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Parshat Vayeira
By: Rabbi Moshe Goodman, Kollel Ohr Shlomo, Hebron

בס"ד

לשכנו תדרשו

Seeking the Holy Presence in Our Holy Land  

"וירא אליו ה' באלוני ממרא"

"My Lord, open my lips, and my mouth shall shall utter Your praise."

With these words we begin our prayer before the Holy Presence, beforehand directing these lips towards the Holy Land, Land of the Holy Presence. In addition to directing one's body to the Holy Land, halacha teaches us that one should also direct one's heart to Jerusalem and the Holy of Holies.

This is not the only stipulation halacha puts on one's intent in prayer, 'the service of the heart'. In addition to this, one is obligated to have intent in the 'blessing of the Forefathers', meaning that one is to connect to this Holy Presence in the Land, specifically through our Forefathers. Of course, the most obvious crossroads of these two intentions, the Holy Land and our Forefathers, lies in turning our hearts towards Hebron. Yet still, halacha mandates that ultimately we are to turn our hearts towards Jerusalem, and ultimately to the Holy of Holies in the Bais HaMikdash.

Through these intricacies of intentions, we can understand the saying 'that all prayers ascend via Maarat HaMachpela' and with the same token King Solomon's saying that all prayers ascend via the Bais HaMikdash in Jerusalem. We can say that all our prayers initially connect to heaven through the roots of our souls in Hebron, bastion of our holy Patriarchs with whom the Holy Presence rests always. Through our Patriarchs of Hebron, our prayers then ascend via Jerusalem, City of the Holy Presence and the 'Holy of Holies'.

It is important to note that these 'crossroads' of intentions are not just 'one-sided streets' so-to-speak, but rather 'two-way highways', as our speaking before the before the Holy Presence allows in turn the Holy Presence to  speak to us, an experience no other than full prophecy, reached in reality by the truly righteous.

In this way we can understand how the initial revelation in the first words of this week's parsha develops into a full conversation between Avraham and HaShem in regard to the saving of Sdom. Based on what we just explained, it also becomes clear why this conversation develops specifically in 'Elonei Mamreh', i.e Hebron, City of the Connecting (lehaber - connect) Channels to Heaven.  In this way we can also better understand how Hebron conducts as the the Gateway to the Garden of Eden for the ascentof all souls to Heaven. 

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Real Stories from the Holy Land #95:

"In previous years I made our Sukka with the external walls of the building we used to live in. However, since our move to Kiryat Arba this past year, I could not use this solution in our present apartment, but rather needed to attain walls to the sukka. I trusted in HaShem to help us, but yet still as time passed, since I didn't have the wherewithal to make such an expense, I made a full decision to take a loan to buy a sukka. Just then I talked with my neighbor, and he happened to mention that he has a sukka he does need for this year, and I can use it free of charge..." (S.B.K)    

Sources: Orah Haim 101, 1 and 93, 1, Shaar Hhatzer 380, see Tikunei Zohar 126b

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