Lesson Now and Then

We have just finished learning about the story of the destruction of Sedom. The reason we discussed in class for why Hashem destroyed Sedom was because they were not nice to the elderly, basically they lacked Tzedek Umishpat. I think it's interesting that the only cities we have seen so far have gotten destroyed. I think it's interesting that each time we hear about a city, it has to be destroyed for doing something wrong. This is the beginning still of the world. You would think that because everything is still pretty new that there would be a city to set an example of how you should be! In the very least at least one good city to go along with the bad cities. How are the people supposed to know the right thing to do if they do not have a substantial example. Yes, Avraham is going around, fulfilling his job of spreading ethical monotheism, but it just doesn't seem like enough. It just bothers me that Avraham is the only source of what's supposed to be in the world. I think if Hashem had wanted the world to be perfect He would have made a more prominent example. This is just my opinion on the whole thing.

On another note, I think it is important to recognize the tough times that keep occurring to Avraham. He looses his family, is kept in the dark about who will be his descendants, he has to convince Hashem not to destroy a city, and so much more. Through it all though, Avraham has stayed faithful to Hashem. Something that I think had to of been very hard for him and if not for him than it would have been hard for someone else. Hashem chose the right guy. Avraham has stayed 100% faithful to Hashem even though he had to deal with all of this. Finally after it all he has a child. His wife is old, he himself is old, but Hashem blesses them with a son. Not only a son, but the child that will be the descendant of Avraham. After this child though he has to kick out his other child and give his child a brit milah. Life is tough for Avraham. I think we should all learn from this that no matter what it all turns out good in the end. That Hashem puts hard times in our lives so we can learn from them and become stronger people. Without these hardships no one would know how to handle a bit of difficult-ness.

Lot's (Kind of) Tragic End

We all know the story of the beginning of Lot's life. He was the son of Avraham's brother, Haran, who died before their father, Terach. According to some commentaries, Haran died in the fiery pit. After his father's death, Lot moved to Charan with Avraham, Sarah, and Terach. Afterwards, he continued on into the land of Canaan with Avraham and Sarah. During the famine in Canaan, all three of them went to Egypt in search of food. Egypt was known as the epitome of corruption: they had no justice or tact or morals. Lot was influenced by their corrupting influence and decided to move away from Avraham after their fight over sheep. Lot chose to move to Sedom, a place (like Egypt) known for a lack of morals and ethics. The next we hear of him, he has been captured by the four kings and Avraham has to step in and rescue him. (Afterwards, Avraham was rewarded for his efforts and was later known as a skilled war general and strategist.) Finally, we hear the story of Lot in Sedom.

Both interpretations of the story of Sedom, from both Rashi and Ramban, can give us insight into Lot's identity and qualities. As we see from his actions, Lot did actually learn a few things about how to treat people from Avraham. He went out of his way to host the two angel men and keep them safe from the mob. According to Ramban, he risked his own safety to try and teach the mob a lesson: the way that they were treating the visitors and each other is not acceptable and they need to be alerted to the fact that this is in no way okay. When the mob refused to listen, Lot is pulled inside by the angel men and flees the city with his wife and his two youngest daughters. After they flee into the mountains, Lot's daughters take it upon themselves to repopulate the world through their father. Both girls become pregnant and their children become nations who have opposed Bnei Yisrael all throughout history. Why is this ironic?

Lot was Avraham's nephew. For quite some time, Avraham thought that Lot would be his "descendant". He honestly thought that Lot would be the one to continue his line and build a nation known for justice and righteousness. What happened to Lot? He was influenced by the ways of Egypt and Sedom. Even so, he never forgot the way in which Avraham raised him. He treated other people correctly, but he failed to apply that to every aspect of his life. He did not rise up and excel in justice and righteousness despite his surroundings. He did not choose to live in a land where the people were known for their righteousness. In the end, he wound up having children with his own daughters. What does that say about his morality? Clearly, it was at a very low level. If that is the case, then how can anyone expect this person to be the next generation in a nation known for their morality, justice, and righteousness?

Rising Over Our Surroundings

After Sarah was taken by Paroah (the first time) in Egypt, Lot and Avraham lived there for a short period of time. Egypt was known at the time for its immoral and unethical people. During the time they spent there, Lot became influenced by the people. After leaving Egypt, Lot and Avraham decided to separate. Avraham told Lot to choose where he wanted to go. Lot chose Sedom. Like Egypt, the people of Sedom were immoral and unethical. After being influenced by those type of people in Egypt, Lot chose to live with the same type of people in Sedom. As we see in the following Perakim, Sedom is destroyed.

