"The man [who lived in Chevron] was the greatest of the giants" (Yehoshua 14:15) -- This refers to our forefather Avraham, whose height was equal to that of seventy-four men. The amount of food and drink he consumed was enough for seventy-four men, and he had the strength of that many men as well.

(Concluding Beraita of Masechet Sofrim)

The Torah tells us in this week's Parasha:

Moshe, Aharon, Nadav, Avihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel climbed [Mount Sinai]... . They gazed at Hashem and they ate and they drank. [They saw the Divine Glory, and when He accepted the offerings they brought to Him, they were as happy as if they had been eating and drinking.]

(Shmot 24:9-11, according to Targum Onkeles)

They were nourished from the Divine Presence, just as the angels.

(Avot d'Rabbi Natan, 1:8)

In the world to come there is no eating, and no drinking, no childbearing and no work, no jealousy, no hatred and no competition. Rather, the righteous sit with their crowns on their heads and enjoy the Glory of the Divine Presence, as it is stated, "They gazed at Hashem and they ate and they drank."

(Berachot 17a)

Not only Moshe, but the entire Jewish nation once shared in such a Divine experience. For forty years, the Jews subsisted on heavenly Manna, which Hashem showered on the Jewish encampment in the desert (Shmot 16:35). What was this mysterious Manna, that had such amazing nutritional qualities? Rebbi Akiva tells us in the Gemara, "It was the bread upon which the angels subsist" (Yoma 75b). Rebbi Yishmael, though, found Rebbi Akiva's suggestion ridiculous. "Go and tell Rebbi Akiva that he is making a mistake. Do angels eat bread? Even when *Moshe*, a human being, was in heaven, he did not eat or drink!" What indeed did Rebbi Akiva mean? Rebbi Akiva must have been referring to the phenomenon we have mentioned above. The "bread" of the angels is the Glory of the Divine Presence, upon which they subsist. The Manna that the Jews ate had in it that quality. According to Rebbi Akiva, for forty years the Jews drew their physical sustenance from the Glory of the Divine Presence! (See Keli Yekar, Shmot 16:4.)

This meal, too, that Moshe, Aharon and those who accompanied them experienced, was not a physical cuisine. It was none other than the spiritual dining of the angels in heaven, and of the righteous in the World to Come. How many people partook of this "meal?" The seventy elders, Moshe and Aharon, Nadav and Avihu, or a total of *seventy-four* people. The meal that Avraham "fed" the angels, suggests the Vilna Gaon, consisted of the same Glory of the Divine Presence of which these seventy four men "partook." This is why his divine visitors were able to "eat" with him. Although it looked as though they were eating the physical food, the angels were actually "eating" spiritual, other-worldly food. This is why the Torah refers to what the angels did as "eating."

This is what Masechet Sofrim meant to say. The food and drink which Avraham served the angels was the same food and drink that is referred to in the story of the seventy-four people who climbed Mount Sinai! (Vilna Gaon, quoted in Kol Eliyahu #239, and in Midrash Peliah, Warsaw 1910, #17)

We may add, how did it come about that the angels found their spiritual food in Avraham's house?

Rashi (Bereishit 18:3) tells us that the Divine Presence did not depart from Avraham's tent while he was serving his three guests. If so, we can understand how the guests, who were actually angels, enjoyed the Glory of the Divine Presence while eating with Avraham. Hashem's Presence was right there with them, waiting for Avraham to finish entertaining his guests! In fact, this may be what the verse itself is describing when it tells us, "And he [= Avraham] stood by them under the tree, and they ate." The Midrash tells us that Hashem appeared to Avraham in a *tree* (see Shemot 3:4). Perhaps, then, the verse can be read, "And He [= Hashem] stood by them under the tree, and [because of that] they ate [= the angels "dined" from the Glory of His Divine Presence]!"

The Rambam describes the eternal bliss of the righteous in the World to Come.

Our Sages said (in Gemara Berachot 17a, quoted above), "In the world to come there is no eating, and no drinking... rather, the righteous sit with their crowns on their heads and enjoy the Glory of the Divine Presence."

"With their *crowns* on their *heads*" -- Their knowledge and understanding of the ways of Hashem, which brought them to merit a share in the World to Come, is with them. This is what the Gemara refers to as "their crowns," and King Solomon refers to as "the crown with which his mother crowned him (Shir HaShirim 3:11)." What knowledge and understanding [are we referring to]? "They enjoy the Divine Presence" -- they know and understand the truth of G-d, to an extent that would be impossible while they existed in a dusky and lowly physical body.

(Rambam, Hilchot Teshuvah 8:2)

In fact, the very verse that the Rambam quotes about the crown of King Solomon, is taken by our Sages to refer to the time Hashem gave us the Torah. "Go out and see, daughters of Zion [= nations of the world], the King Shlomo [= Hashem] adorned by the crown with which His mother [= the Jewish nation] crowned Him on his wedding day [= the day He gave the Torah to Israel, on Mount Sinai]..." (Mishna, Ta'anit 26b). Hashem was adorned by the Jews' newly achieved heights in the appreciation of His Divine Glory. In this manner, the seventy-four people partook of the "meal" of the righteous in the World to Come.

The same applies for those who ate the Manna. They saw with their own eyes that Hashem miraculously provided them with all their needs while they wandered helplessly in the desert. This brought them to a greater appreciation of Hashem's unlimited power. It was on this "Divine "meal" that they subsisted.

Before Avraham had a Brit Milah, he was still a prophet. However, Avraham couldn't appreciate the full extent of Hashem's Presence until after he was circumcised (Rashi, Bereishit 17:3). The first time that Hashem appeared to Avraham after his circumcision was when the angels came to visit him (Bereishit 18:1). It was specifically at this point in his life, that the Masechet Sofrim reveals to us Avraham's greatness. Avraham now had achieved his greatest spiritual heights.

In what way was Avraham as "strong" as the seventy-four men? Rashi tells us that although the seventy-four men all "saw the Divine Glory," not all of them reacted to it properly. Moshe and Aharon acted with respect, but the others did not conduct themselves in a fitting manner. Their physical desires influenced their behavior (see Parasha-Page, Shemini 5754). Avraham, however, was as holy as the greatest of the seventy-four people. His spiritual base was strong enough to be able to experience such a Divine revelation, and come away unscathed!

Perhaps through what Rashi tells us in the beginning of Yitro (18:12), "Whoever partakes of a meal at which Talmidei Chachamim are sitting, is as if he has enjoyed the divine glory [Ziv Hashechina]". Since this was Avraham's meal, the angels were able to do just that. That is why Mesechet Sofrim hints that *all* of Avraham's meals were like the meal of the seventy-four men.