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Video Study for Parahsa Vayeira : The Journey Continues & The Plot Thickens

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muman613:
Another great article about the Parasha by Rabbi Lazer Gurkow... Lessons learned from the incident of Sodom...


http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/12381#.UJQpA4qC6qQ

Vayera: Selfishness is Cruelty

The lessons of Sodom easily are transferred to the context of today.
From Rabbi Lazer Gurkow

A Very Fine City
The population of Sodom and its environs was “wicked and sinful to G-d in the extreme.” Though the Biblical narrative is light on specifics, the Talmud is more forthcoming.

The Talmud relates that they were wicked in body, a reference to sexual promiscuity, sinful with money, meaning cruel and inhospitable, the words to G-d imply that they blasphemed, meaning deliberately transgressed G-d’s will, and the words in the extreme refer to murder.


To illustrate, the courts of Sodom rewarded criminals and penalized victims. The law stipulated that if you injured your fellow you were entitled to remuneration for bleeding him. If you struck a pregnant woman and caused a miscarriage you were entitled to take her home and impregnate her. If you invited an outsider to a wedding, you forfeited your robes to the town elders and went home naked.


The city’s customs were worse than its laws. If a wealthy visitor came to Sodom they would let him stay the night and then find legal excuses to steal his money. If a poor visitor came to Sodom, they would give him coin, but refuse to sell him bread, when he finally died from starvation, they took back their coin. If he was tall and asked for lodgings they gave him a short bed and hacked off his legs to make him fit. If he was short and asked for lodgings they gave him a long bed and stretched him all night to make him fit. One day they discovered a young maiden feeding a wretched stranger, they bathed her in honey and left her overnight near a bee nest. All night they heard her screams and in the morning she was dead. A fine city, eh?

The Incriminating Sin
It is clear that Sodom’s population violated many of the Noahide laws. They were guilty of blasphemy, murder, promiscuity#, theft and failure to establish a legitimate judicial system. In the Noahide code, each of these sins carries a death penalty. Yet the prophet Ezekial proclaimed that the sin for which they were indicted and convicted was their refusal to support the poor.


This is perplexing for two reasons. First, compared to the cruelty and impropriety of the other sins, this one seems minor. Second, charity, according to most codifiers, is not obligatory in the Noahide code.


The Fabric of Society
Charity might not be listed as a Noahide obligation, but to refrain from charity as the Sodomites did and to prevent others from being charitable undermines the entire purpose of the Noahide code.


G-d gave the Noahide code to Adam and later Noah to establish a framework for an ethical and functional society. The code enshrines the sanctity of Divine worship and the judicious rule of law, it protects the sanctity of life, family and property and ensures the proper treatment of animals.


A society of judicious comportment is streamlined and efficient, each emulating the moral behavior of the other, striving for peace and stability. The absence of lawful governance results in chaos where one strives to outdo the other in impropriety and brazenly prevents others from proper behavior.


Such was the chaos that reigned in Sodom. When the entire society embarked on a campaign of exclusiveness and insularity, they began by barring strangers from their midst and concluded by turning against each other. Before long they were entirely consumed by a desperate need to hold onto every penny and punished others who gave to charity. They were mired in a terrible misery; bitter toward each other and themselves.

Society cannot function this way. A society is defined by the interaction of variant ranks and backgrounds. When people grow insular and stop interfacing society becomes a disparate collection of individuals, each committed to barring the other. Before long they turn on each other and take indiscriminately from each other.


Withholding charity is not an infraction of the Noahide Code, but preventing an entire society from being charitable by the threat of sword violates the premise and purpose of the code. Such behavior was inexcusable and was therefore punished by G-d.

Selfishness is Cruel
As we read this story today, thousands of years later, we must ask what lesson can be gleaned from it.

To me the most important lesson that arises from this sordid tale is that selfishness is cruel. Though we do our best to ignore and deny this truth there is really no way of escaping it. It is a fact and I will repeat it again, selfishness is cruel. All crime and sin begins with selfishness; we are all guilty – everyone is selfish to one degree or another. I don’t mean we are all megalomaniacs, I simply refer to the basic fact that in our eyes, our needs are very if not most important.