Avraham, on the other hand, is not influenced by his surroundings like Lot. When living in Charan with his family, he was raised to worship idols. Everyone around him was an idol worshipper. The fact that he was able to believe in a higher power and not worship the idols is incredible. He did not succumb to his surroundings, he rose above them. Everywhere Avraham goes he continues to belive in G-d and teach others of this monotheistic belief. At the time, only Avrahah believed in G-d. All his life people attempted to persuade him to give up his belief in G-d and worship idols, but Avraham stood strong in his beliefs and did not let his surroundings influence him.

The way Avraham was able to rise over his surroundings is a very important lesson for Jews today. We live in a world where people try to persuade Jews to convert to different religions, and there are countless obstacles that prevent us from doing what is right. Everyday we are given obsacles that we must overcome. The fact is that it is hard for a Jew to maintain his religious identity in this world and it is almost impossible to maintain a religious identity and "blend in" to society at the same time. We must make sacrifices everyday in order to stay true to our religion. Numerous Jews have assimilated into the non-Jewish world. Like Lot, they have been influenced by their surroundings and chosen to turn their backs on their Jewish identity. The test for the Jews of today is to be able to rise over our surroundings, like Avraham, and live the life that G-d has instructed us to live, as an observant Jew following His Mitvot, and being apart of a nation known for its Tzedeck and Mishpat.

Pillar of Salt

We learned in class today the classic story of Lot's wife turing into a pillar of salt. I personally find this interesting and have my own ideas on why this might have happened. I think it's strange that if Hashem gave Lot and his family the opportunity to escape that He would cause this to happen. Avraham convinced Hashem to save his family and Hashem agreed. This in my opinion was very generous of Him considering He was going to destroy the whole city without thinking twice about it. Lot and his family finally fled the city after the whole city mobbed in front of his house so they could "get to know" the visitors. When they got out they were told to run and not look back. Now, I know they were told specifically not to look back but of course Lot's wife had to thus turning her into a pillar of salt. I have my own opinions about why this happened. I think firstly that maybe she did not want to leave the city. That maybe she was one of those evil people. She could have been bad but Lot could have married her anyway. Her looking back could have symbolized that she was not ready to leave it all behind. That maybe she wanted to go back and live with the people she was like. I think that is why she turned around and even more so why she turned into a pillar of salt when she did so. If she was ready to let it go and be a good person and run away to safety I do not think she would have turned around to look at her old city being burnt down by sulfer and fire sent from Hashem. But of course she did turn back to look and in punishment of ignoring a direct instruction from the angels/men she was turned into this pillar of salt.

Hashem's Decision

Hashem has to decide whether or not he should tell Avraham about destroying Sedom. He decides to tell him and Avraham attempts to bargain with Hashem to try to save them that if there are righteous people there the city should not be destroyed. Avraham goes from 40 to 30 to 20 to 10 and Hashem said that it will not be destroyed if there are 10 but Hashem could not even find 10 righteous people in that city. In class we asked the question-Why does this conversation define who Avraham is? The answer to this was that it was a universal kindness and appeals to G-d's sense of Mishpat. We also talked about why Hashem would destroy this city and the answer to that was that this was the exact opposite of what Avraham's descendants were supposed to be-his descendants were supposed to be moral and have Tzedek and Mishpat and the people of Sedom were lacking Tzedek and Mishpat and they were completely immoral people.

The People of Sedom

As you all know, I have serious doubts about the people of Sedom. According to the Peshat of the Passuk and Rashi, the people of Sedom gathered around Lot's house and demanded that Lot send out the two men/angels so that "they could know them", also known as raping them. Lot's response to this was "Leave the men alone. I'll send out my daughters instead. You can do whatever you want with them." Doesn't this seem just a little bit off and overdrawn?

First of all, Lot went to extreme measures to try to keep the mob away from the men. When the men first met Lot at the gates of the city, Lot told them to take the most roundabout route possible to get to his house. The purpose for this was to keep any people from following them to Lot's who would then come and try to attack the men and Lot's family. Also, once the men arrived at Lot's house, he had them stay overnight and then wash their feet so that it seemed like they just arrived, not that they had been there for several days. According to Ramban, Lot made sure that the men spent the night at his house and did not leave the city at night in order to prevent the mob from getting to them. Because of his efforts to protect them and his merit, the angels accepted his offer and spent the night at Lot's house.

