Hospitality

Vayeira

Advert for a B&B (Bed and Breakfast) in a tourist brochure:

“Our world-famous beds are one-size-fits-all. If you are too short, for a nominal fee we provide stretching services and if you are too tall, we can resize you at no cost. Bring your own food, none will be provided. Call between 3:30-3:31 a.m. to book, or better still, don’t call! We will do our best to make your stay an unforgettable one! SPECIAL this week only – free bloodletting!”

When we think today of the epitome of evil, it conjures up barbaric images of ISIS chopping peoples’ heads off or a terrorist ploughing with a truck into a crowd of innocent men, women and children.

There are degrees of evil and HaKadosh Baruch Hu punishes each according to their severity. We recently read about the generation of Enosh and the tsunami that wiped them out, the generation of Noach and the Flood, the Dor Hapalaga. Each of these received their appropriate punishment and although they did things that we consider “evil”, the Torah does not mention that word in connection with them.

The first time the Torah categorically calls something “evil,” and not only evil but VERY evil (Bereishit 13:13), is in connection with Sodom. In this shiur we will be trying to understand what makes them the epitome of evil.

The first time Sodom is mentioned in the Torah is just after listing the Canaanite descendants of Cham, son of Noach. The pasuk lists the borders of Canaan and one of the borders includes Sodom in the south. Following that, the next time we hear of Sodom is in last week’s parsha Lech Lecha, in connection with Lot.

Lot’s shepherds were caught grazing their flocks in fields that did not belong to them. Avraham decides that he and Lot can no longer live together and they part ways. Lot is given first choice where he would like to live and he chooses Sodom. Today we speak of the Jordan Valley. Back then it was not a valley, but a plain and not just any plain, but such a fertile plain that it is compared to a combination of Gan Eden (where the numerous rivers irrigate the trees) and Egypt (where the Nile overflows its banks and irrigates the seeds) (Malbim, Bereishit 13:10)

The Gemara (Sanhedrin 109a), quoting psukim from Iyov (28:5-8), tells us that in this area there were precious gems and gold in such abundance that each time someone pulled a carrot or cucumber out of the ground, embedded in the roots were gold nuggets and sapphires. The place was a paradise!

All the people who lived there were billionaires. In fact, that was the entrance requirement for living in Sodom. Anyone who was not in that class was not allowed to live there. Their reasoning was – it is better for all the very wealthy people to live concentrated in one place, rather in a mixed neighborhood, including less-wealthy people who would constantly be looking at you with "big eyes." This way, theoretically, none of the residents would be envious of their neighbors.

Since the residents of Sodom were so rich, they did not need an influx of revenue, from tourism for example, in fact they despised tourists, or any other guests for that matter! Their worst nightmare was beggars coming to beg for money. They simply wanted to live their lives of luxury in peace and quiet in their own estates, behind their high walls, without interference from any outsiders and even from their neighbors. You do your thing and I will do mine (Pirkei Avot 5:10).

Until now the premise seems reasonable and even understandable and legitimate. However, the residents of Sodom were not simply misanthropic, they were pathologically misanthropic. They did not satisfy themselves with big signs at the entrance to Sodom saying “NOT Welcome to Sodom” or “Trespassers will be prosecuted,” they felt it necessary to legislate and enforce laws against entry of outsiders, laws that defy basic human decency and logic.

The Gemara (Sanhedrin 109a) and the Midrashim list some of these laws and customs and paint a picture that gives us an idea of some of these laws, “Anyone found feeding a guest will be sentenced to death.”

If a poor person happened to stumble by chance into Sodom, all they found were doors and windows slammed shut in their face – in the best case. In the worst case they were robbed and raped (this is the origin of the word “sodomized”). If the people of Sodom caught a visitor sleeping on the park bench, they would make “adjustments” to this unfortunate guest. If he was shorter than the bench, they would stretch him (with a rack) and if he was too tall, they would “shorten” him by lopping off one or more limbs. It was not spontaneous or optional, that was the law!

They thought that the beggars would quickly figure things out for themselves and not stick around or starve. To their dismay they found beggars lingering for days on end until they discovered how. The beggars were catching the pigeons in the trees in the park and eating them to survive. So, the Sodomites cut down all the trees in the park. No trees, no birds.

A few months after the park trees were removed, they discovered one beggar still managing to survive. So, they spied on him to see how this was possible. They discovered that Lot’s daughter Plotit was feeding the beggar. She would go down to the river with her empty jar to collect water and in the empty jar she hid a sandwich which she gave to him to eat. The court in Sodom sentenced her to death. They stripped her, lathered her with honey and tied her to a stake on the roof of her home. Millions of bees descended on her and stung her to death. The Sodomite court wanted to teach everyone a lesson – one bee (beggar) is harmless, but if you feed one, you get a “swarm” and they are deadly. Plotit’s anguished cries were the clincher that sealed Sodom’s fate (Bereishit 18:21).

Our parsha begins describing Avraham's over-the-top hospitality and continues by contrasting it with the opposite end of the spectrum.

Parshat HaShavua Trivia Question: What is another name for Amrafel mentioned in the parsha (Bereishit 14:1)?

Answer to Last Shiur’s Trivia Question: What gifts did Pharaoh give to Sarah when he released her? Pharaoh gave her his daughter Hagar as a maidservant and he gave her Eretz Goshen as a gift.