[Avodah] s&amora

[Micha Berger]

On Tue, Feb 07, 2012 at 02:53:37PM -0500, Micha Berger wrote:
: Related to this discussion:
: http://www.vbm-torah.org/archive/chavero/14chavero.htm

More, now from the prior email in that series:
http://www.vbm-torah.org/archive/chavero/13chavero.htm

    An analysis of the Midrashic sources yields a still darker picture
    of Sedom: a society based on social norms of iniquity beneath a
    cloak of legality. The inhabitants of Sedom relapsed, returning to
    antediluvian crimes. The Midrash Rabba (31) teaches that they would
    steal items worth less than a peruta, the minimum amount for criminal
    liability. Sin was sanctioned; violating the cruel laws was not.

    Pirkei De-Rabbi Eliezer (25) states that public ordinances were
    issued, making it the law of the land that pity was a capital offense:

	They issued a proclamation in Sedom saying: "Everyone who
	strengthens the hand of the poor and needy with a loaf of bread
	shall be burnt in the flames."

    Lack of hospitality was not merely the norm; it was mandated and
    required....

    One could imagine that the people of Sedom had arrived at their
    legal system based on some deep-seated beliefs -- for instance,
    that each man gets what he deserves from God. However, the verse in
    Yechezkel seems to speak of haughtiness and the failure to perform
    kindness. The Tosefta (Sota 3, quoted in Sanhedrin 109a) describes
    their mindset as based on an understanding of the beautiful land
    they had (13:10-11) and a fear that outsiders would flood their
    region and take it over. The Ramban expresses this clearly:

	The people of Sedom intended to prevent the entry of all
	strangers. They believed (as our Rabbis maintain) that many
	people would come to their land on account of its fertility. They
	refused to share their bounty with the less fortunate... Yechezkel
	similarly testifies that this was their offense... They rebelled
	in their prosperity and persecuted the poor... According to our
	Sages, they were notorious for every kind of evil, but their fate
	was sealed due to their persistence in failing to support the
	poor and the needy. They were continually guilty of this sin,
	and no other nation could be compared to Sedom for its cruelty.
    ...

    Rav Hirsch (v. 19) puts it nicely as he answers some pressing
    questions: What was the message of the despicable system of justice
    employ in Sedom? Where did it go wrong that it had to be destroyed?

	Sedom was a pleasure-seeking world, addicted to sensual
	enjoyments, a world that ultimately valued a person only to the
	extent that he was useful or provided pleasure. Precisely such
	a world is likely to twist the idea of strict justice into a
	double-edged sword of shameless sophism, arguing, "What I have is
	mine, and what you have is yours" (Avot 5:10). According to this
	worldview, egoism is a sacred principle of life, helplessness
	is considered a crime, and offering assistance is considered
	a folly and an offense against the public welfare. Under the
	rule of the principles of Sedom, entitlements were dictated
	only by achievements, not by needs; the poor and the needy were
	despised. Only a wealthy man, like Lot, who was bound to provide
	jobs and profit, could perhaps be granted rights; but begging
	was forbidden, and those who could not support themselves,
	were punished, imprisoned and exiled.

	Mishpat without tzedaka is deprived of the human spark, and it
	turns into cruelty. By contrast, Avraham's testament to his
	descendants places tzedaka before mishpat. What is more, in
	certain cases the legal code of the children of Avraham regards
	tzedaka too as mishpat, a legal obligation... Avraham is to direct
	his children to give Jewish tzedaka, not the pittance to the
	poor that makes the giver proud and humiliates the recipient,
	nor the public aid designed to protect the rich against the
	bitter anger of the destitute and despairing. He is to direct
	his children to practice the mitzva of tzedaka, which entitles
	everyone who is in need to exercise rights vested in him by
	God. This mitzva helps the poor stand tall before the rich and
	makes the rich man realize that he is merely the custodian of
	funds that rightfully belong to the poor.
    ...

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             You are where your thoughts are.
micha at aishdas.org                - Ramban, Igeres Hakodesh, Ch. 5
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