And here comes the mob... The mob, that lot had previously tried to protect the men/angels from, finally make their way to Lot's house. The entire group surrounded the house. (There was no opposition because no one in the city was righteous except for Lot.) They knocked on the door and requested most strongly that Lot send out his guests to be raped. Rashi says that the mob meant to rape them homo-sexually. Lot refused to send them out and offered to send his daughters out instead. What is wrong with this? Why would any parent offer their children up to be molested. Regardless, neither thing happened according to the Peshat of the Passuk. The mob got impatient and started trying to attack Lot. The angels pulled him to safety inside the house. The mob tried to find another entrance and were struck with blindness. This gave Lot and his family the perfect window to escape the city.

The question is: what really happened? Did the mob really do what the Passuk said they did, or did they do something less extreme and the Hebrew was interpreted incorrectly?

Avraham and G-d

We learned in class that G-d felt that He needed to consult with Avraham before destroying Sdom. Let's stop and think about this for a moment; G-d needed to ask a human about something G-d was about to do. There are very few instances like this ever. G-d is the creator of the entire world. He created life and everything else imaginable, and yet He wanted to talk to one of his creations about doing something. Avraham was made out of the dust of the earth, as are all of G-d's children. Why did G-d care what Avraham had to say on the matter?

All this goes to show us that Avraham was not your average person. He had a very special and unique relationship with G-d. He was a great person, and he was also the forefather of a great nation that would be known for justice and righteousness. Because of this, Avraham had to prove to G-d and to himself that he was up to the job of fathering such a nation, and apparently he was. Now it is our job that is ever more important in these times to continue to be known as a nation of tzedek and mishpat, a nation of justice and righteousness.

Jepardizing the Relationship

In Perek 18, G-d tells Avraham that He plans on destorying the city of Sedom. You would think after all that Avraham has gone through he would just trust G-d and know that this was necessary to fulfill G-d's plan for the world. Avraham had spent most of his life believing in a G-d that no one else did. He had no solid proof, yet he was never persuaded to worship idols or lost faith in G-d. After G-d finally speaks to Avraham, He promises him that his name will be great, his descendants will be a great nation, and they will be given the land of Israel/Canaan. Avraham has to go through tests to prove himself to G-d, and G-d has to reassure Avraham of His promise several times. G-d proves to Avraham that He is the real G-d and He will make a great life for Avraham and his descendants. Avraham and G-d have developed a relationship.

It took time and effort from G-d and Avraham to develop this kind of relationship. This just shows how interesting it is when Avraham basically tells G-d that His plan is unjust and should not be carried out. We know that Avraham has complete faith in G-d, so why is he second-guessing G-d's plan? If G-d says this is what needs to happen, then who is Avraham to say this is unnecessary and wrong? G-d could have easily reprimanded Avraham for criticizing His plan and not showing complete faith in G-d.

This all just shows what an amazing role model Avraham is for the Jewish people. He was willing to risk his relationship with G-d by making G-d 'angry'. Avraham was not able to stand aside and watch as these people, even if they were evil and immoral, be killed. In Pasuk 24, Avraham asks G-d if He will destroy the city if Avraham can find 50 righteous men there. G-d tells him that He wouldn't. Sedom was known for being home to wicked, immoral people. Even Avraham probably knew that he couldn't find 50 righteous men there. Just the fact that he was going to try shows that he is a true role model of Tzedek and Mishpat.

Sedom

We have been learning in Navi class about the cycle that Bnei Yisrael are continuously involved in. They get themselves into this cycle, and by the story of Sedom they clearly are having more than a hard time getting out of it. Bnei Yisrael do the same things over and over again. They are living peacefully and then find the need to disrupt the good order of things to worship idols. Then Hashem punishes them and they get attacked or oppressed. Finally Bnei Yisrael call out for help or do teshuva and Hashem sends them a navi to save them. This happens numerous times.

This reminds me of our story. We just learned about Sedom. The people of this city were completely corrupt. Our cycle in navi is not exactly the same but I think it had some overlapping with our learning in chumash.

The people in Sedom were completely immoral and unethical. They lacked tzedek and mishpat, which is what Hashem intended and expected them to have. When He saw that they were missing these traits He sent punishment. This is the reason Hashem destroyed the whole city. They needed to be punished.

