שִׁ֤יתוּ לִבְּכֶ֨ם ׀ לְֽחֵילָ֗ה פַּסְּג֥וּ אַרְמְנוֹתֶ֑יהָ לְמַ֥עַן תְּ֝סַפְּר֗וּ לְד֣וֹר אַחֲרֽוֹן׃
Fixez votre attention sur ses remparts, admirez ses palais, pour que vous puissiez raconter aux générations futures
Rabbeinu Bahya
וסעדו לבכם, “refresh your hearts.” These words are clear proof that Avraham had realised already that the men he was facing were angels though they appeared to him in the guise of ordinary mortals. This is why he spoke of לבכם when he referred to their heart. Had they been human beings Avraham should have said לבבכם, as the heart of a human being is called לבב as we know from Psalms 104,15 ולחם לבב אנוש יסעד, “and bread refreshes the heart of man.” Angels who do not have an evil urge (Megillah 14) have a heart which is simple, not exposed to contradictory demands by two urges, the good urge and the evil urge.
The absence of a letter such as this ב has often been the means by which we have learned a variety of lessons. For instance, in Exodus 31,17 the Torah writes כי ששת ימים עשה ה' את השמים ואת הארץ “for on six days G’d completed the making of heaven and earth.” According to correct grammar, the word ששת should have been preceded by the letter ב for this translation to be correct. The absence of that letter teaches that the maximum period of time which this universe is going to endure before undergoing a major transformation is six thousand years, seeing that in G’d’s calendar one thousand years in our time are only considered one day. (compare Bereshit Rabbah 19,14 based on Psalms 90,4 כי אלף שנים בעיניך כיום אתמול “for a thousand years in Your eyes are merely like yesterday.”) This is another example teaching you that not a single letter in the Torah- be it a letter too many or a letter too few- is without profound significance. Moses stressed this point when near the end of his life (Deut. 32,47) he said: כי לא דבר רק הוא מכם, “for not a single word is empty, (devoid of meaning) for you.” Our sages (Jerusalem Talmud Sheviit 1,5) interpret this line as follows: “if a word appears “empty,” the “emptiness” is due to you, i.e. מכם. We find another example of the importance of a single letter in Psalms 48,14 where the psalmist (one of the sons of Korach) writes שיתו לבכם לחילה, “take note of its ramparts;” the letter ב is missing in the word לבכם although it is clear that mortal human beings are being addressed here. The answer is that the psalmist speaks of a distant future when the people of whom he speaks will no longer be troubled by an evil urge. Our sages (Midrash Tehillim 48) were aware of this and pointed out that this is the reason the word חילה (read cheylah) is actually spelled as חולה (from מחול, dance, as well as חולה, sick) to hint at the dancing performed by the righteous (now sick, i.e. Avraham) in a perfect world of the future.
The absence of a letter such as this ב has often been the means by which we have learned a variety of lessons. For instance, in Exodus 31,17 the Torah writes כי ששת ימים עשה ה' את השמים ואת הארץ “for on six days G’d completed the making of heaven and earth.” According to correct grammar, the word ששת should have been preceded by the letter ב for this translation to be correct. The absence of that letter teaches that the maximum period of time which this universe is going to endure before undergoing a major transformation is six thousand years, seeing that in G’d’s calendar one thousand years in our time are only considered one day. (compare Bereshit Rabbah 19,14 based on Psalms 90,4 כי אלף שנים בעיניך כיום אתמול “for a thousand years in Your eyes are merely like yesterday.”) This is another example teaching you that not a single letter in the Torah- be it a letter too many or a letter too few- is without profound significance. Moses stressed this point when near the end of his life (Deut. 32,47) he said: כי לא דבר רק הוא מכם, “for not a single word is empty, (devoid of meaning) for you.” Our sages (Jerusalem Talmud Sheviit 1,5) interpret this line as follows: “if a word appears “empty,” the “emptiness” is due to you, i.e. מכם. We find another example of the importance of a single letter in Psalms 48,14 where the psalmist (one of the sons of Korach) writes שיתו לבכם לחילה, “take note of its ramparts;” the letter ב is missing in the word לבכם although it is clear that mortal human beings are being addressed here. The answer is that the psalmist speaks of a distant future when the people of whom he speaks will no longer be troubled by an evil urge. Our sages (Midrash Tehillim 48) were aware of this and pointed out that this is the reason the word חילה (read cheylah) is actually spelled as חולה (from מחול, dance, as well as חולה, sick) to hint at the dancing performed by the righteous (now sick, i.e. Avraham) in a perfect world of the future.
Rashi
and worship Him with a whole heart Heb. בְּלֵב שָׁלֵם. It is not stated בְּלֵבָב שָׁלֵם, which would mean two hearts, but בְּלֵב שָׁלֵם, that you shall have but one heart for our Father Who is in heaven. And so did the liturgical poet set down (in the Kedushah of Musaph of the first day of Rosh Hashanah): “You have two hearts like one for the One.” Similar to this, [we find in] (I Kings 8:61): “Let your heart [therefore] be whole (שָׁלֵם) with the Lord our God.” It is not written שְׁלֵמִים but שָׁלֵם: your two hearts will be one whole heart. And so it is explained (Gen. 18:5): “... and refresh your heart (לִבְּכֶם), afterwards you may pass on.” This teaches us that the angels have only one heart, and also in the future it will be so, as it is written: (Ps. 48:14): “Give heed (לִבְּכֶם lit., your heart) to its walls.”
Rashi
פסגה denotes “high”, just as (Psalms 48:14) פסגו ארמנותיה, which means “make high its palaces”.