DJDS Student D'var Torah - Emmie, 7th Grade (Vayera)

By Emmie C., Denver JDS 7th Grader

 

In this week's Parsha, Vayera, we read about how Abraham was sitting in his tent when three strangers came to visit.  Abraham didn't know these people but he was so kind and welcoming. He and his wife Sarah made them a delicious meal and gave him a place to rest this teaches us the importance of being kind and welcoming to strangers we never know when we might be entertaining an angel or someone important without even knowing it. 

 

I have a perfect story on how I can relate to this. My family and I have always given money to the homeless when we see them on the streets. While this didn’t happen to me, my parents told me this story. While they still lived in New York, they saw many homeless people. They saw one homeless man with a sign that said ‘Help wanted’ and they helped him and they just gave him a few dollars and that's it. A few weeks passed and then they ran into him again and he said, “You probably don't remember me but you gave me some money a few weeks ago.” My parents did remember him and then he said, “Both of you and your gift had an impact on his life and I was able to buy a warm meal at night in a shelter. That gave me the strength to get back on my feet.”

 

This reminds me of a thing that I like to think about before I judge too quickly. Never judge a book by its cover. There's always something rewarding out of doing something Abraham didn't know that these people were angels so he still let them into his house and gave him food and a place to feel safe. All we need at the end of the day is a place to feel safe and I think that making people feel like they have a community around them is the best thing that you could give somebody. I really like this partially because I found many things that you could learn lessons from. Shabbat shalom.