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"qvi facit Arctvrvm et Oriona et Hyadas et interiora
avstri qvi facit magna et inconprehensibilia et
mirabilia quorum non est numerus"
--Iob 9:9, editio Uvlgata
Enjoy!
Daniel Joseph Min
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=oGLI
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| User: "Igor" |
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| Title: Re: Sodom's Cinders |
11 Nov 2006 12:47:17 PM |
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Dr Min PhD wrote:
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
"qvi facit Arctvrvm et Oriona et Hyadas et interiora
avstri qvi facit magna et inconprehensibilia et
mirabilia quorum non est numerus"
--Iob 9:9, editio Uvlgata
Enjoy!
Daniel Joseph Min
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iQA/AwUBRVQRyJljD7YrHM/nEQJ2EwCeOZl//P58KZfAc+3Mqs4onKKr72kAoK7+
+UeKVn49mDrRIEq7vRUwCbRD
=oGLI
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....It's a very nice dance. Oh, I'm sorry, that was the Cinnamon Cinder.
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| User: "torresD" |
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| Title: Re: Sodom's Cinders |
11 Nov 2006 12:53:44 PM |
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http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/786162.html
Portion of the Week / Complacency or compassion
By Benjamin Lau
In this week's Torah portion,
we read about Sodom's sinfulness
and its destruction.
Sodom is a symbol of an evil society -
of moral corruption, economic oppression
and sexual exploitation.
Lot wanders with his uncle Abraham
throughout the Promised Land,
sojourns with him in Egypt and
grows up under his tutelage.
The Torah hints that property issues
cause the disintegration of the
relationship between the two.
Seeking to preserve the extended
family unit and to avoid friction
and dispute,
Abraham suggests to Lot that
he settle in another part of
Canaan.
Lot's choice is very specific:
"And Lot lifted up his eyes,
and beheld all the plain of Jordan,
that it was well watered everywhere,
before the Lord destroyed Sodom and
Gomorrah,
even as the garden of the Lord,
like the land of Egypt,
as thou comest unto Zoar"
(Genesis 13:10).
His choice represents a dialectic
between Abraham's world of geography
and Sodom before it is erased from
the face of the earth:
Before its destruction,
Sodom is comparable to the
"garden of the Lord" -
that is, Eden - and Egypt.
The logic of this equation becomes
more clear when we learn that the
"plain of Jordan" is
"well watered everywhere."
Eden and Egypt are described
as areas blessed with abundant water.
The self-confidence displayed by
the Nile's residents parallels
that of Adam in Eden:
They neither fear drought nor
do they consider themselves
dependent on heaven's beneficence
(that is, in the form of rainfall).
Their apparent strength breeds
complacency and peace of mind.
In Lot's eyes,
Sodom's lifestyle conjures
up a similar image of power,
affluence and tranquillity.
His childhood memories and his
wanderings with Abraham in Egypt
because of the drought in Canaan
lead him to leap at the chance
of choosing Sodom.
In Egypt he saw an abundant,
confident, relaxed society,
and he personally is tired of
wandering along the Judean
mountain range between Bethel
and Hebron.
The Torah informs us,
"But the men of Sodom were wicked
and sinners before the Lord exceedingly"
(Gen. 13:13).
We discover the nature of their
sinfulness when two of the angels
arrive in Sodom at night to save
Lot and his family before the
city is destroyed.
The residents of Sodom do not
allow the visitors a peaceful
night's sleep: "...
the men of the city,
even the men of Sodom,
compassed the house round,
both old and young,
all the people from every quarter:
And they called unto Lot,
and said unto him,
Where are the men which
came in to thee this night?
Bring them out unto us,
that we may know them.
And Lot went out at the door unto them ...
And said, I pray you, brethren,
do not so wickedly" (Gen. 19:4-7).
Severe punishment
Rabbi Yitzhak Arama
(who lived around the time
of the expulsion of the Jews
from Spain and Portugal)
wondered why Sodom's punishment was so severe
("Akedat Yitzhak,"
the chapter on Parashat Vayera, section 20):
"The children of Israel sinned more
seriously on several occasions with
women who were far inferior to them,
committing robbery and unjust and
thoroughly immoral acts.
The appalled prophets rebuked them daily,
yet they were not punished as severely
as the residents of Sodom.
This is certainly puzzling."
In replying to his own question,
Arama argues that the explanation
is that there is a difference
between an individual's personal
sins and a whole society's
institutionalized sins.
Indeed, an entire system of social
alienation was constructed in Sodom.
Ezekiel points this out
when depicting Sodom:
"Behold,
this was the iniquity of
thy sister Sodom, pride,
fulness of bread,
and abundance of idleness
was in her and in her daughters,
neither did she strengthen the
hand of the poor and needy" (Ezekiel 16:49).
The midrash on this verse states:
"It was declared in Sodom that
all those who strengthened the
hand of the poor and needy with
a slice of bread would be burned
at the stake."
Affluence bred alienation and
complacency among the residents
of Sodom and made them indifferent
to the plight of others.
Their entire system of values
was mobilized to institutionalize
their cruelty,
and that is why God decides to destroy Sodom.
The midrash goes beyond what Ezekiel says
in the above verse and calls our attention
to a verse in this week's reading that
describes God's decision to destroy Sodom:
"And the Lord said,
Because the cry of Sodom
and Gomorrah is great,
and because their sin is very grievous;
I will go down now,
and see whether they have done
altogether according to the cry
of it, which is come unto me;
and if not, I will know" (Gen. 18:20-21).
According to the literal
interpretation of this verse,
God descends to hear the cries
of the city's poor and oppressed.
However,
the midrash provides another explanation:
"One day, Lot's daughter,
married to one of Sodom's
most affluent citizens,
saw a beggar searching for
food in the street and
pitied him.
The following day,
and each and every day,
when she left her home to
draw water,
she would take a
generous amount of food,
place it in her pitcher and
give it to the beggar.
People began to ask who was
keeping this beggar alive.
When it was discovered that
Lot's daughter was giving
him food,
she was sentenced to be
burned at the stake.
She called out to God,
'Master of the Universe,
avenge my death sentence
by punishing the people of Sodom!'
Her cry reached the divine throne
of honor and that is when God said,
'I will go down now, and see whether
the residents of Sodom have done
altogether according to the young
girl's cry.
I will make its foundations look
skyward and its towers burrow
into the ground."
Sodom's death sentence was signed
when Lot's daughter cried to God.
She alone paid the price of
the city's code of cruelty
to its poor.
The Torah does not forbid affluence per se.
However, it attacks the sinfulness
that an affluent society can breed -
the lack of compassion and the
creation of an entire legal code
that serves the rich while denying
the needs of the weak.
That is why God promises the
Jewish people the Land of Israel,
which "drinketh water of the rain
of heaven"
(Deuteronomy 11:11),
where our dependence on God's
mercy restrains our passions
and makes us less complacent
and much more compassionate.
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