29 So when God destroyed the cities of the plain, he remembered Abraham, and he brought Lot out of the … Reply, Good question. As you know, not all can be trusted. It is almost impossible for the reader of this text to miss its connection to the story of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis 19. Eventually, it became heartless. Maimonides, Mishneh Torah, Laws of Kings 12:5. Capitalism didn't make them poor, it just made others wealthy. when you will listen to His voice . But when G‑d made the earth, He did so with wisdom, so that all the world functions in a way of tikkun—the diametric opposite of Sodom's isolationism. Sodomize definition, to subject to sodomy; commit sodomy upon. Some of those kids were so young, they did not know they were Jewish. Other instances are scattered throughout the Talmud, and also discussed in later halachic works. Joe is infected with a Sodomite attitude. .”15. The Sodomites' key sin was not just hostility to newcomers. 31 One day the older daughter said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is no man around here to give us children—as is the custom all over the earth. There should be pretty good records of births, marriages, etc. Genesis 18:20-21 And the Lord said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous; I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto me; and if not, I will … This segment describes Lot leaving Sodom and God destroying the cities. If, at a later date, they discovered their "roots", they need not convert, as they were born to a Jewish mother. The gamut of opinions and explanations of this concept is presented at length by Rabbi Isaiah Horowitz in his Shnei Luchot Habrit (“Shelah ha-Kadosh”), Sha’ar ha-Gadol. Apparently, these two angels appeared in the form of men. 19 That evening the two angels came to the entrance of the city of Sodom. In fact, the most righteous man in Sodom was Lot—the man who offered his daughters to be gang-raped. It was because of this baseless hatred - sinas chinam - that S'dom and 'Amorah were destroyed. Reply, I refer you to 'The Enemy of Nature: the end of capitalism or the end of the world?' Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan. G‑d was not pleased with that world. As long as the law is righteous, there is a standard for repentance. (AD) Don’t look back,(AE) and don’t stop anywhere in the plain! (BJ) 37 The older daughter had a son, and she named him Moab[g];(BK) he is the father of the Moabites(BL) of today. Corrupt the law and there is no standard for Teshuvah. let me read this and study.thank you . They were nations overrun with evil. It’s commerce that redeems capitalism and It’s commerce that redeems capitalism and makes it good—very good. Questions While most Orthodox Jewish and Christian scholars have held the position that Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed because of their rampant homosexual behavior (namely, sodomy), there are others who believe that those cities were destroyed because of their pride.. Both in the antedeluvian world and in the world of Sodom the laws were changed and corrupted to legalize sinful behavior. . It was only after the Sodomites - who had demanded Lot hand-over his visitors to them so they could rape the visitors - that the visitors pulled Lot back inside his house. One of the reasons God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah was because he did not want the Jews to be influenced by this evil. The sin of Sodom and Gomorrah wasn't independence and isolationism, it was extreme wickedness. Next thing, they constructed a bridge at the gateway to their land and charged a toll to enter—even if you would choose to swim across. Is birth an accident? It doesn't seem that the people of Sodom has any choice but to die. Reply, I'm wondering, so how was Lot able to settle there, if they rejected foreigners? These people were the opposite of how Abraham treated others (including the stranger). It’s all one big capitalist market out there. Before this world was created, G‑d first created a world of tohu—a world of absolutes. (AS) 26 But Lot’s wife looked back,(AT) and she became a pillar of salt. Good for the world, good for the community and good for the individual. In Genesis 18, the Lord shared His plans to destroy these cities due to their sins: "Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is … Withholding money from a spendthrift child is an inobvious way. Reply, I love this talk, thank you. The Sins of Sodom and Gomorrah (18:20-21) "Then the LORD said, 'The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous that I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me. They could have ignored Lot's visitors. Being merciful to genocidal murderers is simply wrong. We have both the rigor of traditional rules of exegesis as well as faith in the fidelity of rabbinic tradition to guide us. Are all souls equally disposed and if so qhy are some souls born in comfortable surroundings but others face abject misery from birth? Reply, Is this the plain meaning of the text? makes it good—very good. 10 But the men(R) inside reached out and pulled Lot back into the house and shut the door. So he tells him to get off. New International Version (NIV), “No,” they answered, “we will spend the night in the square.”. Yet deeper: the need to need others. But in order to get there, we will have to go a bit further back, to Genesis 18. Abraham’s hospitality The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah by Jacobz de Wet/Wikipedia/Public Domain According to archaeologists working on the site believed to include the ancient cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, they found evidence confirming the Biblical record that the two cities were destroyed by sulphur and fire: 23 The sun had risen on the earth when Lot came… (AA)”, 16 When he hesitated, the men grasped his hand and the hands of his wife and of his two daughters(AB) and led them safely out of the city, for the Lord was merciful to them. Rabbi Abraham Twerski explains that in both cases the laws were changed to allow and even promote sin. He was not aware of it when she lay down or when she got up. So the Rebbe explained that he wasn’t referring to poverty of basic means—we will soon live in a prosperous world where “delicacies will be as plentiful as the dust.”16 Rather, there will always be a healthy imbalance of commodities that will require commerce for redistribution. Several time in the Bible the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah were given as examples of God’s judgment on those who reject Him and rebel against His Lordship (Luke 10:12, 17:29; 2 Peter 2:6; Jude 1:7). Sodom and Gomorrah Destroyed. Sodom and Gomorrah were cities mentioned in Genesis, notorious for their flagrant sin. Reply, We have to be careful, don't we, in explaining Torah that we don't do violence to the peshat, the plain meaning of the scripture? Aren’t we better off sharing everything? One has a fire inside him while the other stays cool. The Bible tells us all the inhabitants were depraved. If Hashem could lead Israel out of Egypt, couldn't Hashem teach Tikun to those in Sodom? This killing saved the Jew on the spot, and those, whom the Egyptian and his progeny would also kill.Most cannot see over the time-horizon, so can't know our acts' long-term impacts. They turned the walls and buildings to dust and something that fell from the sky ignited when each of them came in contact with the ground. In both accounts, the wicked men of the city wish to rape the male guest of an outsider who is sojourning in their city. Kabbalah, Chassidism and Jewish Mysticism. Reply, You could put them all in the same lab for 10 years, but without providing incentives nothing at all is going to happen. The souls of the people of Sodom originated from the realm of tohu. Surprisingly, both appeal to Scripture to support their positions, most notably Ezekiel 16:49 and Jude 1:7. Reply, What?Did you understand what he brought here?It's an explanation of their wickedness.It's a little simplistic to say . Plainly, the residents of S'dom and 'Amorah were psychopaths, so sought to be cruel to those, who had done them no harm. In Lurianic terms, “the light was too great for containment.” We moderns might say that when the parts of the whole work independently of one another, they generate far more energy than the whole can contain. Reply, Why are some people born in favourable circumstances while others suffer from birth? The men of Sodom and Gomorrah wanted to perform homosexual gang rape on the two angels (who were disguised as men). A married couple evolves over many years into a single being because they learn to need one another. Reply, Thank you for a deep and very clear study on this theme! Reply, This makes me wonder whether the great research labs, scattered among the worlds nations, would not have been better off pooling their resources in the effort to find a Covid-19 vaccine.They clearly need each other, yet seem to be motivated by profits, and so work independently and alone. 24 Then the Lord rained down burning sulfur(AN) on Sodom and Gomorrah(AO)—from the Lord out of the heavens. 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