19 Marcheshvan 5781
Erev Shabbat Kodesh
Parashat Vayera
As our world tumbles down into the abyss reached by others before us - the generation of the Great Flood, the generation of the Tower of Bavel; the generation of Sodom and Amorrah - there is a lot of discussion going on about who is righteous and who will survive and who deserves to be rescued by HKB"H and how. It is no coincidence that since the mention of Gog uMagog at Sukkot, we have been reading the parashiot that deal davka with these events. If it is of real concern to us, we cannot do better than let the words of the parashah and its meforshim impress their truths upon our souls.
Taken from the Stone Edition Chumash Commentary:
...So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, and the betrothed of his daughters, and he said, "Get up and leave this place; for Hashem is about to destroy the city!" But he seemed like a jester in the eyes of his sons-in-law....By their impudence, Lot's sons-in-law had lost their chance to be saved, so the angels insisted that Lot hurry and take his wife and single daughters, for if he delayed, the lethal downpour would begin and it would be too late for him.This illustrates a common principle of God's conduct, one that is often encountered in history: Someone who is totally righteous - an Abraham, for example - may be saved by miracles even when everything around him is crashing down. Less righteous people may be granted an opportunity to save themselves from impending doom, but once the destruction begins, they will be caught up in the general carnage. Thus, Lot deserved to leave Sodom, whether in his own merit or Abraham's.... However, he could be saved only before the upheaval began, but not from its midst. Furthermore, neither he nor the others in his entourage were entitled to witness the fate of the other Sodomites and still remain unscathed. Thus, when Lot's wife turned around to see the horrors that her fellows were suffering, she, too, died.
We know already from last week's parashah that Lot went to Sodom in the first place because he chose materialism over spirituality, and that is why, despite being Avraham's nephew, his righteousness was considered lacking.
It is shocking to me how Jews are so invested in the outcome of these elections. Imagine if Lot had been busy with local Sodomite politics instead of rushing to be saved. I know that what needs to happen is far removed from the current reality, but it still needs to be said. US Jews should be devoting all their collective resources, energy, organisations etc, etc towards planning their mass aliya. Regardless of who wins the elections, the political, social and economic situation is and will continue to be highly volatile and detrimental to the Jews, for a myriad of reasons.
ReplyDeleteThe main lines of thought against emergency aliya seem to be, 1) that the situation is ok, and this is just doom mongering, 2) it's impossible for me and 3) it is too late. 1: if history continues, books will be written and scholars will argue ad infinitum about the complexity of this peculiarly seismic period, and the decline of American democracy, or its descent into who knows what. Just for example, the Trump Accountability Project will be coming to a cinema near you soon. Think French Revolution cum McCarthyism style witch hunt, against all Trump supporters. As I write, they are trawling your social media, to put you on the banned list. 2 and 3: with any endeavour our task is to make some kind of an effort, large or small, and let Hashem decide the outcome.