Why did Avraham stop at asking for 10 Tzaddikim in Sodom?

[Tag-MehirTzedek]

It seems funny, that he stopped at 10 and didn't go down. Anyone have an answer?

 (As I was writing this I recalled something I heard- that their were 8 + G-D in Noah's ark= 9. Soo at least 9 were needed and weren't enough to save the world.

 Any other answers?

[muman613]

It seems funny, that he stopped at 10 and didn't go down. Anyone have an answer?

 (As I was writing this I recalled something I heard- that their were 8 + G-D in Noah's ark= 9. Soo at least 9 were needed and weren't enough to save the world.

 Any other answers?

I believe it has to do with the fact that 10 men are needed for a community. The only way that the Sdom could have been spared would have been if there was at least a community of righteous men. And you are correct that in the case of Noah there were only 8 and that was not enough to spare the destruction.

[muman613]

http://www.torah.org/learning/rabbis-notebook/5764/noach.html

Noach - How To Need Nothing And Have Everything

By Rabbi Aron Tendler

At the beginning of Parshas Noach G-d destroyed the world. At the end of Parshas Noach G-d destroyed a tower.

At the beginning of Noach G-d concluded that humanity could not be redeemed. Except for Noach and his family, the rest of humanity had become so perverted that Teshuvah (repentance) was impossible. If we contrast this with Avraham and his attempt to save the five city-states of Sodom and Gomorrah we can better understand the magnitude of the perversion.

In Parshas Vayera, Avraham will negotiate with G-d for the salvation of Sodom. His first offer will involve fifty righteous men. The Medresh referenced by Rashi (18:28-32) explains that the fifty represented ten righteous individuals in each of the five city-states. If they did exist, their collective merit as a Minyan (quorum) would be able to save their entire city.

As the negotiations continue Avraham will offer less and less. His second attempt will be for forty-five righteous individuals, representing nine in each city-state plus G-d filling in for the 10th man. Negotiating downward from forty to ten, Avraham's strategy will be to negotiate for as many cities as he can. He was forced to accept that only those cities that had ten righteous men could be saved. The others would be destroyed. Nevertheless, Avraham continues to negotiate even if he will save only one of the five city-states. As we know, ten such righteous men could not be found in the Sodomite kingdom and all five city-states were destroyed.

Ten, as the critical number, represents the smallest spark of societal potential necessary for reform and correction. So long as the Sodomite way of life had not eradicated all semblance of G-dliness, goodness, and righteousness there was still hope for salvation. However, a society that is so far gone, so evil, that the smallest of righteous communities cannot exist, has no hope of reform and must be destroyed.

What about the world? What is the critical minimum number of righteous individuals necessary to sustain the world?

According to the Rabbis, the prediluvian world was more settled and populated than our own is. If there are four billion people today there was double that amount before the Mabul. How many righteous would it have taken to save the world from utter devastation? The answer is ten. Rashi in Vayera (18:32) explains that Noach, his three sons and each of their spouses constituted eight. Even if they included G-d in the count there would have still been only nine. Therefore, the world had to be destroyed.

The underlying principle for human survival and its potential for goodness is community. As G-d said to Adam, the first human creature, "It is not good for Adam to be alone." Not only must each human have a partner for the technical purposes of procreation and building families, but also humans cannot be alone. Humans need to belong to a family, community, and society.
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