Bringing Heaven down to Earth!

Avraham was a revolutionary! He was a revolutionary not because he believed in one G-d, this was not so cutting edge, but because he allowed his belief in a transcendent G-d to effect his very physical earthly self, to the extent that this belief  got translated into all of his 248 physical limbs, and led him to go through with the bris mila, a mitzvah that required him to "cut " into his physical self (thus the cutting edge phrase..lol) and by so doing, reveal the  essential connection between body and soul!!

Avraham was also pretty revolutionary in his connection to kindness! His identification and manifestation of kindness was so absolute, that our sages tell us that because of Avraham's kindness, Hashem Himself was able to manifest more of His own kindness into the world!!

Menachem Nachem of Chernoble explains that when Avraham sits at the opening to his tent in the heat of the day, just after his bris, this can be interpreted on a more abstract level, ( the level of Remez i believe)  that Avraham sits for all time at the entrance to Geinheinom (Hell) and tries to save Jews who can be recognized by the markings of a kosher or unpolluted bris .( which means that they have not had illicit relations with non Jewish women). The heat of the day obviously refers here to the "heat of Hell" which Avraham endures in order to do eternal kindness for the souls of all "fallen Jewish men..."

During our class on the Parsha we compared Noach who related to Hashem in a rational way, within the confines of the natural world and within the confines of his own nature, to Avraham, who relates to a transcendent G-d, in a way that requires him to constantly transcend his own nature!

Avraham's way of relating to G-d opens pathways to us, to relate to G-d in both ways that are transcendent , requiring us to go beyond our selves, so to speak, and in ways that are very grounded, linking  heaven and earth in very physical ways, using our 248 limbs to carry out the 248 physical  mitzvoth!