"Alas, to what cruel slander has Judaism, the heritage of the Abrahamites, along with its bearers, the Jews, been subjected through the ages! The "circumcised race" has been accused of regarding itself as the sole chosen people of God. We are told that the sign [of the covenant] which sets the Jews apart from all the others must of necessity rob them of all cosmopolitanism, of all thought and feeling for their fellow men, turning the God of heaven and earth, the God of all human souls, into the narrow, parochial deity of their own particular spot on earth, the national god of their own tribe.
"And now we are shown the first circumcised Jew. He is seated "in the grove of Mamre...." He is still with Abner, Eshkol, and Mamre..." Though Abraham had been circumcised, his relationship with the non-Abrahamite world had remained unchanged. These much-maligned rabbis of old, those most authentic spiritual heirs of Abraham, teach us that the one great concern which motivated Abraham to sit before his door, directly exposed to the burning sun, was the apprehension lest now, following his circumcision, other men might avoid him. Our Sages have pointed this out in order to impress upon the sons of Abraham, through Abraham's own example, the dictum that hospitality to wanderers is regarded as more praiseworthy than standing before the countenance of God. This is true even in the case of wanderers such as those whom Abraham might expect to receive as his guests: uncircumcised idolaters (for what other people could Abraham have expected to see at this point?). And so we are shown Abraham hurrying away from God's presence in order that he may practice with those wanderers the precept of brotherly love."
Rav Samson Raphael Hirsch on Bereshis 18:1, parshas Vayera
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