The moment we embark on this path we are on a slippery slope. How important is it that my needs be fulfilled and precisely which of my needs are critical? What was once simply a vice is before long regarded as a need and if I am precious and my needs are critical, it is understandable and excusable if I cut a few corners and break a few rules to get what I need. It begins with small infractions and white lies, but once we start slipping, the slope drags us down. Soon we grow comfortable with improper then immoral and finally illegal behavior such as murdering others to achieve our aims.


The people of Sodom lived on a fertile plain and were wealthy. Their protectionism and anti immigration phobia began as an effort to preserve their wealth by preventing immigrants from depleting their resource rich city, but it escalated into full blown cruelty, torture and eventually murder. They were not a murderous nation, they were a selfish nation; they never set out to murder, they set out to protect. But they slipped down the slope and resorted to murder. Without noticing, they became a murderous lot.


Hindsight is 20/20. We are fortunate to have the opportunity to learn from history. Today we know that protectionism and anti immigration are selfish sentiments. These paths seem innocent at the onset, but taken too far, they wear away the fabric of society.

muman613:
Regarding Rabbi Gurkows article which I posted below I had a bit of disagreement with his statement concerning protectionism and 'anti-immigration' sentiment.

I have no problem with immigration and think it is a great thing that our country allows immigrants to come to America. I have recently befriended a man who was born in Mexico and had the desire to immigrate to America. He is a hard-working man, a religious man who often engages me in very deep and meaningful discussion on issues of the Bible, and I have a lot of respect for his hard work. My family emigrated to this country in the 1890s and went through the legal process. I do not support illegal immigration and think that those who enter the country illegally should be sent back to where they come from. Going through the legal process makes an immigrant an American citizen, and like a Jewish convert I believe an American legal-immigrant should be granted opportunities to grow in this country.

So my point is that the statement 'anti-immigration' should be clarified that being anti-legal-immigration may be cruel, but being anti-illegal-immigration is not cruel, assuming that the laws concerning legally becoming a citizen are fair among all immigrants.

PS: One of my early Rabbis expressed the same ideas that Rabbi Gurkow expressed in his article. I disagreed with that Rabbi concerning this point at that time {6 years ago}.

muman613:
Very interesting question about why Avraham chose to pray on the condition of MERIT rather than on the condition of MERCY...



http://www.torahweb.org/torah/2012/parsha/rhab_vayera.html

Two Types of Prayer

Avraham's powerful prayers to save S'dom and its sister cities occupy a significant portion of this week's Parasha (VaYeira 18:23-33). First, Avraham requests that all the cities be saved in the merit of even ten righteous individuals present in each of the cities. He then requests that at least some of the cities be saved in the merit of ten tzadikkim dwelling in them (see Rashi 18:29). Hashem answers in the affirmative in theory. Unfortunately, though, righteous people were not to be found in any of the cities and they are consequently destroyed.

Yet we find that Lot, originally instructed by the angels to flee toward the region where his uncle Avraham lives, is fearful that Avraham's merits would place Lot in a negative light in the Heavens. He therefore beseeches the angels to spare one of the towns, Tzoar, and his request is granted (19:17-21 and Rashi). How astounding! Avraham Avinu, the towering spiritual giant, the one who rejected the negative influences of his entire generation where depravity and idolatry reigned supreme, the one who even attempted to draw these selfsame people to belief in the One and Only G'd,[1] prays for the saving of even one city and his prayer does not succeed. Lot, his nephew, who is only saved through his uncle's merits (19:29), who chose to live near the headquarters of sin, S'dom and its suburbs, prays and his prayer produces results!

Perhaps we can suggest a reason for this surprising difference. There are two types of prayer: one is based on a specific claim of justice, similar to a litigant or lawyer bringing a claim before a court; the other is based on a simple plea for Divine mercy. Avraham used the former form of prayer and Hashem answered him that his claim is a just one. The merit of ten tzaddikim could indeed save a city. But they were just not present. Lot did use any claim in his prayer. He just begged for Divine mercy. Hashem granted his request.

