Parshat of the Week -- Vayera

Most of the time, the Torah teaches us in broad, bold strokes. But sometimes, the lessons we are supposed to learn are presented in the subtleties within the text. In Vayera, amidst the ongoing trials of Abraham, we learn something fascinating about…. G-d. Seeing the wickedness of Sodom, Amora, and three other cities, the Almighty has the ability to hit the reset button on yet another group of sinners. After all, hasn’t this been the Divine response to the failure of Adam and Eve, the generation of the Flood, and the overreaching builders of Babel? Why should these five cities’ worth of moral degenerates be any different? But what is so unique about this scenario is that we are given a glimpse of G-d’s inner monologue. He steps outside of Himself, and we share the Divine thought process. “Should I hide my actions from Abraham?” He wonders. The Almighty acknowledges Abraham’s faithfulness and potential for greatness. G-d weighs his options and decides to not decide. He turns the fate of the doomed cities into a teaching moment for Abraham… and for us. He opens the door for Abraham to intercede on behalf of the sinners, which the patriarch does immediately and instinctively. “Will you eliminate the righteous as well as the wicked?” Abraham challenges, and then opens up the bidding for the minimum number of upstanding citizens for whose sake the cities would be spared. The process doesn’t change the outcome in the least; the condemned cities are still destroyed. But this brief episode, unfolding over the course of only a few verses, teaches us volumes. First, that we can be Divine if we take a step back and consider our options rather than proceed on autopilot. The outcome may ultimately be better. Second, our primary instinct should be to defend the defenseless. Even if we can’t affect change, our automatic response should be at least to try. This brief moment of Divine introspection may not have altered the course of the Biblical story, but if we pay attention to the lessons we learn from between the lines, who knows how many souls we could save?
 Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi/Hazzan David B. Sislen