Parashat Vayera

Friday 30 October 2015                                  Cheshvan 18  5776

Parashat Vayera
Genesis 18:1-22:24; 2 Kings 4:1-37

The Outcry Against Sodom

The sins of Sodom and Gomorrah are well known. Those cities were destroyed for immorality and deviancy. The Torah says, "The outcry of Sodom and Gomorrah is indeed great, and their sin is exceedingly grave." (Genesis 18:20)

But there were other sins for which they were judged. Ancient Jewish commentary on the Bible has its own version of the sin(s) of Sodom. In Pirke DeRabbi Eliezer 25, there is the story of the daughter of Lot who saw a poor man on the street of the city and her soul was grieved on the account. So she secretly fed him. It was done in secret because the leaders of Sodom issued a proclamation in Sodom saying, "Everyone who strengthens the hand of the poor and the needy with a loaf of bread shall be burnt by fire!" Subsequently she was caught and sentenced. In her hour of despair, she cries out to God for mercy. "And her cry ascended before the throne of glory." Then God came down in judgment upon Sodom.

There are two interesting features about this apocryphal tale.
1. The first is that in Genesis 18:20-21 when it speaks of the "outcry" against Sodom and Gomorrah, the Hebrew word for "outcry" could be read to mean "her cry." Thus, the Sages infer that the word refers to a cry of a woman  rather than the cities themselves (although the word "city" is also feminine). Thus, the legend explains Genesis 18:20 as referring to the cries of innocent people affected by sinful cities.
2.  The second interesting feature of this story is that it explains the sin of Sodom, not in terms of sexual immorality, but in terms of social sins. Interestingly enough, this is specifically what the biblical prophet Ezekiel identifies as Sodom's sin:
"Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had arrogance, abundant food and careless ease, but she did not help the poor and needy. Thus they were haughty and committed abominations before Me..." (Ezekiel 16:49-50)

Surprisingly, the prophet attributes the final judgment on Sodom, not only to the sexual sins implied in the Genesis account, but to something which the LORD considers even more serious-social injustice!

Apparently the sexual immorality was merely the fruit of the idleness and selfishness that God condemns through Ezekiel. Thus, Sodom was destroyed not because of sexual deviancy, but because they mistreated the poor and needy to such an extent that it led the whole society into judgment. Rather than being merely Bible fiction, then, the above legend was merely providing realistic commentary on Ezekiel's evaluation of the sin of Sodom.

In Isa 61:8, we read “For I, the LORD, love justice,  I hate robbery in the burnt offering”. Yes, adultery and idolatry in any form is an abomination to HaShem. But, equally detestable are social sins! And, G-d’s people are held accountable to an even higher standard of justice as revealed by the prophet  Zechariah:
Zech 7:8-14
8  And the word of the LORD came again to Zechariah:
9 "This is what the LORD Almighty says: 'Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another.
10 Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the alien or the poor . In your hearts do not think evil of each other.'
11 "But they refused to pay attention; stubbornly they turned their backs and stopped up their ears.
12 They made their hearts as hard as flint and would not listen to the law or to the words that the LORD Almighty had sent by his Spirit through the earlier prophets. So the LORD Almighty was very angry.
13 "'When I called, they did not listen; so when they called, I would not listen,' says the LORD Almighty.
14 'I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations, where they were strangers. The land was left so desolate behind them that no one could come or go. This is how they made the pleasant land desolate.'"

After Sha’ul addressed the people in Rome, we read:
Acts 28:24-27
24  And some were persuaded by the things which were spoken, and some disbelieved.
25 So when they did not agree among themselves, they departed after Paul had said one word: "The Holy Spirit spoke rightly through Isaiah the prophet to our fathers,
26 saying, 'Go to this people and say: 'Hearing you will hear , and shall not understand; And seeing you will see, and not perceive;
27 For the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing,
And their eyes they have closed, Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, So that I should heal them."'  

May we have ears to hear, a heart that is tender and a determination to go and serve the Lord by serving others!