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Parshat Vayeira
By: Rabbi Moshe Goodman, Kollel Ohr Shlomo, Hebron

בס"ד

לשכנו תדרשו

Cleaving to the Holy Presence In Our Holy Land

"And HaShem Appeared to Him in Elonei Mamreh"

"And build it [the Temple] soon in our days to be built eternally, and the throne of David Your servant establish speedily within it."

The throne of David was first established in Hebron and thereby (see Zohar p. Lech Lecha) moved to Jerusalem, where David prepared the building of the Temple. Similarly this week's parsha begins with Elonei Mamreh-Hebron, where Avraham greeted the angels, and ends with Jerusalem and the Temple Mount, place of the Binding of Isaac. These two episodes also highlight the development between the personalities of Avraham, the Father of Kindness, Lover of Guests in Hebron the City of Patriarchal Kindness, and Isaac, the Father of Judgment, Bound in Self Sacrifice in Jerusalem the 'City of the North (associated with judgment versus Southern kindness) of the Mighty [Just] King' (Ps. 48, 3).

Between Hebron and Jerusalem we see how, throughout the parsha, Avraham relates to numbers of locations in the Land of Israel, as if suggesting a type of spiritual development stemming from Hebron and leading to Jerusalem. Thus, the locations related to by Avraham between them represent the process between these two focal points. In the past we have already discussed how the cities of Gerar (around Gush Katif) and Beer Sheva act as 'bridges' in this process. Now we will discuss how Avraham's relating to Sodom and its related cities also acts as a type of 'bridge' between Hebron and Jerusalem.

There is only one place in the Torah where the letters of Sdom are used, when not referring to the place Sdom itself, the words of Yakov to his sons Shimon and Levi: 'In their unity - 'Sodom' - may my soul not enter, in their in-gathering may my honor not reside... cursed is their anger for it is brazen and their wrath for it is firm...' This verse suggests that Sodom has a connotation of fanatic unity based on anger which leads to an ideology of extreme judgment opposing kindness, just as the Midrash depicts Sdom as a city where kindness was severely opposed. It may be argued that Shimon and Levi's actions in regard to saving Dina were beneficial, however sources point to Yakov's rebuke as referring to the state of Shimon and Levi's internal anger in their battle in Shechem and not referring to their external anger (as like an actor) which was beneficial in destroying evil. It should be remembered that ultimately it was this 'united' internal anger which brought about Shimon and Levi's will to kill Yosef their own brother.

Even though Sodom was destroyed, we see from the words of the prophets who use the terms of Sdom and Amoroh time and time again that this type of collected anger and its behavior must be uprooted entirely. We see in the case of Shimon and Levi and in the case of Sodom and Amorah that this strong judgment may have initial potential as in fighting the evil of Shechem or in providing for Lot, respectively. However, in both these cases Shimon and Levi must be divided and Sodom and Amorah are destroyed to become the Dead Sea, standing in the Holy Land as eternal testament to the retribution upon evil. Nevertheless, the attribute of judgment associated with Sdom is not obliterated entirely.  'Mitzar', which means 'small' (as in zair or tzair - young) although deemed for destruction, is saved through prayer. This matter shows that a 'small' degree of judgment sweetened through faith and prayer is worthy of salvation. Indeed, this town - Mitzar or Tzoar, just south of the Dead Sea - continued to exist even in the era the Sages (circa Second Temple era).

Our Sages teach that the attributes of good and evil parallel each other. In other words we can say that it was through the positive unity of Hebron the City of Unity that the evil unity of Sdom was destroyed, just as the angel Gabriel went specifically from Hebron to Sodom in order to destroy it. Nevertheless, it seems that it is this very connection between Hebron, the City of Kindness, with Sodom, and the saving of Tzoar thereof, that bring about the gradual development of the cities more related to this attribute of judgment, Gerar and Beer Sheva, leading to Jerusalem, 'there lie the thrones of judgment, the thrones of the House of David.' (Ps. 122)

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Real Stories from the Holy Land #195

'I was in tremendous debt and I saw that there was no natural way of getting out of it. Then, I heard a lecture and a song about thanking God for everything even for what seems very difficult, with the faith that it's all God's Providence, and so I did. Soon after 'it turns out' that my father was able to receive lots of money due to the fact that he used to be in the Syrian prison. My father turned to me and said: 'here, my son, take this money and pay all your debts...'

Sources: Pirkei DeRebbe Eliezer 25

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