Shabbat Parshat Vayera - 5759 The early parshiyot in Bereshit tell us of disastrous punishments visited upon human populations. In Parshat Noach, we find two of these cataclysmic events. In the beginning of the parshah, we read of the "Dor HaMabul," the "Generation of the Great Flood" who, as a result of their addiction to violence, perished in that great upheaval of Nature. At its end, the parshah gives the account of the "Dor HaHaflaga," the "Generation of the Great Dispersal" who, as a result of their tremendous, but misguided, attempt at consolidation, were dispersed to the four corners of the earth, and their languages made mutually incomprehensible to their speakers. In this week's parshah, Vayera, we find the destruction of Sodom and Amorah by fire and brimstone, despite the attempted intervention by Avraham Avinu in their behalf. I think it may be possible to relate these groups and the one individual to the four types of personality described in the fifth chapter of Pirkei Avot, as follows: The people of the Dor HaMabul were in the category of those who believe "Sheli sheli v'shelcha sheli," "What is mine is mine, and what is yours is mine." Nothing matters but the individual. There are no rights but those defined by "might makes right." This generation was guilty because one man would take another's wife, but its fate was sealed because a man would steal his neighbor's house and everything he "owned." The Dor HaHaflaga, the Generation of the Dispersal, was punished because it couldn't distinguish between the individual and the community. They said, "Sheli shelcha v'shelcha sheli," "What is mine is yours and what is yours is mine." The denial of the concept of individual property is the attitude, according to the Mishna, of the "am ha'aretz," the "proletariat." They had unity of a kind, but it was the mindless anti-human unity illustrated by the Midrash which says that the laborers on the Tower of Bavel were more disturbed by the loss of a brick than the loss of a human being. Theirs was the unity of the totalitarian State; in order for humanity to progress, they had to be dispersed. The citizens of Sodom and Amorah had the attitude of "Sheli sheli v'shelcha shelcha," "What is mine is mine and what is yours is yours." Now there is an opinion in the Mishna that this is a "midah beinonit," a "reasonable attitude," and indeed much of Seder Nezikin is concerned with the protection of individual property rights. But these people went to a terrible extreme. They set up a rigid distinction between the "I" and the "Thou," such that any attempt to reach out and assist the "other" brought forth condemnation and murderous outrage from the Sodomite and Amorites. The final variation, "Sheli shelcha v'shelcha shelcha," "What is mine is yours, and what is yours is yours" is considered by the Mishna to be the attitude of the "chasid," of the truly righteous person. And indeed Avraham Avinu was considered the "amud ha'chesed," the "pillar of kindness." He showed this by his interaction with his fellow human beings and, at the highest level, by his willingness to return his beloved son to the "Ribbono shel Olam," the "Master of the Universe." I have a cousin, a Clinical Psychologist, who has an eclectic personality and was at one time "into" handwriting analysis. He had been in some correspondence with Rav Aryeh Levin, ZT"L (May his name be for a blessing), called the "Tzaddik," or "Righteous One," of Yerushalayim, because of his close involvement with Jewish soldiers imprisoned, and some hanged, by the British at the time of the establishment of the State of Israel. He took a sample of Rav Aryeh's writing to a professional handwriting analyst, who was astounded! He said that he had never before seen handwriting which showed no trace of ego, but of total "outer-directedness," which is probably as good a definition as any of what we call the "midah," the "characteristic," of "chesed," "selflessness." Rabbi Pinchas Frankel Rabbi Frankel is an Educational Coordinator at the OU |
