Parashat Vayera 5782
Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz, Rabbi of the Western Wall and Holy Sites
In Parashat Vayera, we read the story of the city of Sodom. The people of Sodom deteriorated to abominable behavior and their society became morally corrupt, committing acts of burglary, murder, and rape. As a result of this continuous depravity, G-d decided to destroy the city. But first He shared his plan with Abraham, the man who publicized G-d’s name in the world by spreading justice and loving-kindness.
We might have expected Abraham to be happy about this news, about evil being punished. But that’s not what happened. Abraham begged G-d to look at all the people in Sodom, asking Him to save the city even if there were only fifty righteous people among them. When G-d doesn’t find fifty righteous people, Abraham keeps begging, dropping the number gradually until he gets to ten. When it becomes clear that there aren’t even ten righteous people in the entire city, Abraham surrenders and stops praying to save Sodom.
What we will examine is why Abraham thought, and G-d agreed, that it was enough to find ten righteous people to warrant saving the entire evil city from punishment. Couldn’t those ten righteous people be rescued and the rest of the city be punished?!
To answer this question, we will look at something said by the sages of the Mishna:
…judge all men with the scale weighted in his favor.
(Pirkei Avot 1, 6)
Different interpretations have been offered to this Mishna. One of the most fascinating of them is attributed to Rabbi Nachman of Breslev. He said that when we look at others carefully, we should always search for their good points. Even when it is a pe