After close to a century of devotion, Avraham was finally commanded to observe the mitzvah of Bris Milah (circumcision) thereby entering into an eternal covenant with G-d. His willingness to go through with the deed at the advanced age of ninety-nine despite his enormous spiritual accomplishments until then, earned him a special revelation of the Shechina - the Divine Presence, three days later.
While sitting at the entrance to his tent seeking passersby to tend to, G-d revealed himself to Avraham in a manner he had never experienced before. During this immensely uplifting and spiritually gratifying experience he noticed three travelers passing by and ran toward them in greeting, begging them to avail themselves to his hospitality.
Think about this. Avraham paused a rendezvous with G-d A-lmighty Himself to invite three men with the appearance of heathens into his home!
A careful examination of Avraham’s self description sheds light on this peculiar behavior.
Later on that day, he was notified that the cities of Sodom and Gemorra would be destroyed on account of the moral depravity of their inhabitants. Avraham argued with G-d to spare them, with a lengthy negotiation seeking to find some redeeming elements in the cities.
Avraham prefaced his argument by expressing his sense of humility by saying “I am merely dust and ashes”. The Talmud teaches that Avraham’s humility expressed in the word “ashes” was later embodied in the mitzvah of the Red Heifer.
During the glorious era of the Holy Temple, only one who was ritually pure was allowed to enter the hallowed building. There are many laws regarding the state ritual purity necessary for entering the Temple and we will focus on one of them.
Contact with a corpse caused one to become ritually impure. After immersing in a mikvah (ritual bath) one needed to be sprinkled with spring water mixed with ashes of the Red Heifer - a perfectly red cow that was slaughtered and burned in very specific manner. This process of preparing the Red Heifer was observed only nine times in history.
Interestingly, all of the Kohanim involved in preparing the ashes of the Red Heifer were rendered ritually impure - and thus barred from entering the Holy Temple for a day. They were expected to forgo their own spiritual elevation and experiences to enable others to achieve ritual purification and the ability to enter the Holy Temple.
The ability to be so selfless as to help others while personally losing out is our heritage from Avraham. His kindness did not stem from a feeling of superiority and the ability to share, rather from an utter humility asserting that everyone else deserved more than him. It was only natural for him to pause such a divine revelation to lend a helping hand even to the dregs of society.
Avraham teaches us that the Jewish ethic of giving is not only when it is convenient but specifically when it demands much sacrifice on multiple levels.