Rosh HaYeshiva, Machon Meir
When G-d decides to punish and destroy Sodom, He says: “Shall I conceal from Avraham what I am about to do? Avraham is indeed to become a great and mighty nation, and through him shall be blessed all the nations of the world” (Genesis 18:17). Rashi comments:
“It would not be right for Me to do this thing without letting him know…. I renamed him Avraham, which denotes a father of a multitude of nations. Can I, then, destroy the children without informing the father who loves Me?”
It is true that the people of Sodom sinned heavily, and ostensibly Avraham could have ignored them and cut himself off from them. Yet Avraham had a generous nature. He had a love for the Creator and His creations – even those who had distanced themselves far from Him. Therefore, as is our way with those we love, Avraham strove to speak up in their defense, as when he asked G-d, “Will you actually wipe out the innocent with the guilty?” (18:23). Suppose there are fifty innocent people in the city…. Shall the whole world’s judge not act justly?” (18:23-24). Only when he had finished defending them does it say, “When He finished speaking with Avraham, God left [him]. vbraham then returned home” (18:35). Rashi comments, “When the defender leaves, the prosecutor accuses.”
Today, we, the Jewish People, are Avraham’s descendants. The traits that characterize Avraham are imprinted within the soul of the nation, and the soul of each individual Jew. Foremost amongst those traits is the “good eye” (Avot 5:17), i.e., the generous nature that looks for the good and the positive in everything; the approach that views G-d’s creatures sympathetically, after the manner of Aharon HaKohen, who “loved his fellow man” (Avot 1:12).
Yet it is not enough to be born with good, noble traits. Rather, one has to bring out his full potential through proper education, the way Avraham did with his own children, as it says: “I have given him special attention so that he will command his children and his household after him, and they will keep God's way, doing charity and justice”(Genesis 18:19). The identity and purpose of the Jewish People down through the ages start with the Patriarchs, Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov, and with G-d’s having chosen Avraham, as it says, “You are the L-rd, our G-d, who chose Avraham and brought him forth out of Ur Kasdim and gave him the name of Abraham; and found his heart faithful before You” (Nechemiah 9:8).
And just as G-d chose Avraham, He also chooses the Jewish People, as in the blessing that we recite to “G-d who chose us from all the peoples” (Birkat HaTorah), and as in the blessings recited before the Shema, praising G-d who “lovingly selects His people Israel.” Our duty and task is to learn to educate and to explain what are the identity and purpose of the Jewish People, from the perspective of the Nation’s roots. We must look back at the rock from which we were hewn. By such means we will continue with confidence and joy, marching along the upward path towards complete redemption.
Looking forward to salvation,
With Love of Israel,
Shabbat Shalom.
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