TORAH SPARKS
Parashat Vayera
November 18-19, 2016 18
Heshvan 5777
Annual (Genesis 18:1-22:24): Etz Hayim p.
99-122; Hertz p. 63-76
Triennial (Genesis 18:1-18:33): Etz Hayim p.
99-104; Hertz p. 63-66
Haftarah (2 Kings 4:1-37): Etz Hayim p. 123-126; Hertz p. 76-79
By Rabbi
Mordechai Silverstein, Senior CY Faculty in Talmud and Midrash,
The Shirley & Jacob
Fuchsberg Center For Conservative Judaism
8 Agron Street, P.O. Box
7456, Jerusalem, Israel 94265
Tel:
972-2-625-6386 Fax: 972-2-623-4127
Pesach in
Sodom
Rabbi Daniel Goldfarb, CY Faculty and
Coordinator, Torah Sparks
When the angels came
to Sodom to rescue Abraham s nephew, Lot, before destroying the city, Lot
invited them in and prepared a feast and baked unleavened bread [u matsot
ufah] (19:3). Rashi s comment here has long intrigued me Pesach haya,
it was Pesach. On the one hand it seems so obvious why else would Lot bake matsot?
Yet on the other, so whimsical the story of the bondage under Pharaoh and the
exodus from Egypt which Pesach commemorates would not happen for a few hundred
years. In fact Rashi already noted that it was Pesach earlier in the day, when
the angels visited Abraham to tell him that Sarah would bear a son in a year
it was Pesach and the following Pesach Isaac was born (on 18:10), though in
the text about Abraham there are no Pesach code words, like matsot.
Were Abraham, Lot
and Rashi several millennia ahead of Steven
Spielberg
Back to the Future? There is a view that Abraham fulfilled the
mitsvot even before Matan
Torah (e.g., Ramban on Gen 26:5), but we should note that Rashi says it was
Pesach, indicating the date, not necessarily that Lot observed the
holiday or fulfilled the mitsva the way we know it.
A careful reading of
Chapter 19 reveals several other parallels between the stories of Lot in Sodom
and the departure from Egypt in Shmot. Petach habayit, the entry
to the house, is central in both. Lot s struggle with the mob in Sodom, angry
about his inviting strangers in for the night, takes place at the entry, the
door, mentioned six times in verses
19:6-11. In Egypt,
the Jews were commanded to put blood on the doorposts the night of the last
plague, as a sign (Ex 12:7, 22) and not to leave the house door till morning
for the Lord will pass over the entry [v pasach al ha petach] (12:22-23).
In both cases, when
those locked inside are finally commanded to leave, it is in a hurry. The
angels urge Lot to get his family out before we destroy this place, and Lot
tries to rush his sons-in-law: kumu tsu – Quick, get out (19:12, 14),
to no avail. The children of Israel ate the matsah and left Egypt b chipazon,
in a hurry (Ex 12:11, Deut 16:3).
Of course Lot lived
long before the story of Pesach, but this parashah shows that certain
fundamental values we associate with Pesach predated the holiday. Both
Abraham and Lot made efforts to take in strangers, leading the Talmud to
comment hospitality to guests takes priority over welcoming God s presence
(Shabbat 127a on 18:3). Neither in Sodom nor in Pharaoh s Egypt were guests
welcome, and in particular, those who were different or less fortunate. The
Mishnah (Sanhedrin
10:3) says that the
people of Sodom have no place in the World to Come; the Talmud (Sanh 109a)
attributes this harsh fate to their refusal to accept outsiders and to share
the bounty with which Sodom was blessed with others, particularly the poor. Lot
ran a real risk when he invited strangers in.
We begin the Seder service on Passover by opening
the door and proclaiming: Let all who are
hungry come and eat. Let all who are needy come celebrate the Passover.
In doing so, not only
do we commemorate the departure from Egypt, but also the hospitality shown by
our ancestors, Abraham and Lot.
A Vort
for Parashat Vayera
Rabbi Daniel Goldfarb, CY Faculty
Fear of
immigrants is not new. Like his uncle Abraham before him, Lot welcomes the
angels to Sodom, but this angers the locals. This foreigner came, they
said, and he is already playing judge [vayishpot sha phot] (Gen 19:9).
The residents of Sodom are familiar with, and afraid of, a phenomenon of Jewish
history an immigrant minority which studies and works hard and gets ahead as
a result. Imre Shefer (R
Avhrahm
Abulafia, Spain 13th
C)
said the Sodomites feared if they let more strangers
in, the newcomers
would take over the positions of power and leadership. The Kli Yakar notes
the repeated word, sh’fot judge. He, Lot, is already judging our
laws, they said. Judicial activism was not to their liking, either.
Table
Talk
Vered
Hollander-Goldfarb, CY Faculty
In this Parasha we have 2 main story
lines: The first relates to Yitzhak (Isaac), the son of Avraham and Sarah, from
the announcement about his upcoming birth to the binding of Isaac. The second
centers on the story of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, and Lot
(Avraham s nephew) exits the story.
1) Sodom and Gomorra
were notorious for their sinful behavior, to the point that God decides that He
has to punish them. None the less, before punishing them, God decides to do one
more thing. What does He do (18:21)? What seems odd in this situation, considering
it is God acting?
2) Rashi brings a rabbinic answer
to the above question. He says: I will descend: This
teaches the judges that they should not decide capital punishment cases unless
they have seen [the evidence]. What might we learn from his comment for
human conduct?
3) Sometime after the
birth of Yithak, Sarah demands of Avraham to send away the maidservant and her
son (21:9-14). Read the section carefully, pay attention to the terms and
description used to refer to the people involved (whose points of view are
heard in these terms?) Why do you think that Sarah demanded this? How does
Avraham feel about the demand? Why? How does he express his feelings?
4) After the birth of
Yitzhak and the departure of Ishmael, Abraham makes a covenant with Abimelekh
(21:22-24) who asked Avraham to remain loyal to his future generations as well.
What interest might Abraham have in making this covenant?
5) The Parasha closes with the binding
of Isaac (22:1-19). Avraham is told to take his beloved son Isaac and go to the
Land of Moriah and bind him on a mountain that God will tell him. The term for
going is Lech Lecha , the same term used at the beginning of Avraham s story
(12:1). These are the only 2 places in Tanakh where this term is used. Why do
you think that the Torah connected these 2 events?