In navi we have learned about many times that led to not destruction, but war or oppression. I think this is very interesting. When will this cycle of sin punishment end? Clearly it has not ended yet. Clearly we have not learned enough from our past. We are still living in exile. Mashiach has not come yet. When will it? Us living in exile, not having Mashiach is just a result of all the sins the Jewish people do daily. Luckily for us though, Hashem keeps giving us more and more chances, but when will the chances end? He destroyed Sedom and sent attackers and oppressors to the Jewish people many times before. All Hashem wants is a moral and ethical world with tzedek and mishpat. He has the power to destroy us just like He did with Sedom. Fortunately, He has not yet.

A Nation of Tzedek and Mishpat

This week in class, we learned about G-d's decision to destroy Sedom, and of the destiny of the Jewish people to be moral and ethical people (Tzedek and Mishpat). The city of Sedom was known to be home to immoral, unethical, mean, and basically disgusting people. Sedom was also the home to Avraham's nephew, Lot. We see some of the immoral things that went on in Sedom during the story of the 3 angels. Lot's house had been surrounded since he had invited in guests. Those surrounding the house demanded that Lot send out his guests so they could rape them.

G-d decides that He has had enough with their immoral behavior, and as a result He will destroy the entire city. This situation is a lot like the story of Dor HaMabul. In this generation the people were immoral and unethical much like the people of Sedom. G-d had destroyed the entire world due to their immorality and unethical behaviors. All of this just proves how important ethical and moral behavior is to G-d. G-d emphasizes throughout the Tanach that He has no desire for ritual practice when those doing it do not act morally and ethically.

G-d shares his plan to destroy Sedom with Avraham. Why He decides to do this has many answers. It could be that G-d didn't want Avraham to get the wrong idea and think that G-d's plan lacks ethics, or maybe that Avraham needs to prove how moral and ethical HE is so he can inspire the rest of his descendants to follow in his way. As expected, Avraham tries to prevent G-d from destroying the city. He makes a deal with G-d that if he can find 10 righteous people in Sedom, than the city cannot be destroyed. Of course, Avraham cannot even find 10 righteous people, and G-d goes through with His plan. Only Lot and his family are spared.

The fact that Avraham had wanted to save such immoral, evil people shows his kind and moral nature. It is impossible for him to stand aside and let other people be killed. G-d puts Avraham through many other moral and ethical challenges to show his commitment to G-d, and become a role model of Tzedek and Mishpat for his descendants. Because of Avraham, Bnei Yisrael is able to be known for our Tzedek and Mishpat. Even today, the State of Israel is known for always sticking to its ethics even if it's not the most politically-correct decision. Avraham has paved the way for all of Bnei Yisrael so we can become the nation that G-d expects us to be.

Social Justice vs. Sedom

This week in class, we learned about the concept of social justice as applied to both Avraham's descendants and the people of Sedom. Hashem told Avraham that in the future, his descendants would be known for their "Tzedaka u'Mishpat" or justice and righteousness. Obviously, Avraham was the first person in the history of the world to act perfectly "in the image of G-d," and therefore, he was chosen to be the father of G-d's chosen nation. He was also meant to set the example for his descendants on how to act and present themselves to the rest of the world. One might ask: how does this relate to Sedom?

This (positive) theme of justice and righteousness comes in stark contrast to the actions of the people of Sedom. As we saw when we went through the five different quotes from Tanach, Sedom was the epitome of immorality and injustice. They were pretty much pure evil. According to the Peshat of Perek 19, the angry mob came to Lot's house and ordered him to send his guests outside so that they could be raped. Lot then offered to send his daughters outside instead. Clearly, this was not the ideal society. Why, then, did Avraham volunteer to save them/pray for their salvation? Why did G-d even include Avraham in this discussion in the first place?

G-d created a moral and ethical dilemma for Avraham. As it was Avraham's duty to set the example for his children, he should be given a chance to prove his worth. The situation in Sedom was such that the people could not possibly be saved on their own merit, but they should be saved because they were people. In one sense, Avraham could have seen this as attempted genocide. This differs from the Mabul situation because G-d created a moral and ethical person with the ability and opportunity to let G-d see his point of view. G-d's original plan for the universe was not in a failure; actually, the first "correct" version of the world was being born. Avraham had to step in on behalf of Sedom because that was his personality: he could not just stand by and let people die. His valiant attempt to save the city resulted only in the saving of Lot. The saving of one person was enough to inspire and instruct future generations of Jews on how to act.