The Vilna Gaon on Parshat Vayeira
(From Kol Eliahu on Parshat Shavua)
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The Eshel
 “He planted an eshel in Beer Sheva.”  (Breishit 21:33)

What is this “eshel”?  Its straightforward meaning is a type of tree, but the Sages (Midrash Tehilim) explain that eshel (alef, shin, lamed) is an acronym for “akhila” (eating), “shtia” (drinking), and “levaya” (escorting). 

Avraham’s hospitality had two motivations, one was to help his guests, another was correcting the sins of his predecessors.  Adam sinned through eating, Noach sinned through drinking, and Sodom sinned through how they related to guests.

Mount Moriah
“Avraham called the place, ‘G-d will appear’ (“Hashem yireh”), as is said today, ‘G-d appears (yeiraeh) on the Mountain.”  (Breishit 22:14)

Why does the verse switch from “yireh”, will appear, when mentioning Avraham’s name, to “yeiraeh”, appears, when referring to what the mountain is called in Moshe’s time?

This can be explained based on another comment by the Sages.  “When Adam sinned, the Divine Presence, the Shekhina, that had been present here on earth, left the world and ascended one level into Heaven.  Subsequent great sins during the next twenty generations distanced the Shekhina further and further from earth, until it was already in the seventh Heaven by the time Avraham came onto the scene. Avraham brought down the Shekhina from the seventh to the sixth Heaven . . . until by Moshe’s time it once again descended to earth.” 

Therefore when Avraham spoke of Mount Moriah he prayed, “G-d will appear,” in the future, for in his time the Shekhina was still far from earth.  By the time Moshe wrote down the Torah, “as it is said today,” the Shekhina was already present on earth and it is possible to refer to Mount Moriah as the place “G-d appears,” in the present. 

[prepared by Eliezer Kwass]