The World's First Spiritual Retreat

Avraham’s Eishel and the Birthplace of Hitbodedut

After Avraham Avinu's covenant with Avimelech, the Torah records something unexpected (Bereshit 21:33): וַיִּטַּע אֶשֶׁל בִּבְאֵר שָׁבַע וַיִּקְרָא־שָׁם בְּשֵׁם יְיָ קֵל עוֹלָם (And he planted an eishel in Be'er Sheva, and he called there on the Name of Hashem, the Eternal G-d). This seems like a rather strange bit of irrelevancy. What is so important about this act that the Torah preserved it? And what does planting an eishel have to do with calling on – or proclaiming – the Name of Hashem? He couldn't call on or proclaim the Name of Hashem somewhere else? He had to do it davka where he planted an eishel?

What exactly was the eishel that Avraham planted? The Gemara describes two approaches to understand what it was (Sotah 10a): רַבִּי יְהוּדָה וְרַבִּי נְחֶמְיָה, חַד אָמַר: פַּרְדֵּס, וְחַד אָמַר: פּוּנְדָּק (R' Yehudah and R' Nechemyah – one said [it was] an orchard [pardes], and the other said [it was] a guesthouse [pundak]). Rashi, basing his understanding on the Midrash in Bereshit Rabbah 54:6, integrates these two approaches in writing: לְהָבִיא מִמֶּנוּ פֵּרוֹת לָאוֹרְחִים בַּסְּעוּדָה (to bring from [the orchard] fruits for the guests at the meal). Our Sages are not arguing but revealing two dimensions of one reality. Therefore, the eishel was a resort – a desert retreat far away from the hustle and bustle of life, where people could relax.

But the eishel's focus was not on physical relaxation per se. Rashi preserves a beautiful midrash on the word אֶשֶׁל [eishel] which describes why Avraham planted the eishel (Sotah 10a, Dibbur ha-Matkil Pundak): ולשון אש"ל נוטריקון הוא אכילה שתיה לויה שהיה מאכילן ומשקן ואח"כ מלווה אותן (And the term eishel is an acronym for eating [achilah], drinking [shetiyah], and accompanying [leviyah], for he would feed them and give them drink, and afterward accompany them [on their way]). It was through these actions that the Name of Hashem was able to be called upon – or proclaimed – as the Eternal G-d – specifically, by Avraham teaching people to bless Hashem for His bounty, for His goodness.

What was Avraham really trying to do? The Pardes Yosef on Bereshit 21:33 reveals a deeper secret: והגר"א מווילנא אמר דכוונת א"א היה בזה לתקן מה שעוותו הראשונים אדה"ר באכילה. נח בשתיה אנשי סדום בלויה (And the Gra from Vilna said that Avraham Avinu's intention in this was to rectify what the early ones had corrupted: Adam ha-Rishon through achilah, Noach through shetiyah and the men of S'dom through leviyah).

Let's begin with the rectification of the sin of Adam ha-Rishon. Although Hashem commanded Adam not to eat from the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil (Bereshit 2:17), he ate of it anyway (Bereshit 3:6). At its core, achilah is internalizing what is external. It is impossible to live without taking something that is external and making it part of ourselves. If we internalize the word of Hashem, we perfect ourselves and won't seek to internalize what is foreign – whether they be ideas or food. On the other hand, if we don't internalize the word of Hashem, we will internalize something else – in this case, the word of the Nachash – which corresponds to eating that which is forbidden. This is why it is written in the Torah (Devarim 8:3): כִּי לֹא עַל־הַלֶּחֶם לְבַדּוֹ יִחְיֶה הָאָדָם כִּי עַל־כׇּל־מוֹצָא פִי־יְיָ יִחְיֶה הָאָדָם (For the man will not live on the bread alone, but on everything that comes out from the mouth of Hashem the man will live). We see, therefore, that eating is the physical counterpart of listening to or hearing the word of Hashem.

By teaching his guests to bless Hashem for the food and drink that they consumed, Avraham was reversing the sin of Adam ha-Rishon and restoring hearing to its proper place. He transformed achilah back into receiving the Divine word. In short, he taught people to receive with obedience and gratitude.

What about Noach? Although the Torah tells us little about his life after the flood, it records one striking story that begins (Bereshit 9:20): וַיִּטַּע כָּרֶם (And he planted a vineyard). Immediately afterward we read (Bereshit 9:21): וַיֵּשְׁתְּ מִן־הַיַּיִן וַיִּשְׁכָּר וַיִּתְגַּל בְּתוֹךְ אׇהֳלֹה (And he drank from the wine, and he got drunk, and he became exposed in his tent).

Getting drunk wasn't an accident; it was his plan. Confronted with the devastation of a ruined world, Noach should have poured out his heart to Hashem in prayer. Instead, he chose to escape – to numb the pain. Just as Adam exchanged one kind of achilah for another, Noach exchanged one kind of shetiyah for another – instead of pouring out his heart in tefillah, he poured out his da'at. He exchanged mindful prayer for witless despair.

