Parshat Vayera 5767

One of the most extraordinary chapters in the Bible is the story of Sodom and Gomorrah. In this brief passage not only do we find our forefather, Abraham, arguing with God; but we see him defending a city that was so depraved and evil that even God did not believe they deserved to be saved. Abraham’s defense of Sodom and Gomorrah challenges our definition of justice and how we perceive our responsibility to the world around us. It challenges us to ask how just we should be?

So what is this story all about? Having sent angels to inform Abraham and Sarah of the impending birth of a son, God now reflects on his relationship with our forefather. “Shall I hide from Abraham what I’m about to do since Abraham is to become a great nation…for I have singled him out that he may instruct his children and posterity to keep the ways of the Lord by doing what is right and just?” In Hebrew, the words for, “right and just,” are tzedakah and mishpat. Abraham’s posterity must perform acts of tzedakah u’mishpat. These words are at the heart of our forefather’s encounter with God.

God now tells Abraham that “the outrage of Sodom and Gomorrah is so grave,” that he is compelled to destroy these evil cities. Learning of God’s intentions, Abraham speaks out. “Will you sweep away the righteous along with the wicked? What if there are fifty righteous people within the city; will you then wipe away the place and not forgive it for the sake of the fifty righteous who are in it?”

And so begins an extended bargaining session between Abraham and God. When Abraham learns that there aren’t fifty righteous people in Sodom and Gomorrah, he bargains for forty-five. “What if there are only forty five righteous people with the city,” he asks, and when it turns out there aren’t forty-five, he argues for forty, then thirty, twenty and eventually ten righteous people. Only when Abraham reaches ten does he give up and part ways with God. In the end, Abraham never really accepts God’s verdict; he simply stops arguing with God.

One has to wonder why Abraham was so intent on defending Sodom and Gomorrah. Did these cities really deserve justice? Were they worthy of being saved?

I think we often miss the point of Abraham’s fateful encounter with God. The whole point of Abraham’s argument is not to protect the righteous but to defend Sodom and Gomorrah. Abraham could easily have suggested that God remove the righteous people and destroy the rest of the city. Instead he argues that the righteous who are present in these cities are enough reason to save everyone – even the wicked.

For Abraham there is no virtue in destroying a city even if the people who live there are terribly flawed. “Shall the judge of all the earth not act justly,” he asks. But what is so unjust about destroying a wicked city? The extraordinary thing about this encounter, then, is not that Abraham demands justice but that our forefather is willing to defend people who are so wicked!

Neither is Abraham concerned about causing collateral damage. He’s not worried that God might kill a few righteous people while wiping out all the wicked people in Sodom and Gomorrah. He is worried about all the people of Sodom and Gomorrah, despite the fact that they are who they are. All human life is precious - there is always the possibility of redeeming a human being - and so Abraham argues with God and tries to convince him not to destroy these cities.

Rabbi Samson Rafael Hirsch, a nineteenth century German Torah scholar, offers a wonderful reason why Abraham would defend Sodom and Gomorrah. The righteous people that Abraham speaks about are not simply righteous for their own sake. Abraham describes them as “righteous people within the city.” That is, they are people who have not given up on their fellow citizens. As long as there are people who are willing to live righteously “within the cities” of Sodom and Gomorrah; as long as there are people who still believe in and are willing to fight to change and save the city there is still hope for the people of Sodom and Gomorrah.

We often fall into the trap of stereotyping our foes and seeing them as completely wicked. Collateral damage seems like a small price to pay in order to wipe out wickedness or those who are a threat to security. Sodom and Gomorrah were such a threat in the time of Abraham. And yet Abraham recognized that it was no small thing to save a life even if the life seemed to be committed to such depravity. Abraham understood that there is more to justice then simply meting out punishments appropriate to the person’s crimes. Even Sodom and Gomorrah deserved to be saved!

As we saw this week, we can only be so correct in dropping missiles or conducting attacks on terrorist sites and wiping out the demagogues of violence. Both America and Israel certainly have good intentions in fighting a war against terror. But “good intentions” may not be enough. We must ask ourselves whether, in the end, we are doing justice when innocent bystanders are killed and there is collateral damage in trying to stop other acts of terror. At what point do we forfeit our own humanity in an effort to bring a semblance of justice into the world?

That is the challenge that Abraham places before God. “Shall the judge of all the earth not act justly?” The idea that Abraham suggested that God could not act justly seems almost absurd and yet Abraham understood that meting out justice isn’t necessarily in the interest of righteousness and goodness in the world.

It’s easy to stand here and pass judgment on Israel when it is struggling to defend itself or on the United States when most of us are not in a position to pick up a gun in the quagmire that Iraq has become. What is Israel to do when Hamas continues to allow rockets to rain down on Israeli cities and the build up of arms continues unabated in Gaza and Lebanon? How can America negotiate between feuding factions in a war torn country? And it seems unfair for us to impose a double standard on Israel in its attempt to defend its citizens. How just does Israel have to be in its own self defense? How fair does America have to be in waging a world wide war against terror? These are difficult questions – but they are issues we can not ignore.

All I can say is, thank God there is a double standard in the world. Israel’s raison d’etre must be more than simply self preservation – Israel must be a light unto the nations and if that means that the world expects more of us than they do of Israel’s neighbors, then, so be it! And if America wishes to be a bastion of democracy in the world than we must do more than simply use brute force to impose our ideas and our way of life on others. The means does not justify the ends.

Abraham is a powerful example of what we must become. God delights in his arguments because he holds God to up to God’s own standard of justice. No one is immune or exempt from doing that which is tzedakah u’mishpat- that which is righteous and just. Even the wicked deserve a hearing.

Too often I hear people talking about all Moslems, all Arabs, as if they are all terrorists. And certainly I understand the frustration that many people feel – there aren’t enough vocal moderate voices in the Moslem community today. But if Abraham could argue for all the people of Sodom and Gomorrah, then we should do no less. There are righteous within the city and when we ignore them and when we use force where it is not justified then we are responsible for muting those voices.

“Shall the judge of all the earth not act justly,” are among the most powerful words in the Bible. No one is exempt from doing justice, especially those who don the mantel of justice and right in the first place.

Carrying the Bible we must recognize the heavy burden and glorious burden that God has given us.

Shabbat Shalom