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Perhaps our nation’s leaders today could take a page from this lesson ...

02/01/2017 03:26:38 PM

Feb1

Scribal Scribblings - #2 by Linda Coppleson


Last night, in Parashat Lech L’cha, I wrote about Abraham’s confrontation with God, as God is about to destroy the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. The interaction between them set me to thinking about accountability and shared responsibility - something that, considering the political environment in 2017, has been on my mind for the last few weeks.


Up until this point in the narrative, Abraham is a passive figure, hearing God’s commands and willingly obeying. He is commanded to leave his land, his home, the place his family knew, and he goes without question, uprooting his family to go to an unknown place. Later, he consults God about a number of issues - how to deal with his unhappy, barren wife, and how to relate to his first son, Ishmael, and his mother, Hagar. He unquestioningly follows the advice God gives him, without delving into the many moral or ethical questions that God’s commands present.  

But this time, as God is about to destroy two entire cities, Abraham steps up to challenge God’s decision. In Abraham’s mind (if I can presume to surmise what was in his mind), at issue is the moral tension between what is good for society and the needs of the individual. Should God carry out the justice that most of the people of the two cities deserve at the expense of the rightness of considering the possibility that there may be innocent lives at risk? Should the rights of the few who may be guiltless be subverted by the culpability of the many? It seems clear from the text that God is troubled by the question as well. That is why He calls upon Abraham, who is destined to be a bastion of not only justice, but righteousness as well, to challenge Him.

Genesis 18:17-19

וַֽיהֹוָ֖ה אָמָ֑ר הַֽמְכַסֶּ֤ה אֲנִי֙ מֵֽאַבְרָהָ֔ם אֲשֶׁ֖ר אֲנִ֥י עֹשֶֽׂה
וְאַ֨בְרָהָ֔ם הָי֧וֹ יִֽהְיֶ֛ה לְג֥וֹי גָּד֖וֹל וְעָצ֑וּם וְנִ֨בְרְכוּ ב֔וֹ כֹּ֖ל גּוֹיֵ֥י הָאָֽרֶץ׃
כִּ֣י יְדַעְתִּ֗יו לְמַעַן֩ אֲשֶׁ֨ר יְצַוֶּ֜ה אֶת־בָּנָ֤יו וְאֶת־בֵּיתוֹ֙ אַחֲרָ֔יו וְשָֽׁמְרוּ֙ דֶּ֣רֶ יְהוָ֔ה לַעֲשׂ֥וֹת צְדָקָ֖ה וּמִשְׁפָּ֑ט לְמַ֗עַן הָבִ֤יא
יְהוָה֙ עַל־אַבְרָהָ֔ם אֵ֥ת אֲשֶׁר־דִּבֶּ֖ר עָלָֽיו׃

Now the LORD had said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do, since Abraham is to become a great and populous nation and all the nations of the earth are to bless themselves by him?  For I have singled him out, that he may instruct his children and his posterity to keep the way of the LORD by doing what is just and right, in order that the LORD may bring about for Abraham what He has promised him.” 

This is one of the essential questions that this and other formative stories of the Torah explore.  The answer may be elusive, but it is the way in which God reaches out to Abraham to get another point of view that is so instructive. God tells Abraham of his plans to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah because He knew Abraham to be a trustworthy advisor. And before he carried out the plan, he took counsel with him to have a full picture of the consequences of what He was about to do. The story is as much about God’s leadership style as it is about Abraham’s courage in standing up to God.

Perhaps our nation’s leaders today could take a page from this lesson. By telling Abraham about his plan, God was holding Himself accountable in weighing the decision to destroy the cities and was taking responsibility for the results of the decision. And Abraham’s bravery in confronting God serves to demonstrate the necessity of telling truth to power. Maybe we can hope that our country’s leaders will take counsel from just and  righteous advisors and make decisions that take individual rights and the demands of the whole into account.

Thu, March 28 2024 18 Adar II 5784