To understand this, we need to look more deeply at what shetiyah means and what distinguishes it from achilah. Whereas food cannot be poured, liquid can – and the Torah compares pouring to speaking (Eichah 2:19): שִׁפְכִי כַמַּיִם לִבֵּךְ נֹכַח פְּנֵי אֲדֹנָ‑י (Pour out, like water, your heart facing the presence of Adon-ai). David ha-Melech echoes this (Tehillim 142:3): אֶשְׁפֹּךְ לְפָנָיו שִׂיחִי צָרָתִי לְפָנָיו אַגִּיד (I will pour out my conversation before Him, I will relate my troubles before Him). Achilah is the act of receiving from Hashem; shetiyah is the act of speaking to Him.

Noach's p'gam was therefore not only in speech, but in da'at itself – for speech is the outward expression of da'at. The man who once 'walked with G-d' (Bereshit 6:9), whose consciousness had once made communication with Hashem possible, now lay mute and exposed in a drunken stupor. Having poured out his da'at, he could no longer pour out his heart. As Chazal teach, one who is drunk may not pray (Shulchan Aruch, O.C. 99). Intoxication clouds the very faculty that makes tefillah possible.

Yet, as with achilah, there are two sides to shetiyah – one holy, one corrupted. Noach's shetiyah led to self-oblivion; Avraham's shetiyah taught the world how to sanctify the same act. Noach planted a vineyard and poured out his da'at; Avraham planted an eishel and poured out tefillah.

Now we come to the men of S'dom, whose sin was the withholding of hospitality. But it wasn't just a lack of kindness – as the Gemara and the Midrash explain, the men of S'dom not only withheld hospitality, they outlawed it entirely. They severed the continuity of relationship – the very act of leviyah – the sacred practice of accompanying a guest beyond one's home and maintaining a connection afterward. True hospitality, then, isn't only about feeding a guest; it's about walking with him, continuing the relationship, and sharing in his spiritual journey.

In summary, Adam broke listening, Noach broke speaking, and the men of S'dom broke relationships – which just about includes everything! And Avraham Avinu came along and planted an eishel to begin the rectification of it all.

All this reveals what the eishel truly was. Yes, it was a retreat – a spiritual retreat – a place to learn about Hashem – but it was much more than that. When you bring all of these ideas together, it becomes clear that the eishel was a place where Avraham taught others how to do hitbodedut. The Rashbam – Rashi's grandson and talmid – spells it out explicitly: פרדס היה להתפלל שם (It was an orchard to pray there).

Avraham built the guesthouse – the pundak – gave his guests food and drink, and proclaimed the Name of Hashem – and then accompanied them outside and showed them the beautiful orchard that he had planted so that they could also learn to call on the Name of Hashem. And now the words of David ha-Melech that we quoted from above ring even clearer – אֶשְׁפֹּךְ לְפָנָיו שִׂיחִי – 'I shall pour out my conversation before Him' – the rashei teivot spell out אֶשֶׁל, the very spiritual retreat that Avraham Avinu built.

From where did Avraham acquire this knowledge – the understanding and strength to plant the eishel and spread this tikkun throughout the world? He was only able to do all of this because he himself was the Master of Hitbodedut. And this is what R' Nachman comes to teach in Likutei Moharan II:25 – that hitbodedut is the internal engine that can elevate someone to true spiritual greatness: הַהִתְבּוֹדְדוּת הוּא מַעֲלָה עֶלְיוֹנָה וּגְדוֹלָה מִן הַכֹּל, דְּהַיְנוּ לִקְבֹּעַ לוֹ עַל־כָּל־פָּנִים שָׁעָה אוֹ יוֹתֵר לְהִתְבּוֹדֵד לְבַדּוֹ בְּאֵיזֶה חֶדֶר אוֹ בַּשָּׂדֶה, וּלְפָרֵשׁ שִׂיחָתוֹ בֵּינוֹ לְבֵין קוֹנוֹ בִּטְעָנוֹת וַאֲמַתְלָאוֹת, בְּדִבְרֵי חֵן וְרִצּוּי וּפִיּוּס, לְבַקֵּשׁ וּלְהִתְחַנֵּן מִלְּפָנָיו יִתְבָּרַךְ, שֶׁיְּקָרְבוֹ אֵלָיו לַעֲבוֹדָתוֹ בֶּאֱמֶת (Hitbodedut is the highest level and greater than everything, i.e., to fix for himself, at the very least an hour or more, to seclude himself in some room or in the field, and to express in detail his personal talk between himself and his Creator, with reasons and explanations, with words of grace, appeasement, and conciliation, to plead and to supplicate before Him, may He be blessed, that he would draw near to Him and to His service in truth).

Hitbodedut isn't tefillah in the usual sense. Rather, it's a full-spectrum conversation that moves through listening, reasoning, self-examination, and reconciliation – all with the intent to develop a living relationship with קֵל עוֹלָם – the Eternal G-d.

If you haven't spend time at Avraham's eishel lately, maybe it's time to pay a visit.