In this week’s parasha, Hashem plans to destroy the wicked city of Sedom and asks, “Shall I conceal from Avraham what I am doing?”
“Avraham will surely be a great and powerful nation, and all the nations of the earth will be blessed through him. For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him. And they will keep the way of the L-rd to act with righteousness and justice, so that Hashem will bring upon Avraham that which He said about him.”
“ויגש אברהם”—“And Avraham approached and said, "Will You even destroy the righteous with the wicked? Perhaps there are fifty righteous men in the midst of the city; will You even destroy and not forgive the place for the sake of the fifty righteous men who are in its midst? Far be it from You to do a thing such as this, to put to death the righteous with the wicked so that the righteous should be like the wicked. Far be it from You! Will the Judge of the entire earth not perform justice?"
Avraham’s tone is shocking. “Far be it from You to do a thing such as this!” “Will the Judge of the entire earth not perform justice?” Who is Avraham to hold Hashem to a higher standard?
Hashem assures Avraham that, no, He will not destroy the city for the sake of the 50. At this point, Avraham’s tone shifts: “Behold now I have begun to speak to the L-rd, and I am dust and ashes. Perhaps the fifty righteous men will be missing five. Will You destroy the entire city because of five?" And He said, "I will not destroy if I find there forty-five."
Avraham proceeds to ask: “What about 40, 30, 20, 10?” All to which Hashem answers in the affirmative, until finally: “I will not destroy for the sake of the 10.”
What can explain Avraham’s shift in tone from combative to plaintive? From demanding that Hashem act justly to recoiling as an earthly being made of dust and ashes!
I believe this comes down to our dual relationship with Hashem. On the one hand, Hashem is our companion—He guides us, provides for us and cares for us. On the other hand, Hashem is our King—we don’t understand everything Hashem does—especially in the face of tragedy and loss. At times, His ways are entirely obscure and hidden, as if behind a thick veil.
These are two relationships that, for the most of us, are kept separate. At times we feel Hashem’s gentle and loving guidance. At other times His distance. When we are given the gift of a child, Hashem’s love is overwhelming. When a loved one is taken from us we feel Hashem’s distance—all we can do is מצדיק את הדין—say that Hashem acts with justice. We have no position of intimacy to ask: why? We simply must accept.
For Avraham, at this moment, the two relationships became mixed. The King of Justice—the Almighty at His most removed—chose to lift the curtain of concealment and intimately engage Avraham in the workings of His court.
Now, Avraham—Hashem’s beloved—has been given permit to ask the question that so often burns in our hearts, but our mouths cannot utter: if Hashem is just, why is there injustice?
Though Avraham was invited to take such a bold stance, he cannot help but recoil and be shocked at himself, a lowly creature of dust and ashes, and completely shift his tone. However, that doesn’t stop his inquiry. He continued to seek and probe until he found the precise answer to his question: תכלס, how many people are we talking about?
But why does Hashem offer this invitation?
I believe a re-reading of the verses I cited previously reveals the answer.
“Shall I conceal from Avraham what I am doing?”
“Avraham will surely be a great and powerful nation, and all the nations of the earth will be blessed through him. For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him. And they will keep the way of Hashem to act with righteousness and justice, so that Hashem will bring upon Avraham that which He said about him.”
Avraham is going to be a father—through his leadership and instruction of his children and household he lays the path for the future.
Interestingly, Rambam finds in this verse the source for the commandment to imitate Hashem—to follow, the middle-path:
Since the Creator is called by these terms and they make up the middle path which we are obligated to follow, this path is called "the path of Hashem." This is what Avraham, our Father, taught his children, as it says: "for I have known Him so that he will command his children...to keep the path of Hashem."
One who follows this path brings benefit and blessing to himself, as it says: "so that Hashem will bring about for Avraham all that He promised."
I would humbly suggest that Hashem was not only teaching Avraham the content of justice, but was also—following this same principle of imitation—modeling the kind of relationship he must have with his child. A relationship in which distance is always overcome by a warm embrace—in which strict justice and rules are always tempered by deep love and care.
Avraham’s journey began with a rupture—a separation from his father. He could not fulfill his destiny in the house of his father. With Avraham, a new model was established—the future of the nation would be dependent on parent-child relationship. Indeed, this is the secret of Judaism.
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