After S'dom's and its sister cities' destruction, the Torah tells us: And Avraham arose early in the morning to the place where he had stood in the presence of G'd. And he gazed upon the face of S'dom and Amora and upon the face of the land of the plain; and he saw that the smoke of the land rose up like the smoke of the furnace. (VaYeira 19:28-29). On a simple plain, the Torah is informing us of the tragic, dramatic moment when Avraham beholds the destruction of the cities he had beseeched G'd to save. His prayers had not borne fruit; the people had not repented and the G'd of Justice had meted out justice. Seforno interprets these passages differently: ki chashav l'vakeish aleihem rachamim acharei shelo matza lahem z'chus badin [he rose up to pray] for he thought to request mercy for them, since he was not able to find merit for them in justice. He comments on the second passage which describes Avraham's witnessing the utter destruction, and he thus saw that it was too late to pray for them. According to this interpretation, Avraham himself sought to utilize the power of the prayer based on mercy alone just as Lot had done, but it was too late.

We can question why Avraham did not immediately resort to a request for mercy. Since this method was successful when used by Lot, it seems to be more effective in achieving results. Why then did Avraham first choose a prayer based on a specific claim of justice?

Hashem's main name, YKVK, refers to his quality of mercy. Indeed, Rashi (B'reishis 1:1) teaches us that without this Divine quality, the world could not continue to exist. Nonetheless, the first name of G'd used in creation is Elokim (B'reishis 1), representing the quality of justice. Only later on is the name YKVK introduced (ibid. 2:4). Rashi explains that Hashem originally planned to create the world with justice. When He saw that it could not survive on justice alone since Man is sinful, he combined mercy with it. Nonetheless, this teaching informs us that the goal of the creation of the world is to survive with justice. In other words, Man must earn existence through his actions. It is for this reason that the Gemara (Ta'anis 24b) informs us that the whole world survived based on the merit of R. Chanina ben Dosa, Chanina b'ni. Since he was the perfect tzaddik, justice demanded that the world exist. All the other inhabitants received a free ride in his merit. Avraham first prayed a fundamental prayer wishing to save S'dom based on the primary quality of justice seeing whether S'dom could be saved based on the original Divine quality which was the original plan for the creation of the World.[2] True, the rest of the inhabitants would be saved based on an aspect of mercy, in the merit of the ten tzadikkim if they could be found similar to R. Chanina b. Dosa's merit saving the world, but at least an element of the initial plan of the world, based on justice, would exist. Lot, on the other hand (and Avraham also planned to do so according to Seforno), realized that no justice claim could be offered. He just begged, appealing to Divine mercy alone and was successful.

Rav Shimshon Pincus in his crucial seifer on prayer, Sh'arim BaTefilla, speaks of these two types of prayer (Chapters on Bitzur ff. and Chilui) and notes that for the most part, only great tzadikkim can utilize the power of the prayer based on justice or specific arguments.[3] Ordinary people can utilize other forms of prayer or claim-based prayers arranged by spiritual giants such as the Shemone Esrei authored by the Anshei K'nesses haGedola. Perhaps this is because only the righteous who live primarily based on justice (HKB"H m'dakdeik b'tzadikkim k'chut has'ara) can present claims of justice before the Heavenly Throne. The average person or even the wicked, who live primarily based on the Divine quality of mercy, pray based on mercy alone. As we see from Lot, though, the power of such prayer is very great.

We are certainly living in dangerous times. With threats on the population of the Land of Israel from all directions, economic slowdowns, many illnesses, and the recent natural disaster reminding us of the relative powerlessness of mankind, the centrality of prayer for mercy emerges as a very crucial, timely message. May we all utilize our tremendous privilege of beseeching our Creator for His abundant mercy![4]


[1] See Rashi to 12:5 and 20:1 first interpretation.

[2] Even the justice of G'd toward his creations is based on mercy since nothing forces Him to create a world to begin with in which Man could earn his reward. Furthermore, Man could never truly earn his reward since his actions do not affect G'd (see Iyov 35:7). Also see Derech Hashem (1:2).

[3] Compare the many stories of Rav Leivi Yitzchak of Berditchev along these lines.

[4] Also see Rachel's Weeping and Tefila B'eis Tzara.

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