Vayera

In the Torah portion Vayera we have recounted one of the main purposes of the Jewish religion which is to eradicate moral evil from the world.  You know, there are two types of evil in the world, physical evil and moral evil.  Physical evil is the evil that is embedded in nature, itself.  That is the evil of one animal eating another.  The very basis of the animal kingdom is violence.  Also, there are storms, frustration, death, pain, suffering. We can ameliorate many of these things but we cannot end them ourselves.  That is why G-d has to send the Mashiach Who is going to finish the job.  Our main purpose is to end as much moral evil as possible in the world.  This we can do.  We can try to arrange societies in such a way that they do not promote evil but promote good.  We can and we should try to foster goodness among people and not evil.  Each of us, we know, has a choice. We can choose to do good or evil.

That is, of course, the underlying message of much of this Torah portion.  We learn how G-d has decided to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah.  We learn that they are evil people who do not treat strangers well, that their very society is corrupt because the laws are corrupt.  The laws are meant to do evil not good.  The laws are meant to favor certain families as opposed to other families, that the laws are meant to discriminate against strangers and to hurt them. We see this clearly in the way that strangers who came to Lot are treated. We see that these strangers when they come to the house of Lot are surrounded by a mob, and Lot is asked to send these people out of his houses so that they could do evil to them.  Lot, who was taught by Abraham the importance of hospitality, refuses, but he perverts his values, too, by offering his daughters instead of the men.  G-d, of course, protects these strangers who are, in effect, angels and nothing happens to them, but we see the mindset of the people of Sodom.  In the Book of Judges we have a similar story about how the tribe Engiva and the Tribe of Benjamin, how there a man comes with his wife and his concubine and how the people surround the house in order to do terrible things to the concubine.  He gives them the concubine and they kill her after sexually torturing her.  The other tribes are up in arms and they demand that the people be handed over to them and the Benjamites refuse saying that they will take care of it themselves and they have their own courts of justice.  In the case of Sodom and Gomorrah the cities were destroyed completely, but with Benjamin this was not so, although the Benjamiites were defeated in battle and most of their menfolk were actually killed in battle.  However, there is a difference in these two cases.  The difference is that in the case of Sodom and Gomorrah the laws, themselves, were evil and the society had no intention of changing these laws, while in the case of the Benjamites this was just the product of evil people and the laws, themselves, were not bad but that they were evil people.  The Benjamites wanted to deal with this themselves.  The other tribes did not have confidence that they would do it in a fair and just way.

This, of course, probably explains why it is that Abraham bargained with G-d over the people of Sodom and Gomorrah.  After all, He knew that they were wicked but he had hopes that they could change.  In our modern day we see that evil societies have risen up like Nazis in Germany and the Communists in Russia, and the Nazis felt that their laws were just.  Naziism, itself, was a Messianic movement.  It felt that if they could rid the world of Jews the world would be redeemed, that the only thing that prevented the world from being a perfect place of brotherhood and peace was the terrible Jews who had infected the world with a terrible moral virus.  They, therefore, felt that if they killed all the Jews the world would be redeemed.  The Communists, on the other hand, had a beautiful philosophy, from each according to his ability to each according to his needs, but they felt that they could achieve their goals by killing individuals, by harming people, and Stalin killed over 20 million people as did Hitler, but these types of philosophies end up in terrible violence.  That is not the way we are supposed to end evil.  We are supposed to end evil by banding together and forming groups who will change society's laws by being a model of how society can be structed so that evil can be minimized and people will want to do good.  That is what it says here when it says that Abraham argued with G-d.  It first of all says that Abraham approached and said, "Will You destroy the righteous with the wicked? Perhaps there are 50 righteous people in the midst of the city." G-d relented and He said, "If I will find in Sodom 50 righteous people in the midst of the city I will forgive all that place for them." The rabbis say that in addition to Sodom and Gomorrah there were 3 smaller cities, so all together there were 5 cities, and if there were 50 righteous that meant there was a minyan in each city, an organized group who could effect change through their own personal example and also through their organized effort. Abraham then asked, "What if there are only 45? “Will You destroy because there are only 45?" G-d said, "I will not destroy if I find there are 45." G-d does not say that He will forgive.  He just says He will not destroy.  Then Abraham continues and says, "What happens if there are 40?" This time G-d does not say He will not destroy or not forgive, He says He will not do.  Then Abraham says, "What happens if there are only 30?" Again, G-d does not say He will forgive or not destroy but says, "I will not do." Then when Abraham comes back again with the number 20 He says, "I will not destroy because of the 20." It does not mean He will not punish but He will not destroy the city completely.  The same thing is true when Abraham mentions 10.  Again, He says, "I will not destroy because of the 10." We see that if there are 50 righteous people that means there is a minyan in every city and G-d said He is not going to destroy but will even forgive because there is an organized effort to change things and to change things so that society, itself, can be renovated, that their laws could be restructured so that eventually the ideals of morality and goodness can permeate the society.  If there are only 45, G-d said He would not forgive them but He would not destroy the cities but He would punish them because there are righteous individuals.  Here there are only 9 in each city.  If there are only 9 in each city then they are not organized as an effective group but at least society has some personal examples and there is a chance that after the society is punished that they will need the words of these individuals, so G-d does not say He is going to forgive.  He says He is going to destroy but will not wipe them out.  Then when we talk about 40 and 30 here G-d does not say that He is going to forgive them or will not destroy them but will punish them, but He says, "I will not do,“ which means He will wait and see what happens because here we are talking about 4 of the 5 cities having a minyan, have a group of organized people.  Maybe these 40 will influence the fifth city. Then you have 30, which means 3 out of the 5 cities have a minyan.  Perhaps they will influence the other two cities^ but when you get to 20 and to 10 there is only a minyan in two or one of the cities, then the probability of this organized effort doing some good without G-d punishing them first is almost nil, so G-d does not say here He will forgive but says, "I will not destroy them," which means He will punish them.  So we see from this that we are called upon to organize ourselves to fight evil, to organize ourselves to show positive examples and to change the laws of the society but we are not supposed do this by killing people and among people, as the Communists tried.  What we are supposed to do is effect good laws and change the evil laws.  If we do not have an organized effort, at least there should be individuals who are there who can cause the city to be spared, although the city or country will be punished.

