Three Types of Evil
Parshat Vayera 5766
By Rabbi Mark B Greenspan
But what was the nature of their sin? What did the people of Sodom and Gomorrah do that was so heinous that it led to their destruction? The Torah is not so clear on this point. We’re simply told: Za’akat s’dom v’amora ki raba v’hatatam ki kavda miod, “Surely the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great and their sin is exceedingly grievous.” But who was it who cried out against the cities and what was the nature of the sin that the people of Sodom and Gomorrah committed that was so terrible? The Torah is silent on this point.
What the Torah does not tell us, the sages filled in, using their imagination. They painted a portrait of perversion and evil in the twin cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. In an age before television and movies the rabbis had a knack for creating vivid images in words.
But still, the sages did not agree on what exactly happened in these cities. In fact there are at least three different approaches to the nature of evil in Sodom and Gomorrah. I’d like to suggest that the rabbis were trying to tell us that there are really three different types of evil that infect the world today and which corrupt our lives.
The first type of evil is easy for us to identify. Images of Nazi Germany, Stalinism, Serbian and Sudanese genocide come to mind. The people of Sodom and Gomorrah were both paranoid and xenophobic; they were hateful and cruel. They took pleasure in causing suffering to others, particularly the stranger in their midst.
One of the first stories I learned in religious school concerning the people of Sodom and Gomorrah was about the unique bed which they kept at the city gate. When a stranger tried to gain entrance into Sodom and Gomorrah he was forced to lie down on a special bed that was kept at the gate of the city. If the person was too short for the bed, he was stretched until his bones broke, and if he was too tall, he was literally cut down to size. As one of the taller children in my class, I always thought that this legend was particularly horrendous.
The people of the twin cities of evil took pleasure in causing gratuitous suffering to others. More than that, however, they wanted everyone to be the same. Whether it is size or religion or the color of one’s skin, societies throughout time have all too often been willing to destroy others to homogenize their society.
The second type of evil attributed to Sodom and Gomorrah is more subtle and difficult to understand. Apparently no one in these evil cities ever committed a crime so great that they could be indicted for it. A story is told of a farmer who came to the market place in Sodom with a bag full of grain. As he passed through the market people would run over and grab a few kernels of grain from his sack – they took so little that no one could arrest them for theft. By having everyone do the same thing, pretty soon the farmer had an empty sack.
At first glance this story is a strange one. Granted, what the people of Sodom and Gomorrah did was wrong but no laws were being broken. The people could throw up their hands and say, “We’re innocent. We are living by the letter of the law. If we have broken any laws you can arrest us!” This hardly sounds like the type of crime that would lead God to say, “For their sin is exceedingly grievous.”
And yet there is an important lesson in this ancient legend. The great sin of Sodom and Gomorrah was that the citizens of these cities created a false dichotomy between law and morality. To live within the law of the land does not make a person righteous. Nachmanides, the medieval commentator tells us that a person can be a law abiding citizen and a scoundrel. Therefore, we must strive for more than goodness – we must strive to be holy.
Think about our own society. Robbery happens all the time and no one seems to notice it. It’s possible to rob the public of millions of dollars one penny at a time. Who would notice if an extra penny is added to the cost of gas (given its price these days) or if a clerk accidentally on purpose added a few cents to a credit card bill without the knowledge of the customer? I am sure it happens all the time. What’s a penny? Yet pennies add up, and just because something is small, don’t make it any less of a sin. How many of us here have taken liberties with our tax returns or picked up a towel as we were leaving a hotel?
There is more to goodness that living within the letter of the law. It’s a little like the old Hebrew National advertisements. After informing us that Hebrew National go beyond the requirements of the department of agriculture in making hot dogs, they would looking Uncle Sam heavenward as a voice said, “Why do we do so? We do so because we cater to a higher authority!” Civil law is meant to maintain a semblance of order and harmony in society. It does not promote goodness, compassion, righteousness, or even truth. Religion in general and Judaism in particular demands more of us. It is not enough to live and let live – we must strive to create a society that lives up to a higher moral order.
Finally we can find a third interpretation of the great sin of Sodom and Gomorrah. This one is even more subtle than the last one. According to some sages the people of the people in these evil cities neither stole anything nor did they commit any blatant wrongs – even small ones. In fact the cities were made up of fairly average people, like you and me. The problem with Sodom and Gomorrah was their indifference.
According to the sages there are four character traits among people. There are people who say, “What is mine is mine and what is yours is mine:” this is obviously the trait of a wicked person.
There are those who say, “What is mine is yours and what is yours is yours.” This is the trait of the saintly. They are ready to give everything away for the good of others.
Then there’s the fool who says “What is mine is yours and what is yours is mine”– such a person is a fool because he has no understanding of common sense boundaries.
And finally there is the fourth person who says, “What is mine is mine and what is yours is yours.” According to some rabbis, this person is Baynoni, he’s average – he neither steals from others nor gives to the people around him. He minds his own business. He has a live and let live attitude toward life. While we might see this person as average, according to some rabbis – this person is worst one of all; such a person has the characteristics of Sodom and Gomorrah! No society can survive based on such a laissez faire attitude toward the world.
God demands more of us. It is not enough to avoid afflicting pain or harm on others – we also have a responsibility to leave something behind, to strive for goodness, and to take responsibility for one another. Lo ta’amod al dam rei’ekha, we are told in the book of Leviticus, “Don’t stand idly by the blood of your brother/sister,”
The evil in Sodom began not because the people committed callous or inhuman acts; it started because they did nothing at all. No one cared about others. There attitude was NIMBY – not in my back yard. Everyone was ready to mind their own business and no one was willing to reach out to help his or her neighbor. The people of Sodom and Gomorrah were strictly law abiding citizens. All they could say was, “What is mine is mine and what is yours is yours.” Leave me alone and I won’t bother you!
American society, and the world for that matter, may be closer to Sodom and Gomorrah than any of us realize. We are deafened by the silence of a world that ignores suffering, that rationalizes evil, and that even champions immorality.
What are we fighting for these days – to rid the world of tyranny or to safeguard our need for oil? While Americans are dying in Iraq, we remain almost silent to the genocide in places like Sudan. What we need today are not more laws but a renewed awareness that we answer to a higher authority. Our choices must be based on something deeper than our selfish desires. We cannot hide from God or from ourselves.
Sodom and Gomorrah were evil cities that could no longer be redeemed. But maybe it’s time for us to take a closer look at ourselves. Where are we living? Are we, as individuals and as members of a society, worthy of redemption? Or is our attitude, “What is mine is mine and what is yours is yours?” How will we be remembered? That, my friends depends on you and me!!
Shabbat Shalom
