Parshas Vayera
How to Save Sodom
Our father Avraham pleads for the forgiveness and survival of Sodom. He
strikes the best bargain he apparently can with God, so to speak. If
there are ten righteous people in Sodom then the city will be spared.
There is a sizable population living in Sodom so Avraham is somehow
confident that he has saved the city once the number of necessary
righteous inhabitants has been reduced to ten. This is perhaps the
reason that Avraham does not bargain for a number lower than ten. But
Avraham is sadly disappointed. Sodom does not contain even ten righteous
people and the avenging angels do their work of retribution and
destruction.
My teachers often pointed out to my colleagues and me during our yeshiva
years that Sodom was not destroyed because of its tens of thousands of
evildoers. It was destroyed because it lacked ten good people. Once
again, here in the story of Sodom, the Torah reiterates to us the value
of an individual, of a good person, of a good deed performed for its own
sake, how in the eyes of Heaven goodness always trumps evil. Therefore
Judaism places great responsibility upon the individual and his or her
personal behavior. Rambam makes this point when he states that before
doing an act in life one should always consider that the whole world is
evenly balanced at that moment between good and evil, salvation and
destruction. The act about to be performed if it is one of goodness can
save the entire world. And if it is wrong and evil, selfish and
uncaring, it can doom all of humankind.
A second lesson inherent in the story of Sodom is that even the most
righteous person in the world our father Avraham cannot save other
people simply with his blessings and entreaties. People, communities,
nations, have to save themselves. Avraham can guide and teach, serve as
an example and role model, influence and lead, but in the last analysis
only Sodom can save Sodom, only Lot can save Lot. There is a great
reliance in the religious and general world upon others to somehow pull
us through. People are willing to invest a great deal of time, effort
and money to obtain the blessings of a righteous person to solve their
problems. The same effort invested in their own personal attempts to
improve themselves in their daily behavior would perhaps produce greater
and more beneficial results than blessings from others, no matter how
great those others are. The rabbis of the Talmud when asked for
blessings often asked the supplicant: What good deed have you done in
your lifetime? A blessing can have no good effect if the person
receiving it has no personal merit. The Talmud stated the great rule in
life: Your behavior will bring you closer [to God and humans] and in the
alternative your behavior will distance you from them. Avraham is
powerless to save Sodom without the cooperation of the inhabitants of
Sodom. This is truly the bitter and telling lesson of this weeks parsha.
It is one that should be studied and internalized by us all.
Shabat shalom.
Rabbi Berel Wein
Text Copyright © 2005 by Rabbi Berel Wein and Torah.org
Visit www.rabbiwein.com for a complete selection of Rabbi Wein's books and tapes.
