וַיִּשָּׂ֤א עֵינָיו֙ וַיַּ֔רְא וְהִנֵּה֙ שְׁלֹשָׁ֣ה אֲנָשִׁ֔ים נִצָּבִ֖ים עָלָ֑יו וַיַּ֗רְא וַיָּ֤רָץ לִקְרָאתָם֙ מִפֶּ֣תַח הָאֹ֔הֶל וַיִּשְׁתַּ֖חוּ אָֽרְצָה׃
Y alzó sus ojos y miró, y he aquí tres varones que estaban junto á él: y cuando los vió, salió corriendo de la puerta de su tienda á recibirlos, é inclinóse hacia la tierra,
Kedushat Levi
Genesis 18,2. “when he looked out, here three men were standing practically on top of him.” The Zohar I, 98, identifies these three “men” as “Avraham, Yitzchok, and Yaakov.” Clearly, we must try and understand what the Zohar meant by this, since the same “Avraham” is reported in the very same verse as running to meet these three “men”.
We have explained earlier that normally Avraham served the Lord from feelings of love, whereas in submitting to the circumcision, he had switched to serving G’d from feelings of יראה, awe, i.e. by totally negating the interests of his earthbound personality. By destroying his foreskin, a symbol of limitations and hindrance to spiritual development, known generally as קליפה, “husk,” in kabbalistic parlance, (compare writings of Ari z’al) he had attained a new and higher level of spirituality. He had now mastered both the ability to serve the Lord on two levels, אהבה (attribute of חסד) and יראה, attribute of גבורה). The latter attribute is the one that his son Yitzchok would symbolize for us in the future.
It is part of our tradition that whenever the attributes of אהבה and יראה, i.e. אש, and מים, “fire and water,” in terms of our terrestrial part of the universe, are present simultaneously, due to the fact that these two attributes are opposites of one another, we require the presence of a third attribute one that harmonizes between these two opposite attributes. This third attribute is known as תפארת, harmony; the third of our patriarchs, Yaakov, is perceived by our sages as having characterized the attribute “harmony.” It follows that at the time of Avraham’s circumcision this third attribute had been present also, i.e. it had a part to play in the performance of that commandment. When the Torah speaks of what Avraham “saw,” it referred to Avraham’s having become aware at that moment that these three attributes, all of which can be part of מצוה performance, had had a part in his having circumcised himself at the command of G’d. The word: נצבים, describes the “presence” of all these three attributes during Avraham’s recovery from the physical effects of the circumcision.
We have explained earlier that normally Avraham served the Lord from feelings of love, whereas in submitting to the circumcision, he had switched to serving G’d from feelings of יראה, awe, i.e. by totally negating the interests of his earthbound personality. By destroying his foreskin, a symbol of limitations and hindrance to spiritual development, known generally as קליפה, “husk,” in kabbalistic parlance, (compare writings of Ari z’al) he had attained a new and higher level of spirituality. He had now mastered both the ability to serve the Lord on two levels, אהבה (attribute of חסד) and יראה, attribute of גבורה). The latter attribute is the one that his son Yitzchok would symbolize for us in the future.
It is part of our tradition that whenever the attributes of אהבה and יראה, i.e. אש, and מים, “fire and water,” in terms of our terrestrial part of the universe, are present simultaneously, due to the fact that these two attributes are opposites of one another, we require the presence of a third attribute one that harmonizes between these two opposite attributes. This third attribute is known as תפארת, harmony; the third of our patriarchs, Yaakov, is perceived by our sages as having characterized the attribute “harmony.” It follows that at the time of Avraham’s circumcision this third attribute had been present also, i.e. it had a part to play in the performance of that commandment. When the Torah speaks of what Avraham “saw,” it referred to Avraham’s having become aware at that moment that these three attributes, all of which can be part of מצוה performance, had had a part in his having circumcised himself at the command of G’d. The word: נצבים, describes the “presence” of all these three attributes during Avraham’s recovery from the physical effects of the circumcision.
Noam Elimelekh
"And he saw, and behold, three men are standing over him" (Genesis 18:2) - this is a hint: Avraham saw that it was on him to fix three worlds, that is, love, awe and balance (tif'eret). The tzadik needs to fix six corners, which are six days of the week, and they are three and three, that is three before Shabbat and three after Shabbat. And therefore the text seized on the language "three men", and this includes all of the six corners, those before with those after Shabbat. And this is what we say "and unify our hearts to love and to hold in awe" that even, truly, a person needs to set awe before love, however we pray for the awe that comes from within the love, that is,three days that are after Shabbat they are love, because they belong to the Shabbat that passed, and the three days that are before Shabbat they are awe, since from inside them one comes to the love that is Shabbat, and it is because of this that we pray "to love and to hold in awe", as the order of the regular days, that begin in love and end in awe, in order to fix the six corners.
Noam Elimelekh
"And he saw and he ran towards them etc" (Genesis 18:2) - the explanation is that, after fixing the three worlds as explained above, through that the Flow came to this world, and the essence needs to be the arousing of below, and this is "he saw, and he ran towards them" - that is, with alacrity, that this is the essence, as the tanna said "alacrity brings one to clealiness, etc" (Mishnah Sotah 9:15). "Towards them", that is to say, towards the worlds to fix them, that is the arousal from below. "And he bowed down to earth" that the bowing down is to continue the flow to the world below, and this is "he bowed down to the earth", meaning, that he continued the Flows downward.