Shabbat Shalom! This week’s torah portion is Va-yera. Which means God appeared. The parasha discusses many issues. It starts with Avraham hospitably receiving strangers into his tents, who tell him that he and Sarah will have a son in their old age. It then continues to talk about Sdom and Gomorrah, and Avraham pleading with God not to destroy the cities and their inhabitants. Then the parasha talks about Lot, and his family, and the strangers that visit Sdom, and how Lot welcomes them. How Lot and his family flee from Sdom, because God wants to destroy the city. And how Lot’s wife is turned to salt because she disobeyed God by looking back on the burning Sdom. Then there is the incident with King Avimelach marrying Sarah, because Avraham tells him that she is his sister. Once God intervenes and has it all sorted, Sarah gives birth to Isaac. Then the expulsion of Hagar and Abraham’s other son, Ishmael. Later on, Ishmael became the founder of the Ishmaelits. Once Hagar and Ishmael leave, Avraham has an agreement with Avimelach to reside in the area known as Bershevah, where he digs a well, and plants a tamarisk tree. Finally, the parasha ends with the AKEDA, binding of Isaac. It’s breathtaking just listing the subjects in Va-yera.
I want to focus on Sdom’s and Gomorrah’s destruction.
When I first read this part of Vayera, many questions arose. Some of the first were, did God save Lot because Lot hospitably received the strangers, and treated them with honor? Or was it because Lot was just the only honest person in the whole town? This question brought up many more questions to mind. For instance, how could Lot be the only “good” person in this town? I mean who were his friends? If Lot had no friends, and the city was as horrible as it sounds, wouldn’t he just move to a different city? Also, presumably two of his daughters were married. Didn’t the husbands have to be acceptable in Lot’s eyes? So really, there had to be some other people who were righteous.
To relate this topic to the present day; the war in Iraq comes to mind. Many think that a large portion of the Iraqi population are bad people, but are they? Going back to Sdom…. this might have been the situation. Were all the people there very very horrible, or could it have been that, it was only a small portion of the population?
I want to ask you now to please turn to page 102 in our chumashim. Chapter 18 verse 20 and 21.
“ (room for Hebrew text) “ In English it is translated to “.. then the lord said ”Thy outrage of Sdom and Gomorrah is so great, and their sin so grave! I will go down to see whether they have acted all together according to the outcry that has reached me; if not I will take note.”
Nehama Leibowitz starts her section on this subject by saying that the word outcry (Hebrew) is a female word. The only previous noun in that verse relating to the feminine is the noun for cities referring to Sodom and Gomorrah (city is feminine). The simple or straightforward interpretation is such, but the Sages of the Midrash characterized the people of Sdom and the “outcry” differently.
“They issued a proclamation in Sdom, saying: Everyone who strengthens the hand of the poor and the needy with a loaf of bread shall be burnt by fire! Pelotit, the daughter of Lot, was wedded to one of the magnates of Sdom. She saw a certain very poor man in the street of the city and her soul was grieved on the account. What did she do? Everyday when she went out to draw water she put in her pitcher all kinds of provisions from her house and she sustained that poor man. The men of Sdom said: How does this poor man live? When they ascertained the facts they brought her forth to be burnt by fire she said: Sovereign of all worlds! Maintain my right and my cause at the hands of the men of Sdom! And her cry ascended before the thrown of glory. In that hour the holy one blessed be he said: “I will go down and see whether they have done all together according to her cry which is come onto me.” –And if the men of Sdom have done according to the cry of that young women, I will turn her foundation upwards and the surface downwards…. “
The wickedness of Sdom is that they made evil the accepted behavior of the society. The legalized evil behavior was the law of the land. Pelotit, daughter of Lot, was kind, generous, and companionate. Does this reflect upon the values that Lot taught her? Also, does this show he was a good father? Is this why he and his family were saved?
Another Midrash showing Sdoms evilness is the following:
“In Sdom, they had a bed on which wayfarers were made to lie on. If a wayfarer was too long for the bed, they cut him down to fit it. If he was too short, they stretched his limbs until he filled it. When Eliezer, Avraham's servant, came to Sdom and was told, “Come on up and lie down on this bed”, he replied, “Since the day my mother died, I vowed never to lie down on a bed”.
Going back to my first question, Did God save Lot because Lot hospitably received the strangers, and treated them with honor? In chapter 19 verses 1-3, Lot treats the strangers with so much honor, that he tells them to sleep in his house instead of in the square. Lot may have said that because he knew that if the strangers slept in the square, they may have been hurt or even killed. The stories I just shared with you emphasized the dangers in the city and indicate that there were no virtuous-good people in the cities of Sdom and Gomorrah. What about the destruction of the poor animals and the vegetation of these cities? What about the babies and young children? Why were they considered evil? Why didn’t Avraham plead for them? Why did God destroy everything?
If we “jump” to Deuteronomy, and we look at the laws of warfare, as described in Chapter 20, Am Israel is ordered to destroy the idol worshippers in the land of Israel. Chapter 20 verse 18 page 1104 states, “Lest they lead you into doing all the abhorrent things that they have done for their gods and you stand guilty before the Lord your God.” What I understand from this is that in Biblical times idol worshipping peoples were considered a terrible, terrible threat to Am Yisrael. I wonder how this law would be interpreted today? Would any among us be brave and humble enough to argue with God?
The next verse in Deuteronomy 20:19 is the basis for the moral concept of “Ball Taschit” Do not destroy. In this verse, it refers to fruit trees. But the larger concept of “Ball Taschit” was developed over many generations.
In Talmud Bavli Shabbat 105b, Rabbi Simeon compares terrible destruction with idolatry. It says, “Surely it was taught: Rabbi Simeon ben Eleazar said in the name of Halfa ben Agra in Rabbi Yohanan ben Nuri’s name: Whoever tears garments in anger, breaks, vessels in anger, and scatters money in anger, regard that person as an idolater, because such are the wiles of the Tempter.”
The terrible destruction of Sdom and Gomorrah remind us of God’s awesome power and leads us to think seriously about our own destructive behaviors and actions.
Shabbat Shalom