\n\u05d5\u05b7\u05d9\u05bc\u05b9\u05d0\u05de\u05b0\u05e8\u05d5\u05bc \u05d0\u05b5\u05dc\u05b8\u05d9\u05d5 \u05d0\u05b7\u05d9\u05bc\u05b5\u05d4 \u05e9\u05c2\u05b8\u05e8\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d0\u05b4\u05e9\u05c1\u05b0\u05ea\u05bc\u05b6\u05da\u05b8 \u05d5\u05b7\u05d9\u05bc\u05b9\u05d0\u05de\u05b6\u05e8 \u05d4\u05b4\u05e0\u05bc\u05b5\u05d4 \u05d1\u05b8\u05d0\u05b9\u05d4\u05b6\u05dc
\n<\/span>
\nThey said to him, \u201cWhere is your wife Sarah?\u201d And he replied, \u201cThere, in the tent.\u201d<\/p>\n
The traditional commentators point out that angels are from God, and therefore they know perfectly well that Sarah is in the tent. Why on earth do they ask Avraham where Sarah is?<\/p>\n
Because that’s a polite way of starting a conversation, they explain. They ask Avraham how he\u2019s doing, and they ask after his partner.<\/p>\n
We explain that just as they said “Ayeh\u201d \u2013 Where is Sarah? \u2013 they also said “Ayo” \u2013 Where is Avraham? Just like the angels chatted with Avraham and inquired after his wife, they also chatted with Sarah and inquired after her husband.<\/p>\n This particular part of the Torah is high on action and low on mitzvot. You can read the text just as an interesting story, and that’s nice, but the dots here invite us to consider what mitzvot we can learn even when we\u2019re reading stories. The text stops being just a nice story that you hear during Torah reading, and turns into an extra thread in the weave that binds Torah, Judaism, and human relationships. This neatly illustrates the idea that the Torah contains more than just the plain text.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Parashat Vaera contains dots over a couple of words. My plan is to explain more about dots this time next week, but here’s an example to get us started. Genesis 18:9: \u05d5\u05b7\u05d9\u05bc\u05b9\u05d0\u05de\u05b0\u05e8\u05d5\u05bc \u05d0\u05b5\u05dc\u05b8\u05d9\u05d5 \u05d0\u05b7\u05d9\u05bc\u05b5\u05d4 \u05e9\u05c2\u05b8\u05e8\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d0\u05b4\u05e9\u05c1\u05b0\u05ea\u05bc\u05b6\u05da\u05b8 \u05d5\u05b7\u05d9\u05bc\u05b9\u05d0\u05de\u05b6\u05e8 \u05d4\u05b4\u05e0\u05bc\u05b5\u05d4 \u05d1\u05b8\u05d0\u05b9\u05d4\u05b6\u05dc They said to him, \u201cWhere is your wife Sarah?\u201d And he replied, \u201cThere, in the tent.\u201d … Continue reading Vaera and dots<\/span> ![\"\"](\"http:\/\/hasoferet.com\/cbh\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/dots-elav.jpg\" "\\"dots-elav\\"")
<\/a>Now, you can see that three letters of \u05d0\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5 – to him – aleph, yud, and vav – have dots over them. What does that spell? \u05d0\u05d9\u05d5, ayo. Ayo is a word that means “where is he?” What’s the very next word? \u05d0\u05d9\u05d4, ayeh. <\/p>\n