Page 234 - BERESHIT

guests? And if he was given a Divine dispensation, why then is it
forbidden for us to interrupt our tefillah?
I would suggest that Avraham was permitted to receive the guests as he
felt Hashem’s presence every second of his life. For ordinary people
though, whose contact with Hashem is limited to their few minutes of
tefillah, it is a gross sacrilege to interrupt our tefillah in order to attend to
a mere mortal.
As an example, imagine a king who goes to dine with his relative. If the
king visits on a daily basis, a one time failure to be in his company would
not arouse the wrath of the king. But for a relative whom the king visits
only on unique occasions, his absence would cause the king great
displeasure.
In a different vein, perhaps Avraham’s reception of guests was an
extension of his reception of the Shechinah. He used the opportunity to
influence his company and turn their hearts to Hashem.

“And it happened after these things that
Hashem tested Avraham and He said to him,
‘Avraham,’ and he said, ‘Here I am.’ And he
said, ‘Please take your son, your only one,
whom you love – Yitzchak – go to the land of
Moriah, and bring him up there as an offering
on one of the mountains which I shall tell you’”

(Bereishit 22:1-2)