How to be holy on earth

It was a meeting of opposites. Holy angels visited our patriarch, Avraham, at the beginning of this week’s parsha of Vayera. These celestial beings were eager to see what life was like for a righteous person here on earth. They wondered what spirituality looked like down here in this physical world. Avraham was G-d’s ambassador here on earth, and was willing to give up his life for his belief in G-d. It was Avraham who first shared the morals and values of monotheism.

Three angels arrived at Avraham’s tent, waiting to see a beacon of g-dly light. Instead, they were met by a man, who rushed to offer them water to rinse their feet and bread to satiate their hunger. They saw their host, Avraham, running back to choose the best calves for their meal, and instructing his wife, Sarah, to bake rolls of fine flour. Instead of g-dly revelation, they were given food. Bread, cream, tongue, and mustard.

“Where is the holiness?” they wondered as they pretended to eat their meal. (After all, they were angels – they didn’t need food for sustenance.) Perhaps they were mistaken. Maybe it was Avraham’s wife, Sarah, who was a beacon of holiness. “Where’s your wife, Sarah?” they inquired.

“She’s in the tent,” Avraham responded. Within that simple response was a more profound message – you won’t find what you’re looking for in my wife. Her holiness is even more concealed. Her true greatness is harder to identify.

The angels realised how wrong they were. They thought spirituality was found in the celestial realms and that greatness was found amongst divine beings in the heavens.

But Avraham was telling the angels that we find true holiness and spirituality in this mundane world, in the acts of kindness, grace, and compassion we share with others.

In a dusty, barren desert, an offer of food and water to strangers is the ultimate act of g-dliness.

When we’re able to extend ourselves and give to another, with no expectation of anything in return, it’s the ultimate act of holiness.

The Torah records this story in great detail, down to the menu and the amount of flour used, to teach us this vital lesson.

We often think that to be spiritual, we must distance ourselves from this physical plane. We should go and meditate in the Himalayas. We should disconnect from as much of this earthly world as possible. We need to be angelic.

But this week’s Torah portion reminds us that to be holy, we need to live in this world. We need to invest in the physical world around us, but use it to make this world better, to use the material to uplift the lives of others around us. We need to distance ourselves not from the physical, but from an obsession with ourselves. To think about how we can be of benefit to others. And in simple everyday interactions, we can find a true state of holiness.