A visitor to Sodom seeking to purchase food would be told by the merchants, \u201ckeep your money (what’s yours is yours) and I will keep my food (and what is mine is mine)\u201d\u2026<\/i><\/p>\n
In a complex and difficult world, most people simply want to \u201ctend to their own gardens\u201d \u2013 to be left to take care of what is theirs while leaving others to take care of what is theirs.\u00a0 And what could be wrong with that?\u00a0 What is wrong with a laissez- faire <\/i>attitude, one that establishes fair boundaries between me and my fellow?\u00a0 One which says simply, \u201cyou stay on your side of the fence and I\u2019ll stay on mine\u201d?<\/p>\n
The logic strikes us as sound.\u00a0 What could <\/i>be wrong with such an attitude?<\/p>\n
In Pirke Avot, we learn that there are four types of people.\u00a0 Those who say, \u201cWhat is mine is mine and what is yours is yours.\u201d\u00a0 This is the common or average person.\u00a0 There are those who say, \u201cWhat is mine is yours and what is yours is mine.\u201d\u00a0 Such people are ignorant.\u00a0 Then there are those who say, \u201cWhat is mine is yours and what is yours is your own.\u201d\u00a0 Such people are saintly.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Finally, there are those who say, \u201cWhat is yours is mine, and what is mine is mine.\u201d\u00a0 Such people are wicked.<\/p>\n
Reviewing these four types of people, most readers would associate the last, the wicked posture, with the people of Sodom.\u00a0 After all, was there ever a place more synonymous with evil and wickedness than Sodom and Gomorrah?\u00a0 Yet, it is not the fourth type of person the rabbis associate with Sodom, but rather the first, the one who says, \u201cWhat is mine is mine, and what is yours is yours.\u201d<\/p>\n
The common man.<\/strong><\/p>\n Rashi describes this common man as saying, \u201cI don\u2019t want others to derive any pleasure from me, nor do I want to derive any pleasure from them.\u201d \u00a0His commonness is that he shares nothing with the evil man, who wants only to take and nothing with the pious man, whose goal is always to benefit others.\u00a0 The common man is neither fleishig<\/i> nor milchig.\u00a0 <\/i>He is pareve<\/i>.\u00a0 He is white bread.\u00a0 Plain.\u00a0 Uninspired and uninspiring. Not one to praise, but not one to condemn either.<\/p>\n The question is, Is he really pareve<\/i>? \u00a0Can we really say that, while he has no particular value, he is not bad?<\/p>\n The truth is he is selfish, just like the Sodomites. \u00a0All they cared about was their own needs.\u00a0 They refused to be concerned with the needs of anyone else.\u00a0 Bear in mind, there would have been minimal sacrifice for the Sodomites to help others.\u00a0 They were not lacking in any way.<\/p>\n The Talmud teaches that the \u201clive and let live\u201d attitude in which each man looks out only for his own interests is both unethical and immoral.\u00a0 \u00a0It undermines the fundamental social contract.\u00a0 It directly contradicts what Rabbi Akiva identified as the greatest of all Torah principles, Love your neighbor as yourself.<\/p>\n What is missing from the common man\u2019s view of live and let live is \u201cwe\u201d and \u201cour.\u201d\u00a0 Some sense that we have a responsibility one for another.\u00a0 Judaism abounds with stories of individuals who shared whatever meager things they had to share.\u00a0 But these are the pious ones.\u00a0 There are those, like the Sodomites, who can afford to be kind and generous and are not.<\/p>\n The Sodomites did not want to share what was \u201ctheirs\u201d with anyone else.\u00a0 They would not lend a hand to the tired, the homeless, immigrants, and the \u201cpoor souls\u201d who could not support themselves.<\/p>\n Common?\u00a0 Or cruel?<\/strong><\/p>\n Our sages believed the selfishness and cruelty is founded on the attitude that, \u201cWhat\u2019s mine is mine, and what\u2019s yours is yours.\u201d<\/p>\n When Reb Levi Yitzchok of Berditschev assumed his rabbinical post he asked to only be invited to communal meetings when a discussion of new policies or regulations were to be discussed.\u00a0 Not long after, a meeting was called to deliberate a new policy that did not allow for beggars to collect door to door in the town but only to stand outside the shul, where each individual would be able to decide if he wanted to contribute.<\/p>\n Reb Levi grew upset after being invited to this meeting. \u201cWhy did you invite me to this meeting?\u201d he asked of the elders.<\/p>\n \u201cBecause we are to discuss a new regulation, and the Rav\u2019s input is needed,\u201d they responded.<\/p>\n Reb Levi Yitzchak scoffed at them and sharply responded, \u201cThis is not a new idea. The idea of limiting opportunities for the poor and not wanting to help others originated in Sodom.\u201d<\/p>\n It is not pareve<\/i>.\u00a0 It is selfishness that leads us to build a fence around ourselves and our neighbors.<\/p>\n Rabbi Dr. Eliyahu Safran serves as OU Kosher\u2019s vice president of communications and marketing.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cYou stay on your side of the fence and I\u2019ll stay on mine.” What could be wrong with such an attitude? <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":363,"featured_media":32468,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_cloudinary_featured_overwrite":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[85],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32391","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-inspiration"],"yoast_head":"\n