November 5, 2023|כ"א חשון ה' אלפים תשפ"ד Avraham, Sodom and our Moral Obligation to Oppose a Ceasefire
Print ArticleTwo weeks ago, we reflected on how to rise up after tragedy. That’s what Noach taught us after the flood. Last week, we reflected on how to wage war. That’s what Avraham taught us in his battle against the four kings. This week we reflect on how to deal with evil and that is Avraham’s struggle with Sodom.
We all know how difficult and challenging it is to deal with Hamas. We need to eliminate Hamas, minimize IDF casualties, rescue our hostages and minimize Palestinian civilian casualties. And the pressure for a ceasefire is increasing especially as Hamas continues to embed itself into the civilian population and has no problem using civilians as human shields. Israel knows that it must resist international pressure for a ceasefire because leaving Gaza with Hamas intact is simply untenable. We must resist the ceasefire and destroy Hamas to restore Israel’s military deterrence and safety for its citizens. There is another reason, though, why we must eliminate Hamas, and that is because we have a responsibility to be a moral voice that we must share with the world. In fact, God told us that we have a moral voice that we must share with the world.
When He decides to destroy Sodom, He says: הַֽמְכַסֶּ֤ה אֲנִי֙ מֵֽאַבְרָהָ֔ם אֲשֶׁ֖ר אֲנִ֥י עֹשֶֽׂה – should I hide from Avraham that which I plan to do? God feels that it’s important to inform Avraham that He plans to destroy Sodom and the question is why. Why must God notify Avraham about these plans? Well, God tells us why. וְאַ֨בְרָהָ֔ם הָי֧וֹ יִֽהְיֶ֛ה לְג֥וֹי גָּד֖וֹל וְעָצ֑וּם וְנִ֨בְרְכוּ־ב֔וֹ כֹּ֖ל גּוֹיֵ֥י הָאָֽרֶץ Avraham will be a great and populous nation and all the nations of the earth will bless themselves by him – Avraham will be a role model for the nations of the world. The Netziv explains that in the future everyone will turn to the Bnei Yisrael for advice. For example, when Ben Hadad, the king of Aram, was deathly ill, he turned to Elisha the prophet for advice. Therefore, it’s important that Avraham understand important world events because at the end of the day, the world, consciously or unconsciously, will turn to us for leadership on important core values. But God continues. He says:כִּ֣י יְדַעְתִּ֗יו לְמַעַן֩ אֲשֶׁ֨ר יְצַוֶּ֜ה אֶת־בָּנָ֤יו וְאֶת־בֵּיתוֹ֙ אַחֲרָ֔יו וְשָֽׁמְרוּ֙ דֶּ֣רֶךְ יְקֹוָ֔ק לַעֲשׂ֥וֹת צְדָקָ֖ה וּמִשְׁפָּ֑ט For I have singled him out, that he may instruct his children and his household after him to keep the way of God by doing what is just and right.
God must tell Avraham about Sodom because Avraham will teach his children ethics and morality and his nation will be the moral voice of the world. But what does that have to do with Sodom? Sodom, on the surface, presents a major ethical challenge for Avraham Avinu. Wipe out an entire city? Can’t God be merciful? That is why God explains that זַעֲקַ֛ת סְדֹ֥ם וַעֲמֹרָ֖ה כִּי־רָ֑בָּה וְחַ֨טָּאתָ֔ם כִּ֥י כָבְדָ֖ה מְאֹֽד – the cries of Sodom and Amora from all the violence is so great and their sin is great. Sometimes, the only response to evil behavior is destruction.
But if God merely wanted to tell Avraham about the punishment of Sodom and Amora and to teach Avraham that sometimes the only response is destruction, then why does God tell Avraham about His plans of destruction beforehand? Why not wait until after wiping out Sodom? Because, says God: לְמַ֗עַן הָבִ֤יא יְקֹוָק֙ עַל־אַבְרָהָ֔ם אֵ֥ת אֲשֶׁר־דִּבֶּ֖ר עָלָֽיו – to bring Avraham to act like who he is. And who is Avraham? He is an אב המון גוים. He should act like a father to the people of Sodom and he should pray for them. Avraham should pray for his archenemy.
God wants us to struggle with the ethical dilemma of destroying those who are evil. God wants us to ask, maybe there are 45 righteous people, or 40, or 30 or 20 or 10. Maybe there’s another way to achieve our aims without the complete destruction of our enemy. Avraham, the man of chesed, of lovingkindness does not feel comfortable with the destruction of Sodom, and neither should we. Even though זַעֲקַ֛ת סְדֹ֥ם וַעֲמֹרָ֖ה כִּי־רָ֑בָּה, even though the cries of violence and terror are great, we still must struggle with the destruction of our enemy. Even though Sodom is the anti-Avraham and stands in complete opposition of what Avraham believes, Avraham still views himself as the אב המון גוים, as the father of humanity and he struggles with such a destructive response. But the Torah is clear. Struggle with this problem. But sometimes, at the end of the day, there is no other option other than destruction.