In this Torah portion, too, we see that it is a long hard struggle to end evil. In fact, the rabbis say only in the time of the Mashiach and when the Mashiach will come when you have as much as possible to end moral evil and physical evil that G-d will send the Mashiach Who will end all evil.  It is interesting to note that there are three non-Jewish women who primarily are given credit for bringing about the Mashiach.  One of them is recounted in this Torah portion.  It is the eldest daughter of Lot.  After the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah Lot and his daughters thought that the whole world was going to be destroyed and Lot fled to the mountains and there his daughter fearing there would be no people left got her father drunk and became pregnant by him.  Of course, she gave birth of Moa, and from Moa came Ruth, and Ruth wanted so much to be part of the Jewish people because she realized the responsibility that is cast upon the Jew to try to bring Messianic days by ending all evil in the world, and she, although she came from a background that was known for its cruelty and lack of compassion, was a very compassionate person.  In fact, many times it happens that there are many Jews who do not realize what the Jewish message is.  They think that Judaism is only eating bagels and lox and listening to Kol Nidre.  They do not realize that Judaism is necessary in order for the world to be redeemed and we accomplish our goal by fighting to make society just and serving as examples of moral living.  She wanted so much to be part of the Jewish people she married Boaz, a man much older than her, and, of course, she was the great-grandmother of Dovid HaMelech.

Then, of course, we learn on the other side how Judah had actually had children from his daughter-in-law.  He did now know it was his daughter-in-law at the time. He failed to give her to a younger son after his two older sons had died without leaving any children, and Tamar gave birth to twins, and from Peretz came the lineage of Boaz, so from both sides of the Mashiach's lineage we have doubtful heritage where we have relations which are really in most instances considered illicit, but somehow these women wanted so much to be part of the Jewish people and recognize the importance of the Jewish mission that from them actually came the Mashiach.  Let us all hope and pray that all of us, too, will recognize that it is our job to create a gust-, society, especially now in Israel where we have to be a light unto the nations and try to create a society that is just and that will foster goodness among all mankind. Of course, there will always be evil people but if a society is not evil and tries to help people be good we can rest assured that we will bring the Mashiach.
That is probably why this new peace accord with the PLO struck such a deep chord of agreement among the Israeli public.  Most observers did not think that that would happen, but the Jewish tradition wants justice to prevail, even justice for our enemies, and we are hoping and praying that the PLO do not take this as a sign of weakness, but that they will realize that this springs from the Jewish tradition and that the Jews in Israel, too, will be careful so that they do not in their quest for justice commit suicide, so we all hope and pray that soon this message of extirpating evil from society by trying to make society just and right will permeate all the world so the Mashiach will come quickly in our day.  Amen.