Word as Image - Week 4: Noticing the Visible Presence (Vayera 2021/5782)

Parashat Vayera (And He Appeared) begins with a stunning scene. God appears to Abraham as he sits at the entrance of his tent. Receiving a visitation from God is obviously an awe-inducing experience, and yet Abraham does something very strange. He leaves God and runs to greet three passing travelers, warmly inviting them to eat and rest. What are we to make of this?

In 2021, Rabbi Arthur Waskow z”l wrote arrestingly about this incident . 

The first sentence of the portion (Gen. 18:1) says "YHWH [Yahhhh, Breath of life] brought-about-being-SEEN [vayera] to [Abraham] in [b'] the oaks of Mamre.”

Then the story continues: ". . . and he lifted up his eyes and SAW [va'yar] and here! -- three people were standing upon him, and he SAW [va'yar] and ran . . .[to bring-them-near and then to feed them].”

First the oak trees themselves and then the three visitors were the visible, see-able presence of God.

How can the Divine Breathing-Spirit of the world become visible in trees? Think about the rustling leaves, quivering as the wind rushes from them, in them, into them. Quivering as the trees breathe out what we breathe in (oxygen), and then breathe in what we breathe out (carbon-dioxide). This is the rhythm of life upon our planet. As we open our eyes to this rush of breath, we see God.

And it was not till Abraham saw God breathing in these oak trees that Abraham was able to see God breathing in human beings.

Most translators translate that “b’ “ as “by," not “in” because they are blind to what Abraham can see: that God can be in the oak-trees, not just in the human beings close by.

It was only after Abraham and Sarah could see God in the oak-trees that they acted to affirm this holiness by feeding God -- who of course is never visible except in all that is around us -- that is, is ALWAYS visible if we open our eyes. Feeding God by feeding human beings -- sharing with earthy human beings the abundance of Earth.

In response, the human beings who were God's messengers told Abraham and Sarah that they would, after all, have a child.

Once Abraham had deeply seen the interbreathing of all life as God, he more deeply saw the intertwining of adam and adamah, the earthy humus and the human earthlings, that feeds us all and celebrates the One. Not till he saw God in this body of earth-human interchange could his and Sarah's bodies intertwine to seed new life.

Deeply moved by Rabbi Waskow’s teaching, I created Noticing the Visible Presence on Shabbat Vayera 2021/5782. I was taken by Rabbi Shefa Gold’s teaching that week that around Song of Songs 1:7 and the Torah portion. 

We must open the inner eyes to see and then we must follow the signs and glimpses was are given…Can I open to the Divine Presence that is speaking to me through this world?

Her question seemed only more apt given Rabbi Waskow’s insights.

Chana-Toni Whitmont

Parshah Vayera 5787/2026

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“Noticing the Visible Presence” is part of the Word as Image project which comprises more than 50 weekly visual midrashim to be published here over the year 5787. Click Word as Image to find out more about this project.   

Chana-Toni Whitmont is a collage and mixed media artist, crystal sound practitioner, creative, writer, wanna-be calligrapher and curious questioner whose practice and passions are born from her spiritual connection to her Jewish lineage and the ebbs and flows of its calendar cycle. She lives on ancient Bidjigal, Birrabirragal and Gadigal Country (also known as Bondi), on the Pacific coast of Australia.

She can be contacted through the AJS Members WhatsApp Group or at twhitmont@gmail.com