Parshat Vayera
by Rabbi Avi Billet
Parshas Noach usually raises the question of what Noach’s “righteousness” was – in his generation only? Would he have been considered righteous in a different time period? – and the comparison is often made to Avraham, who defended wicked people.
The Torah does not report on Noach advocating on behalf of the people of his time, nor does it present him as trying to get others to turn or return to God.
Avraham advocates on behalf of the people of the five cities – Sodom, Amora, Admah, Tzvoyim, Bela (Tzo’ar). And he clearly walks around the land calling out in God’s name, letting the people know of the existence of God.
The many stories the Torah tells us of Avraham indicate a man who is prominent, at times wealthy, who communicates with outsiders (not co-religionists), who cannot be ignored.
One of the more telling moments of this is when Avimelekh, who had an unfortunate run-in with Avraham after taking Sarah to his home (in chapter 20), later comes to Avraham to make a peace treaty after the birth of Yitzchak (end of chapter 21). Perhaps the best argument, which is advanced by Chizkuni and others, is that now that Avraham has a child, and therefore will leave an heir and a legacy, he can’t be ignored as a fly-by figure. He too has a future.
This is likely what inspired Daas Zekenim to record the following insight in God’s “deliberation” over whether to share what He is about to do to Sodom with Avraham. The way the Torah depicts it, as the angels are leaving Avraham’s home to head towards Sodom to save Lot from the pending destruction, and to initiate the destruction of Sodom, God says “Will I hide from Avraham that which I am going to do? And Avraham is to become a great and mighty nation, and through him all the nations of the land will be blessed. I know about him that he will instruct his children and his household after him, that they will keep the word of God to do righteousness and justice.” (18:17-19)
Daas Zekenim records the following:
[God was saying] “… were Avraham to not be having a child in the future, I would not reveal to him the judgment of Sodom. What merit is there in telling him of their judgment if he is not going to have a child to whom he can impart the lesson? But Avraham will become a great nation… and I know about him…. And therefore I will tell him about Sodom, for I know that on account of the reckoning that the wicked will undergo, Avraham will instruct his descendants to guard the path of God, and to do righteousness and justice.”
This tells us not only that God “believed” the promise He had given Avraham, but that He was counting on the sincerity of Avraham’s convictions. Knowing Avraham as God knew Avraham, clearly the messaging was that Avraham was the kind of person who could look at objective evil, take stock of the situation, and decide what to learn from everyone, and what to not learn from everyone.
More than anything, Avraham will teach his children to learn the lesson from what happened to Sodom, and how all efforts he made on their behalf came to naught.
What did Sodom do wrong?
- They were רעים וחטאים לה' מאד – they were very evil and sinful to God
- They were nasty to guests
- They had no respect for their judges
- They verily and readily practiced Sodomy (which is obviously named for them)
- Throw on top of that all the terrible things they were guilty of which is not in the text of the Torah.
God is sure that the path Avraham will teach his children is of righteousness and justice. He has already demonstrated how to bring guests into his home. Avraham has the greatest respect for the שפט כל הארץ, the ultimate Arbiter and Judge in the universe.
After advocating on their behalf, Avraham came to the realization that if there aren’t even a minyan worth of decent people in the cities, then there’s not a chance for Torah teachings or Godly principles to prevail. More than that, because the destruction of Sodom will become so embedded in his mind, he will instruct his children so they never fall prey to that kind of behavior, and they’ll always go in the opposite direction of the behavior of the people of Sodom.
This, therefore is our challenge:
Whether from our own readings or from other perceptions, we must be able to weed through the good and the bad. Maybe a lot of it is obvious, but sometimes we don’t notice what is taking us away from our goals and our important Godly pursuits. [Think of just about every form of media...]
Avraham knew goodliness is worth saving if it is supported by numbers. One of the beautiful aspects of being part of a Jewish community is that ideally we all have lovely people we can look to and admire. Far more than ten people!
We can also look to see how others relate to their fellow man and either emulate that (assuming it is good behavior!) or take the lesson of how not to relate to others. For instance, being rude, obnoxious, confrontational, yelling in public – all of these are not good traits. When we see them, our job is to distance from those traits all while preaching, teaching, and modeling the opposite!
Not everyone has children – so this is not about what we are sharing or choosing to share with the next generation. But it is about seeing that EACH OF US is a child of Avraham.
Our takeaway from this narrative is that each of us is meant to live a life modeled by that which Avraham stood for. If we do our main job properly, we are indeed fulfilling that which God said about Avraham and his descendants. “We live a life following the dictates of righteousness and justice.”
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