Vayeira

“I will get some loaves of bread, and then you may eat to your heart’s content” (Breishis 18:5)

“Rabi Chama said, ‘The Torah does not say ‘to the content of your hearts’ (heb. levavchem), rather, it says ‘to your heart’s content’ (heb. lebchem, i.e. singular and not plural). This come sot teach us that angels are not ruled by an evil inclination.’” (Rashi, ibid.)

How are we to understand this statement of R’ Chama, as cited by Rashi? What are we to learn from the insight that angels do not possess a yetzer hara?

The midrash in Shemos says on the verse, “Then Moshe and the Jewish people sang” (Shemos 15:1), “Hashem said: ‘I have been waiting for this moment (i.e. when finally man will praise me with song)’”. Yet, on just a few verses previously, during the Jews journey through the split Sea, our sages say, “The angels wanted to sing praises to Hashem (for the miracle of the splitting of the sea). Hashem said to them, ‘My creations (i.e. the Egyptians) are drowning in the sea, and you wish to praise me with song?!” Why would Hashem approve of the Jews’ singing for the miracle at the sea, and yet prevent the angels from doing so?

Angels, we see from our Rashi, possess only “one heart”; that is, they can only perceive one emotion at a time. They cannot simulaneously feel, for example, joy and pain. However, man, through the depth of his emotions can do so. This is what is meant by man’s possessing “two hearts”-- levavchem. He can feel many emotions at once. Hence, Avraham could offer Yitzchak as an offering at the Akeida with ultimate joy, yet simultaneously crying copious tears.

Thus, in our verse, the Torah tells us that Avraham told his angelic guests “sa’adu lebchem”, each to fill his heart-- singular-- as R’ Chama teaches us, in order to have us recognize that angels are uni-dimensional, that the yetzer hara does not rule in their nature.

(This d'var Torah is based on the work Peninei Daas, the essays of the Telsher Rosh HaYeshiva Rabbi Eliyahu Meir Bloch, zt"l, edited by Rabbi Noson Tzvi Baron, shlit"a, and Rabbi Avrahom Chaim Levin, shlit"a, vol. 1, p. 30)