By Lonny Moses
Summary
This week's parasha is full of interesting story lines and themes. First, Abraham rushes off while talking to God in order to welcome three guests, demonstrating the importance of hospitality. As it turns out, these guests are angels sent from God. Our sages teach us that each angel has his own task. Michael came to tell Sarah that she would become pregnant. Raphael came to heal Abraham after his circumcision. Gabriel came to destroy Sodom.
When God reveals his plan to destroy Sodom, Abraham tries to save the city. He argues with God, asking him to save the city if 50, then 45, then 40, 30, etc., tzadikim (righteous people) can be found inside. Rashi teaches us that Abraham stopped at 10 because he knew that God had not saved the world in the time of Noah, even though there were 9 tzadikim (including God himself) on the boat.
After the destruction of Sodom the following big things happen:
Lot's wife turns into a pillar of salt
Lot's daughter's sleep with him, producing the nations of Moab and Ammon
Sarah is abducted by the Philistine king, but is saved by God
Sarah gives birth to Isaac (good thing there weren't paternity tests back then, given the previous event)
Isaac is circumcised
Abraham banishes Hagar and Ishmael from his and Sarah's house
Abraham is commanded to sacrifice Isaac, and is prevented from actually doing so at the last minute
This is some pretty heavy stuff and it all happens in a very little time. There are a lot of very troubling events, with very little to explain what it means. As a result, many rabbis and sages over the years have come up with stories or interpretations/translations that help us to grapple with these events. The
explanation of why Abraham stopped arguing after getting down to 10 tzadikim is one example.
In Depth
I want to get a little deeper into Sodom and the stories our sages tell to explain it's destruction. First, Sodom is an incredibly evil place. What makes it evil? We get a glimpse of that in the parasha, when the Angels who go to rescue Lot and his family are accosted by the people of Sodom. Their treatment of the visiting Angels is poor and stands in sharp contrast to Abraham's hospitality. Rabbis have expanded on this theme quite a bit.
But while being a bad host is not good, surely it is not enough to condemn a whole city to destruction. From talmud and midrash, we learn more about what made Sodom evil. Here's one story that has been told in many forms:
It once happened that two maidens went down to draw water from a well. One asked the other, “why is your face so sickly?” The other answered, “We have no food left, and we are about to die.” What did the first one do? She filled her own pitcher with flour, and the two exchanged pitchers, each taking the other's. When the Sodomites became aware of this, they seized the one who saved the other's life and burned her alive. The Holy One said, “Even if I wished to remain silent, justice for that maiden does not allow me to do so.” Hence: “Whether they have done according to her cry” (Gen. 18:21)--the cry of that maiden.Genesis Rabbah 49:6
Some sages explain that the girl in the story is actually one of Lot's daughters. This, they say, is the cry that God heard from Sodom. This story and many others explain that the attitude of the entire city of Sodom was one of greed and mistrust. Being a very wealthy city,