What's the use?

There are always questions that come up when we study Torah.  Every word of Torah, including the stories, teaches us how to live as Jews and fulfill our mission on earth.  There are many layers of meaning to each word, and asking questions is an important part of learning.  There are some questions that I like to call head-scratchers.  We read something and wonder what on earth it means, what the purpose is and what we can learn from it.  Or we read a story and scratch our heads and wonder why the story happened and what it is teaching us.  One such example is the story of Avraham in relation to the city of Sedom. 

 

The people of Sedom and the surrounding four cities were so wicked and corrupt that Hashem decided to destroy them.  There are many stories told about the cruelty of those people, the way they mistreated any visitor and their horribly corrupt system of “justice.”  The last straw, the Torah teaches us, was when they caught a young girl surreptitiously giving food to poor people, a capital offense in Sedom.  They undressed her, smeared her with honey and left her near a hornet’s nest, and she was stung to death.  This was only the last of many horrific acts of cruelty and violence that all the people in those cities lived by.

 

But before destroying the cities, Hashem tells Avraham what He is planning, and Avraham, as expected, tries to plead for them to be spared.  “Maybe there are [some] righteous people among them,” he says.  Hashem assures him that there are none, and proceeds to destroy the cities.  So the question here is: why on earth would Hashem invite Avraham to pray for them knowing that they didn’t stand a chance?  Is this some kind of game that He is playing?  Is He teasing Avraham or is this some kind of test?

 

Here is one answer.  Corruption, cruelty and violence have an impact on the world, not only the direct victims and the perpetrators.  A corrupt world is a world of darkness, where the entire environment is affected negatively.  Hashem wanted to provide a balance and to have humanity bring some light into this dark place.  Think about it.  Avraham was the epitome of kindness and holiness.  He spent his life providing food, shelter and teaching to hundreds of thousands of people.  There was a place called Sedom that did the exact opposite - shunning guests, killing those who did come and punishing anyone in town who would show any kindness.  You would think Avraham would be thrilled to see them removed from the face of the earth.  Instead he selflessly stepped forward to intercede on their behalf.  This unconditional kindness brought a light that counteracted the evil effects Sedom brought into the world.  Hashem knew that there was no hope for the people of Sedom, but wanted to bring the light that Avraham provided to the world to counterbalance their evil and cleanse the environment, and that was what Avraham accomplished with his prayers. 

 

We never know if an act of kindness will have a direct impact on anyone.  But the act itself is powerful and can be a game-changer in the world.  As the story of Avraham’s prayer for Sedom shows, a single act of kindness, a single candle lit, can dispel years of evil.  And of course, as Rambam states, a single act of kindness can tip the scales for the entire world and bring redemption.