Dvar Torah based on Growth Through Torah by Rabbi Zelig Pliskin

Avraham invites three visitors to stay for a meal with the words:

“I will fetch a morsel of bread that you may sustain yourselves, then go on.”

Yet, Avraham does not give them just a crust of bread, he serves them a lavish multi-course feast. Why does Avraham use such a humble invitation? Wouldn’t a more descriptive invitation have been more enticing?

In the Talmud (Bava Metzia 87a) the Sages derive from here the principle that the righteous say little and do much. The wicked, however, say much and do little (as we see next week with Efron’s false assurances to Avraham when Avraham wants to bury his wife, Sarah).Rabbi Yeruchem Levovitz, of the Mir Yeshiva, comments that talking about what you plan to do is negative. It is superfluous and often counterproductive. Talking is easier than doing. It creates expectations. And then, even with the greatest of intent, things happen which prevent doing. There is pleasure in talking about the good you intend to do, but it is a cheap way of getting honour and approval. Talking changes the focus from doing good for its own sake to doing good for the sake of approval – and there are those who make grandiose promises and then they forget… causing great heartache and pain.