One of the most important lessons from this week’s Parsha is that in order to improve the world we must first improve ourselves.

A Quick Dvar Torah – Parshat Vayera

Changing the World Begins with Changing Ourselves

Good morning. And now for a quick Dvar Torah.

This week’s parsha, Vayera, begins with a fascinating story about Abraham.

Abraham is sitting outside his tent. According to our Sages, it is the third day after his bris milah, his circumcision, traditionally considered the most painful day. Abraham is 99 years old, and God has made the weather extremely hot so that nobody will be traveling. God wants Abraham to rest and recover.

But Abraham is distressed. Why? Because he has no guests!

Hospitality was so important to Abraham that even while recovering from surgery, he was upset that he had nobody to welcome into his home.

So God sends three angels, appearing as ordinary travelers.

Now, here’s where the story becomes particularly interesting.

God Himself is visiting Abraham. In fact, our Sages teach that God came to perform the mitzvah of bikur cholim, visiting the sick.

But then Abraham sees three strangers approaching his tent. And what does he do?

He essentially tells God, “Excuse me. I have some guests to take care of. We’ll continue this conversation later.”

Think about that for a moment!

You’re having a conversation with God Himself, and you put God on hold because three strangers are walking by and you want to offer them something to eat!

What an extraordinary lesson.

The Talmud, in Shabbat 127a, teaches that welcoming guests is even greater than receiving the Divine Presence.

And there are two important messages here.

First, we learn how important visiting the sick is. After all, if God Himself visits Abraham while he’s recovering, shouldn’t we follow His example?

Second, we learn that helping another human being can take precedence even over speaking directly with God.

But there’s another lesson here that I think is equally important.

Abraham was an extraordinarily holy man. He had a direct relationship with God. Yet he never withdrew from society.

He didn’t say, “I’m a holy person. I have no time for ordinary people and their problems.”

Quite the opposite!

He was actively involved in the world around him.

And that is a fundamental Jewish concept.

In some religious traditions, people seeking holiness withdraw from society. They become monks, retreat to mountaintops, meditate, and separate themselves from everyday life.

But that is not the Jewish ideal.

Judaism teaches us to live in the world, participate in society, raise families, work, help others, and make the world a better place.

And that brings us to another important idea: Tikkun Olam, repairing the world.

We hear that expression all the time today.

People talk about changing society, demonstrating for causes, and correcting all the problems they see around them.

Now, there’s nothing inherently wrong with being concerned about society’s problems. We should care about the environment. We shouldn’t pollute. We should care about other people.

But there’s something that often gets overlooked.

Before you can change the world, you have to begin by changing yourself.

There’s a well-known story, often attributed to the Chofetz Chaim, that illustrates this beautifully.

When he was a young man, he wanted to change the entire world.

As he grew older, he realized that perhaps changing the world was too ambitious. So he decided he would change his community.

Later, he thought, perhaps I should concentrate on changing my family.

And finally, when he was an old man, he came to a realization.

The person he really needed to change was himself.

And that is an extraordinarily important lesson.

We spend so much time worrying about what everybody else is doing wrong. We worry about society, politics, the environment, and all the problems of the world.

But how often do we stop and ask ourselves a very simple question?

Am I a better person today than I was yesterday?

Am I more honest? Am I more considerate? Am I more patient? Do I speak more respectfully to other people?

And here’s something else.

When you improve yourself, you influence the people around you.

Let me give you a simple example.

Suppose you’re in a group of people who regularly use obscene language. But you make it a point never to use that kind of language yourself.

You don’t lecture anybody. You don’t demonstrate. You don’t tell everybody else how they should behave.

You simply set an example.

And you know what happens?

People begin to notice. Some may even become uncomfortable using that language around you. Without saying a word, you’ve influenced their behavior.

You’ve made your little corner of the world a better place.

And that brings us back to Abraham.

Abraham didn’t become holy by separating himself from humanity. He became holy by bringing holiness into everyday life.

He welcomed strangers. He fed the hungry. He cared about other people. And through his own behavior, he taught others how to live.

That is the Jewish way.

We don’t improve the world simply by telling everybody else what they should do.

We improve the world by becoming better people ourselves and setting an example for others.

So perhaps the lesson of this week’s parsha is very simple.

Before you ask, “How can I change the world?” ask yourself, “How can I change myself?”

Because when you become a better person, the world around you becomes a little better too.

And that’s where Tikkun Olam really begins.

Something to think about.