Abraham's Table and the Gifts of the Wilderness

Let a person guard these matters in his heart: that he not eat at the same table with the unlearned, and not increase his meals with them in any place, because the unlearned are lax about tithes and are suspected concerning the produce of the Sabbatical year. And the verse says (Jeremiah 23:28): "What has the straw to do with the grain?" And so David said (Psalms 26:4-5, 8-9): "I have not sat with worthless men, nor will I go in with hidden ones... the LORD, I love the dwelling of Your house... gather not my soul with sinners." And the Sages said: Every bird dwells with its own kind, and a person with one like himself. From here the Sages said: Let a person increase his meals with Torah scholars and not increase his meals with the unlearned, for after a while the unlearned one will speak slander about him. And let him learn from Abraham our father, who made a meal for the angels and they benefited from it, as it is said (Genesis 18:3, 8): "And he said, My lords... do not, I pray, pass away from your servant... and he took curds and milk and the calf which he had prepared and set it before them... and they ate." From here they said: Let a person first take permission and afterward run after the Torah scholars who come to him and do their will. Therefore it is said, "And he said, My lords, do not, I pray, pass away." And whoever says that the ministering angels did not eat with Abraham our father has said nothing; rather, by the merit of that righteous one and as a reward for the trouble he took on their behalf, the Holy One, blessed be He, opened their mouths and they ate. Therefore it is said, "And he stood over them under the tree, and they ate." Blessed is the Omnipresent, blessed is He, who pays a good reward to those who fear Him in this world and in the world to come, for such is the way of acts of lovingkindness: a person eats their fruits in this world and the principal remains for him in the world to come. For as a reward for the pitcher of water with which the ministering angels washed their feet, the Holy One, blessed be He, gave Israel the well for forty years in the wilderness. How so? When Israel were doing the will of the Omnipresent, the well would hasten and rise early and go and well up in its place, in the place where Israel were dwelling; and when they were not doing the will of the Omnipresent, the well would delay an hour, two, three, four, five, until the young children and the Torah scholars would go out and say, "Rise up, O well, by the merit of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; rise up, O well, by the merit of Moses and Aaron and Miriam," and afterward the well would well up and go between the tribe of Judah and the tribe of Issachar, as it is said (Numbers 21:17): "Then Israel sang this song: Rise up, O well, sing to it." At that hour there was great joy for Israel, from their great to their small. And as a reward for the shade of the tree under which Abraham our father seated the ministering angels, the Holy One, blessed be He, surrounded Israel with the seven clouds of glory to sit beneath them in the wilderness for forty years. And as a reward for the loaf of bread with which Abraham our father fed the ministering angels, the Holy One, blessed be He, gave Israel the manna in the wilderness for forty years. Blessed is the Omnipresent, blessed is He, before whom there is no favoritism: just as Abraham our father made for the ministering angels bread and meat and curds and milk, so was the manna — anyone who wished to taste in it the taste of bread tasted bread; the taste of meat tasted meat; the taste of honey tasted honey; the taste of curds and milk tasted them, as it is said (Numbers 11:8): "The people roamed and gathered it... and its taste was like the taste of cakes baked in oil." And as a reward for that calf which Abraham our father fed the ministering angels, the Holy One, blessed be He, gave Israel the quail in the wilderness twice: once before the giving of the Torah and once after the giving of the Torah. The quail was a great thing for Israel, for whose sake the Holy One, blessed be He, brought the thing about through him. And as a reward that Abraham our father accompanied the ministering angels, the Holy One, blessed be He, accompanied his children in the wilderness for forty years, as it is said (Exodus 13:21): "And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them on the way." Were this great thing not written, it would be impossible to say it — as it were, like a father before his son, like a master who took a lantern before his servant, like a mother to an infant, as it is said (Numbers 11:12): "And Moses said to the LORD... that You should say to me, Carry it in your bosom, as a nurse carries the suckling." We learned from Gideon, who made bread for the angel and the angel did not benefit from it, as it is said (Judges 6:19-21): "And Gideon came and prepared a kid of the goats and an ephah of unleavened cakes... and the angel of the LORD put forth the end of the staff that was in his hand and touched the meat and the unleavened cakes, and fire went up from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened cakes." We learned from Manoah, who made bread for the angel and the angel did not benefit from it, as it is said (Judges 13:16): "And the angel of the LORD said to Manoah, If you detain me, I will not eat of your bread." Come and see how great is both the punishment and the merit of bread: it kills the great ones of Israel and it causes the Divine Presence to rest upon false prophets. And from where do we know that it kills the great ones of Israel? Go out and learn from the place of Nob, the city of priests, and Ahimelech son of Ahitub and Saul, who were greatly punished on account of David. And from where do we know that it causes the Divine Presence to rest upon false prophets? Go out and learn from that prophet who came to Jeroboam king of Israel, to whom the Holy One, blessed be He, had said, Do not benefit in this place, and if you benefit you will die. A false prophet came to him and said, I too am a prophet like you; although he lied to him, the holy spirit rested upon the false prophet on account of the bread he gave to wayfarers, as it is said (1 Kings 13:20): "And it came to pass as they sat at the table, that the word of the LORD came to the prophet who had brought him back." From here they said: Whoever eats bread at the table with the unlearned and increases his meals with him, his words are not heeded, and in the end strife comes about through him, as it is said (Isaiah 9:20): "Manasseh devours Ephraim, and Ephraim Manasseh, and together they are against Judah." From this you have learned that whoever eats bread with the unlearned at the table, it is as if he served idols; and if he is a Torah scholar, he debases his Torah and profanes the Name of his Father in heaven and widows his wife and orphans his children and does not fill out his days, and ties an evil name to himself and to his children and to his children's children until the end of all generations.