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Writer's pictureJim Long

The Limits of Mercy

Throughout the narrative in the book of Genesis, the patriarch Avraham experiences life-altering episodes known collectively as the Ten Tests. Parashat Vayera (Gen. 18:1–22:24) encompasses some of those, including the destruction of Sodom & Gomorrah, as well as his tenth and final test: The offering of his son Isaac, known as the Akeida, or The Binding. Every event in this Torah portion can be distilled an essential idea; that through his Ten Tests, Avraham eventually became a fully-developed role model for Israel, the holy nation that would spring from his loins, via Isaac.


Avraham possessed a perfect sense of Justice and Kindness. He knew God had judged Sodom & Gomorrah for their disgusting sexual practices and while most readers are familiar with this aspect of their wickedness, the most damning behavior of the Sodomites was their extreme cruelty, even towards strangers. The Torah informs us that their abhorrent lifestyle finally provoked the Creator:


"Then HaShem said, “The outrage of Sodom and Gomorrah is so great, and their sin so grave! I will go down to see whether they have acted altogether according to the outcry that has reached Me.” - Genesis 18:20-12


Does the Creator really need to, "...go down to see,"?


Of course not. The Torah is, on the most basic level, a book of instruction. The language expresses a lesson. In this instance, we are taught justice is never meted out based on second-hand accounts but through eyewitnesses. The above reference to "...the outcry has reached Me," is fleshed out in the Oral Tradition, from sources such as MeAm Loez, exposing the hideous practices of the Sodomites whose citizens had actually outlawed acts of kindness. One day, a weary traveler stopped to rest and refresh himself in Sodom unaware that it was against the law to offer lodging, food or water to strangers. The man had no place to sleep or have a meal and was on the verge of collapse until a young woman, moved by compassion, decided to help the man. She waited until dark and brought him food and water. Three men witnessed the young woman's benevolence and immediately dragged her before a judge.


He sentenced her to death.


The citizens of Sodom gathered together after collecting wood, piled it high in the city square where they tied her up, then watched as the young woman was burned to death. The victim was the daughter of Avraham's nephew, Lot.


Her screams reached Hashamyim and HaShem judged the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah guilty. Yet, Avraham pleaded with God to spare the wicked cities. He began his petition asking for a reprieve if fifty righteous men could be found. Avraham was forced to lower the number to forty, then thirty, eventually reducing the minimum to ten men.


Why did Avraham stop at ten?


Rashi explains that Avraham recalled the Flood of Noah, when eight righteous people could not save the world.


On the other hand, the Sages say that Avraham stopped at ten because he understood a critical aspect of communal responsibility. Even as few as ten righteous people could exert a moral influence, helping turn others toward goodness or, at the very least, preventing evil from completely dominating the city. Below this threshold, the influence becomes too small to counterbalance or transform the a society's overall behavior.


Some commentaries suggest that Avraham, as a prophet, sensed a divine threshold in his dialogue with God. Avraham sought justice and mercy but also wanted to honor God as the prime source for direction in all things. Thus, when he arrived at ten, he believed he had reached a respectful limit without being presumptuous in his appeal.


The number ten appears frequently in Jewish thought as the number of completeness and divine order, as seen with the Ten Commandments, or Ten Utterances with which God created the world. They represent an aspect of the Creator's interaction with the material world—revealing a measure of Divine revelation, moral law, and judgment. According to the Zohar, Avraham’s negotiations represented the delicate balance between mercy (chesed) and justice (din). Avraham, the embodiment of mercy, was testing the bounds of chesed in a way that wouldnt displace the attribute of justice that upholds the world. In all these interpretations, Avraham’s choice to stop at ten righteous souls demonstrates a profound insight, that in the case of Sodom and Gomorah, there are limits to mercy.


I opened this commentary by referencing the Akeida, the tenth and final test for Avraham. It's the very reason there is a chosen nation called Israel. The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, according to Seder Olam, the Jewish Chronology, occurred in the year 2048. The Akeida took place thirty-six years later, when God tells Avraham to take his son Isaac to Mt Moriah where he will present him as an offering. Isaac, who was thirty-seven at the time, was a willing participant. At the last moment, the knife blade resting on Isaac's neck, an angel stays Avraham's hand. He is shown a ram caught in a thicket. It's substitute for Isaac. WIth this, God demonstrates His rejection of human sacrifice and endorses animal offerings by providing the ram. Avraham named the place, “HaShem will see”.


What will God see?


He will see the unquestioning force of Avraham's will to obey the Creator which is instilled in his descendants who, rather than needlessly die on an altar, offer their lives, in service to God and humanity. That is the central message of the Akieda.


Isaac was willingly bound so that he could give his life. At Sinai, his descendants offered themselves as God's servants. This is the ultimate fulfillment of the original command to Avraham, to "Go for yourself," (Lech Lecha); more that simply relocating he was to re-orient and change his thinking in a very radical way about everything, especially the role of he and his descendants in the task of Tikkun Olam, fixing the world.


Avraham's life offers us a simple blueprint for saving the world: Uphold justice and promote kindness. It's an idea embedded in the DNA of the Jewish People and really, anyone who embraces and practices the basic tenets of Torah. Today the Jewish People remain bound (even binding themselves with tefillin)as a nation of priests who will serve in a House of Prayer for All Nations...the very site of the Akeida.

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