzvah. Why, then, did Avrohom stop communing with Hashem in order to greet the guests. Even if it was a greater Mitzvah, he should not have stopped his involvement in the Mitzvah with which he was already engaged.
Another question posed by the commentators is that while we learn this principle from Avrohom's behavior, but how did he know which Mitzvah was more important?
The Chasam Sofer discusses why it was that Hashem chose Avrohom as the progenitor of the Jewish nation, and not an earlier Tzaddik such as Chanoch. He explains that the Torah says וילך חנוך את האלוקים, that Chanoch walked with God. Chanoch was a person who was in close connection and communion with God at all times. He achieved great spiritual heights by doing so, however, he did not connect to other people and share with them his spiritual wealth. By contrast Avrohom spent his life reaching out to others and looking out for the spiritual and material welfare. He was the proper father for God's Chosen Nation.
The Talmud discusses the Mitzvah of ובו תדבק, of cleaving to God and asks how is that possible, after all, God is an all consuming fire? The Talmud responds that by emulating God, by engaging in acts of loving-kindness to other human beings, we have the ability to connect to God as well. It would seem, then, that there are two ways to fulfill the commandment of ובו תדבק, the method of Chanoch, which was focused on engaging in one's own spiritual growth and connecting to God in a way that left the person disconnected from this world, or the manner of Avrohom (who also did what Chanoch did) who saw that the primary means of connecting to God was through acts of loving kindness.
If God wanted us to connect to Him in a purely spiritual manner then there was no reason for Him to create the world as He did. He could have sufficed with the higher spiritual worlds, in which one could easily have that spiritual connection, and not create an existence in which people have physical needs that must be met, and to give others the means to help them. The mere fact of existence being what it is demonstrated to Avrohom that first and foremost God wants us to connect to him through being kind to others. Only after than comes a more refined spiritual connection.
It turns out then that the Mitzvah of communing with God as well that of helping other people are one and the same Mitzvah, the Mitzvah of ובו תדבק. As a result, when Avrohom stopped communicating with God he was not ending the performance of one Mitzvah in order to do a different Mitzvah, on the contrary, he was continuing to do the same thing only changing the area from a more purely spiritual to one that engages the physical world as well.
Connecting to God is a Mitzvah, ובו תדבק, that we are commanded to connect to Him. We have a principal that עוסק במצוה פטור מן המצוה, one who is involved in the performance of one Mitzvah is exempt (perhaps even prohibited) from stopping to do the Mitzvah with which he is currently engaged and performing another Mitzvah. This is true even if the latter Mitzvah is greater than the former, one should continue what he is already doing and not start to engage in another Mitzvah. Why, then, did Avrohom stop communing with Hashem in order to greet the guests. Even if it was a greater Mitzvah, he should not have stopped his involvement in the Mitzvah with which he was already engaged.
Another question posed by the commentators is that while we learn this principle from Avrohom's behavior, but how did he know which Mitzvah was more important?
The Chasam Sofer discusses why it was that Hashem chose Avrohom as the progenitor of the Jewish nation, and not an earlier Tzaddik such as Chanoch. He explains that the Torah says וילך חנוך את האלוקים, that Chanoch walked with God. Chanoch was a person who was in close connection and communion with God at all times. He achieved great spiritual heights by doing so, however, he did not connect to other people and share with them his spiritual wealth. By contrast Avrohom spent his life reaching out to others and looking out for the spiritual and material welfare. He was the proper father for God's Chosen Nation.
The Talmud discusses the Mitzvah of ובו תדבק, of cleaving to God and asks how is that possible, after all, God is an all consuming fire? The Talmud responds that by emulating God, by engaging in acts of loving-kindness to other human beings, we have the ability to connect to God as well. It would seem, then, that there are two ways to fulfill the commandment of ובו תדבק, the method of Chanoch, which was focused on engaging in one's own spiritual growth and connecting to God in a way that left the person disconnected from this world, or the manner of Avrohom (who also did what Chanoch did) who saw that the primary means of connecting to God was through acts of loving kindness.
If God wanted us to connect to Him in a purely spiritual manner then there was no reason for Him to create the world as He did. He could have sufficed with the higher spiritual worlds, in which one could easily have that spiritual connection, and not create an existence in which people have physical needs that must be met, and to give others the means to help them. The mere fact of existence being what it is demonstrated to Avrohom that first and foremost God wants us to connect to him through being kind to others. Only after than comes a more refined spiritual connection.
It turns out then that the Mitzvah of communing with God as well that of helping other people are one and the same Mitzvah, the Mitzvah of ובו תדבק. As a result, when Avrohom stopped communicating with God he was not ending the performance of one Mitzvah in order to do a different Mitzvah, on the contrary, he was continuing to do the same thing only changing the area from a more purely spiritual to one that engages the physical world as well.
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