The nations of the world are right. The humanitarian crisis in Gaza is real and we should not simply dismiss the concerns of many in the world for the plight of innocent civilians. But at the end of the day, we have no other choice in order to protect our citizens. We cannot allow a terror group that perpetrated such a massacre to remain as a military or political force in Gaza. Avraham is someone who will teach his children tzedakah and mishpat, righteousness and justice and he will be the moral voice to the world. And sometimes, unfortunately, justice requires engaging in destruction, civilian casualties and deaths of innocent civilians. Sometimes זַעֲקַ֛ת סְדֹ֥ם וַעֲמֹרָ֖ה כִּי־רָ֑בָּה, the cries of the families of the over 1400 innocent Jews who were massacred and the over 240 hostages who were kidnapped requires nothing less than utter destruction.
And it’s more than simply we should do this to protect our citizens. We have a moral obligation to do so. After the Tree of Life synagogue massacre in Pittsburgh five years ago, Rabbi Meir Yaakov Soloveichik wrote an article in Commentary magazine about the expression that we say when someone is killed for being Jewish. When someone dies in the normal course of events, we say “zichrono livracha” after the person’s name, meaning “may his memory serve as a blessing.” However, when someone dies for being Jewish, we say, “Hashem yikom damo” after the person’s name, meaning “may God avenge his blood.” The language in this phrase parallels the 13th century prayer known as Av Ha-rachamim, which commemorates those murdered in the Crusades. In the article, Rabbi Soloveichik writes, “Prayers such as these illustrate something fundamental about Judaism. Memory is central to Jewish life; that is why we pray after any death that the one who passed should be remembered. Yet when it comes to murdered Jews, our recollection of how they died must be joined forever with a prayer for divine vengeance.”
This idea is reflected in an unusual halacha. If someone dies in a natural way, then he is cleaned in a process called tahara and he is buried with tachrichin, or shrouds. However, if someone is murdered, then he is buried as he is found, without shrouds, and there is no tahara. He is buried in the clothes in which he died. We bury murdered Jews in their clothes soaked in their blood. Both the statement of “Hashem yikom damo” and the method of burial require us to remember how he died and to seek divine justice.
Rabbi Soloveichik provides two reasons for this. First, when it comes to mass murderers, we don’t simply forgive the murderer. We cannot. It is not an expression of kindness to forgive the mass murderer. It is actually immoral. It is immoral to allow a world where these acts of murder go unpunished. Second, the war against the Jewish people is more than simply a war against a nation, a race, or a people. We are God’s chosen people. So the war against the Jewish people is a war against God. We not only have an obligation to fight Hamas to achieve deterrence, but we have a moral obligation to tell the world that justice must be served for mass murderers and that a ceasefire at this time is not kindness. It is actually immoral.
I know I shouldn’t say this because I have impressionable high school students visiting our community in shul today, but I have a Facebook account. I am told, though, that having a Facebook account actually makes me old. On my Facebook page on October 9th, two days after the terror attack, I posted a picture that I saw on the internet of different cities throughout the world proudly displaying large Israeli flags or having a visual of a large Jewish flag on large structures - at the Opera House in Sydney, Brandenburg in Berlin, Downing Street in London, the Chigi Palace in Rome, the Empire State Building in New York and Puerta del Sol in Madrid. I wrote on top of that picture, “The civilized world stands with Israel now. I hope and pray that the civilized world stands with Israel in a week from now and in a month from now.” It has not even been a month since the terror attack and look at the weakening support for the State of Israel. We need moral clarity more than ever now. Yes, Avraham Avinu and we must struggle with the concept of eliminating evil. We must struggle with the tragedy that many innocent lives will be killed in the context of war, and not just innocent Israelis. But God tells Avraham in this week’s parsha, and frankly, He tells all of us in this week’s parsha, that there are times when, unfortunately, a ceasefire is not an option. There are times when זַעֲקַ֛ת סְדֹ֥ם וַעֲמֹרָ֖ה כִּי־רָ֑בָּה – when the cries of our Jewish brothers and sisters are so great that we have a moral obligation to say, “Hashem yikom damam,” may God avenge their blood. We have a moral obligation to not allow Hamas to remain in Gaza and continue to terrorize both Israeli and Palestinian civilians, especially when Hamas spokesmen have said that they plan to continue to implement other terror attacks like the one on October 7th again. We have a moral obligation to feel the pain of innocent Palestinians who have been hurt or killed when we see their pictures on TV, but we also have a moral obligation to place the blame squarely on Hamas and not allow that pain deter us from what we need to do to defeat Hamas.
On November 14th, a week from Tuesday, at 1 pm, we have an opportunity to add to our collective moral voice at a massive rally to support the State of Israel and American Jews that is taking place on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. In December 1987, we rallied for Soviet Jewry. In April 2002, we rallied in support of the Jewish State. On November 14, we once again call upon all of you to rally in support of the Jewish State. We are constantly asking or should be asking what can we do to help other brothers and sisters in Israel when we are not serving on the front lines. This is something that each one of us can do. Make plans to attend the historic rally. May Hashem help our brothers and sisters in Eretz Yisrael achieve what they need to achieve to eliminate the evil that surrounds us and to keep our nation safe.