Mamre was an Emori, one of the Canaanites, and the Shechinah does not rest in a place of the nations. How, then, could Hashem appear to Avraham in the oaks of Mamre? And how can a person be below and above at once?
Hashem appeared to him in Elonei Mamre, while he was sitting at the entrance of the tent in the heat of the day.
10aOr we may say that “Hashem appeared to him …” answers a puzzle. Aner, Eshkol and Mamre were Avraham's allies, yet they were Canaanites.1 That is the puzzle the verse raises in “Hashem appeared to him in Elonei Mamre”: how could Hashem appear to him in Elonei Mamre, the oaks of Mamre, when Mamre was one of the Canaanites and the Holy One, blessed be He, does not rest His Shechinah in a place of the nations? The verse says: do not be puzzled by this, for “he was sitting at the entrance of the tent.” This is the way of the tzaddik, and it answers the puzzle: though he is below, his true dwelling is above, in the upper worlds. They are called the Ohel Moed, the “Tent of Meeting,” for a moed is also a festival, and they are always in gladness and joy, like a Yom Tov. The tzaddik who always longs with his thought, and strengthens himself to rise with it to the upper world, is called one “sitting at the entrance of the tent.”
Bereishis 14:13 calls them “Avram's allies” and Mamre “the Emori,” one of the Canaanite nations. ↩
In shortHashem could appear in a Canaanite's oaks because Avraham truly dwelt above, in the upper worlds, called the Tent of Meeting for their festive joy.
10bHow, you may ask, can he be below and also above, in the upper worlds? The verse answers: take your proof from “the heat of the day,” that is, from the sun. The sun is above in the heavens, yet its light shines below, so that it seems as if it were below. So too the tzaddik is “like the heat of the day,” the other way round: he is below, and the light of his Torah and his holiness shines above, in the upper worlds. That is “Fortunate is the one You choose and bring near to dwell in Your courts,”2 that is, in the upper world.
In shortLike the sun, which is above yet shines below, the tzaddik is below, yet the light of his Torah and holiness shines into the upper worlds.
The maamar as a whole
R’ Elimelech raises the puzzle the verse itself carries: Aner, Eshkol and Mamre were Avraham’s allies but Canaanites, and Hashem does not rest His Shechinah among the nations. The answer is “he was sitting at the entrance of the tent.” Though the tzaddik is below, his true dwelling is in the upper worlds, called the Tent of Meeting for their festive joy, and one who longs with his thought to rise there sits at its entrance. How can he be both below and above? “The heat of the day” is the proof: the sun is above yet its light shines below, and the tzaddik is below while the light of his Torah and holiness shines above. He is the one chosen “to dwell in Your courts.”
Takeaway
Wherever you find yourself, even in a place far from holiness, let your thoughts keep longing upward. Like the sun's light, the Torah and holiness of one who lives below can reach the upper worlds, and Hashem can be revealed to him even there.
