From: Netvort@aol.com
Sent: Friday, October 29, 2004 1:55 AM
To: JoshHoff@aol.com
Subject: Netvort : parshas Vayeira, 5765



                                                  Getting There
               
                 By Rabbi Joshua (moderately known as The Hoffer) Hoffman


Before destroying Sodom and the other cities in the area, God decides to inform Avrohom of His plan. He says, "Shall I conceal from Avrohom what I will do, and Avrohom will surely become a great and mighty nation and all the nations of the earth will be blessed through him ? For I have loved him, because he commands his children and his household after him that they keep the way of God, doing charity and justice, in order that God might bring upon Avrohom that which He had spoken of him" (Bereishis 18:17-19). Apparently, God is saying that Avrohom's  path in life, that he was passing on to his family, was in complete contrast to the pattern of living exhibited in the four towns, especially in Sodom, and God therefore wanted Avrohom to understand why these cities, which He had promised to give to him, were about to be destroyed. What exactly was the nature of this contrast, and how was it brought out in the discussion that Avrohom had with God concerning the destruction of these cities?  

Rav Aryeh Leib Bakst, zt"l, in his Kol Aryeh, writes that the philosophy of the people of Sodom was that every person has to stand on his own two feet, and not receive support from others. Thus, they followed the path of strict justice, and did not temper it with charity. This accounts for the seemingly bizarre midrashim which describe the practices in Sodom, to persecute anyone who would dare to help a poor person. Avrohom, on the other hand, taught that one must combine charity with justice, and thereby sought to unify all people. By practicing charity and teaching it to his children, he saw to it that anyone who was in need would be provided for, in recognition of the fact that all people are connected. The Rambam, in his Laws of Mourning (14:2), cites the verse that describes Avrohom's teachings as an indication that Avrohom passed on the trait of chesed - performing acts of kindness - to his descendants. Although Rav Bakst does not mention it, the Talmud (Shabbos 151b), based on a verse in Devorim (15:2), refers to poverty as a wheel that revolves in the world, and that it can catch anyone up in its spokes. Moreover, in connection with the mitzvoh of charity, the Rambam writes in his Laws of Gifts to the Poor (10: 2), that all Jews are connected and must take care of each other, providing the poor with their needs.  

Rav Bakst also explains that when Avrohom pleaded with God to save the people of the five cities, his basic argument was to save them through the existence of ten righteous people, either ten in each of the cities, or ten each in some of the cities, or at least in one of them. The unit of ten represents a certain kind of internal unity, as reflected in the concept of a minyan for prayer. Although not mentioned by Rav Bakst, the aspect of unity that is behind the institution of the minyan is elaborated upon by Rabbi Moshe Cordovero in his work, Tomer Devorah. He writes that once there are ten people present, they represent the entire Jewish nation, and even another thousand people will not add, in any fundamental way, to that basic element.  Avrohom felt that if he could demonstrate the existence of this core concept of unity in any of the cities, there was a chance for their rehabilitation. However, he failed to find the ten people in any of the cities, and, therefore, they were destroyed.

Although Rav Bakst's approach explains many of the midrashim that discuss the low moral level of the people of Sodom and its neighbors, it does not explain one particularly strange midrash, which Rav Bakst himself cites. The midrash says that visitors to Sodom were placed on a bed, and if they were too short for it, their bodies were stretched out, and if they were too long, their legs were cut down to size.  Readers may recall that a similar kind of bed is described in Greek mythology as the special torture chamber of a character named Procustes, and that his practice was memorialized in the coining of the term for a literary device known as the Procustean bed. The basic concept behind this kind of practice is that there is a need for conformity, that one size fits all. The people of Sodom, then, did want unity, but a unity of a particular kind. Rather than the spiritual unity of all people that Avrohom taught, as explained by Rav Bakst, they wanted an external unity, and would not accept the existence of anyone who deviated from their approach to life. What remains for us to understand is how Avrohom's teaching of charity and justice, as expressed by God before He spoke to Avrohom of the coming destruction, served as a contrast to Sodom, and how it informed Avrohom's discussion of that destruction. I believe we can answer these questions by referring to another passage in the Rambam, not cited by Rav Bakst.


The Rambam, in his Laws of Ethical Ideas (Hilchos Deos 1:1), writes that different people have, by their nature, different kinds of character traits. Some people are  temperamental and always angry, others are very even tempered and never angry, one is arrogant, another humble, lustful, or pure, etc. The proper path to take, he says, is the middle one. This path, he says, was taught by Avrohom, as the Torah tells us, "… he commands his children and his household after him that they keep the way of God, doing charity and justice." Thus, the path taken by Avrohom was one which took into consideration the different kind of nature each person has, and sought to guide each person in the ways of moderation. Unlike the people of Sodom, Avrohom allowed each person to develop his character in accordance with the natural tendencies he displayed, leading ultimately to a middle path.

Rav Yosef Dov Solovetichik, zt"l, explained that the middle path which the Rambam advocates does not require one to act in every circumstance in a way that is exactly in the middle of the spectrum of choices. Rather, it teaches that in each situation confronting a person, he should weigh his options and act according to the needs of the moment as well as his own current standing in connection with a particular character trait. If he acts appropriately, he will, in the end, be on the middle path, since, in most cases, that is the appropriate way to go. However, in some cases, it is necessary to go to one or the other extreme along the spectrum, or to deviate somewhat from the middle. Thus, a person may need to become a nazir temporarily and totally abstain from wine, in order to correct a certain tendency he has developed. The main result desired, however, is that, in an overall sense, each person follows a path of moderation. Perhaps, then, this is why Avrohom was invited by God to enter into the divine laboratory, as it were, and discuss the way in which the judgment of Sodom would be carried out. Through working out, together with God, the manner of the awaiting punishment, Avrohom considered the spectrum of possibilities and argued the case with God, presenting a range of arguments through which they may be saved. At the end of the day, he failed to save them, but he did teach future generations something about God's way of judging people and nations, and, also the path which we need to follow in our own lives, in fulfillment of the mitzvoh of walking in God's ways.


Please address all correspondence to the author (Rabbi Hoffman) with the following address - JoshHoff @ AOL.com.

To subscribe to Netvort, send a message with subject line subscribe, to Netvort@aol.com. To unsubscribe, send message with subject line unsubscribe, to the same address.