Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for 15 Cheshvan, 5784
Parsha Va-Yera’: (Genesis 18:1-22:24) 
Second Portion: Genesis 18:16 – 18:33

Much has been written about the story of Sodom and Gomorrah.  I’ve written the past two years about Justice and Charity. About looking within.  I am left with this question:

When we judge ourselves and others; do we focus on what we’ve done or what we haven’t done? Which outweighs the other?

If I find ten righteous mitzvahs in myself?  If I am keeping Kosher 10% of the time? Is that enough to avoid destroying myself emotionally?

What is my own personal standard? If I do 90% of the mitzvahs – if I am proud of my actions and how I navigate my thoughts 90% of the time?  Is that enough for me NOT to destroy myself?

Abraham negotiates with Hashem here (Genesis 18:20-33):

20And the Lord said, “Since the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah has become great, and since their sin has become very grave,

21I will descend now and see, whether according to her cry, which has come to Me, they have done; [I will wreak] destruction [upon them]; and if not, I will know.”

22And the men turned from there and went to Sodom, and Abraham was still standing before the Lord.

23And Abraham approached and said, “Will You even destroy the righteous with the wicked?

24Perhaps 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?

25Far 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?”

26And the Lord said, “If I find in Sodom fifty righteous men within the city, I will forgive the entire place for their sake.”

27And Abraham answered and said, “Behold now I have commenced to speak to the Lord, although I am dust and ashes.

28Perhaps 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.”

29And he continued further to speak to Him, and he said, “Perhaps forty will be found there.” And He said, “I will not do it for the sake of the forty.”

30And he said, “Please, let the Lord’s wrath not be kindled, and I will speak. Perhaps thirty will be found there.” And He said, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.”

31And he said, “Behold now I have desired to speak to the Lord, perhaps twenty will be found there.” And He said, “I will not destroy for the sake of the twenty.”

32And he said, “Please, let the Lord’s wrath not be kindled, and I will speak yet this time, perhaps ten will be found there.” And He said, “I will not destroy for the sake of the ten.”

33And the Lord departed when He finished speaking to Abraham, and Abraham returned to his place.

Let’s reframe this, shall we?  Let’s imagine. Instead of talking about Sodom and Gomorrah, Abraham and Hashem were arguing about you? Me? With apologies to Hashem, let me re-write the Torah to make it a little more meaningful:

And the Lord said, “Since the cry of Tyler has become great, and since his sin has become very grave, I will descend now and see, whether according to his cry, which has come to Me, they have done; [I will wreak] destruction [upon them]; and if not, I will know.”

And the men turned from there and went to Tyler, and Abraham was still standing before the Lord.

And Abraham approached and said, “Will You even destroy the righteous (parts of tyler) with the wicked (parts of tyler)?  Perhaps there are fifty righteous (parts of tyler) in the midst of him; will You even destroy and not forgive tyler for the sake of the fifty righteous (parts of tyler) who are within him?  Far be it from You to do a thing such as this, to put to death the righteous parts with the wicked parts so that the righteous should be like the wicked. Far be it from You! Will the Judge of the entire body not perform justice?”

And the Lord said, “If I find in tyler fifty righteous (parts) within him, I will forgive him for their sake.”

And Abraham answered and said, “Behold now I have commenced to speak to the Lord, although I am dust and ashes. Perhaps the fifty righteous parts will be missing five. Will You destroy the entire person because of five?” And He said, “I will not destroy if I find there forty-five (righteous parts).”

And he continued further to speak to Him, and he said, “Perhaps forty will be found there.” And He said, “I will not do it for the sake of the forty.”

And he said, “Please, let the Lord’s wrath not be kindled, and I will speak. Perhaps thirty will be found there.” And He said, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.”

And he said, “Behold now I have desired to speak to the Lord, perhaps twenty will be found there.” And He said, “I will not destroy for the sake of the twenty.”

And he said, “Please, let the Lord’s wrath not be kindled, and I will speak yet this time, perhaps ten will be found there.” And He said, “I will not destroy for the sake of the ten.”

And the Lord departed when He finished speaking to Abraham, and Abraham returned to his place.

Imagine father Abraham speaking to Hashem on OUR behalf? How does THAT feel? 10% of us.  That’s the floor.  10% of our friends. Family. Neighbors. Strangers. 10%.

That’s Hashem’s standard.  That is His charity. In line with His justice.

And how much do we struggle to live in THAT when those around us have standards such that nothing short of 100% will do? How often do we feel in our relationships – with our partner, our kids, our parents, our friends, food, money, etc that any one mistake will cause a destruction like that of Sodom and Gomorrah?

Friends. This is NOT the standard.  Hashem’s standard?  10 righteous parts of us.  10 mitzvahs.  10 opportunities to connect with Hashem.  Let’s ADD to our learning shall we?

• The Path of Ascension begins with curiosity and not judgement
• If someone’s curiosity causes doubt and defensiveness, be curious about our own doubt and defensiveness and NOT their motives for curiosity.
• The tree of life is within us. Choose life within with curiosity and not judgment
• Learn to balance the comfort of stumbling, with the challenge of pushing ourselves towards spiritual growth.
• Let go of a stable life. Freedom is accepting “what is” as a blessing. We can’t control what happens. We can only navigate it with bitterness or flow.
• Freedom requires balance – emotions vs intellect, humility vs confidence, thinking as an individual while staying meaningfully connected to others.
• Freedom comes from expansion and not contraction – but contraction is important to the process of expansion
• To live free, we must circumcise the foreskin of past trauma and feel the pain of healing so that our higher selves can appear to us, and we can co-create miraculous NEW life for us and others.

To be free, we must understand what love requires versus the world around us.  10%.  Just start there. Freedom is seeing the 10% and moving to 11%. Not being trapped by the daunting 90% we feel guilt and shame about.  The 90% is slavery. The 10% is freedom.

How do you judge yourself? Is that the measure you judge others? “Judge not lest ye be judged” seems to be more in line with THIS principle than what I’ve heard.  How do WE judge ourselves?

Those are my thoughts. What are yours?

Here is my commentary from the past two years:

Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for 13 Cheshvan, 5783

As I reflect on today’s portion, I’m shifting my thinking internally. There is something to be said for Abraham pleading with God and negotiating down from 50 to 10. The idea that 10 righteous men could save Sodom; let’s chew on that and bring it inside of us.

We often take stock of ourselves; and we are the harshest critics of ourselves. But if there were even 500 men in the city, 10 righteous men would have been enough to save Sodom. That’s 2%.  And if there were more living in Sodom, that percentage goes down.

Let’s apply this to ourselves.  I’ve heard Rabbis talk to students about keeping kosher (one of the mitzvahs).  And they would share stories about the Rebbe talking to people who told him “I don’t keep kosher.”  And the rebbe would basically say, that isn’t a true statement. If you aren’t eating ham all day, and you only have 1 – 2 hours of eating a day, then you are keeping kosher almost 90% of the day. It was a fascinating idea. The same with keeping Shabbat- even sleeping is honoring the Shabbat.

Hashem asks us to focus on what we ARE doing; and not what we are missing. And if 10 righteous men were enough to save Sodom, how much more will 10% of our behaviors being righteous help us connect with Hashem.

This is freedom. This is liberation.

And hopefully – with this freedom and liberation we move from 10% to 11%. That’s it. That’s the journey. The goal is more. Movement. Not being stuck.

What do you think?

Torah Thoughts; Heshvan 12, 5782

Todays portion of Va-Yera turns our attention towards Sodom and Gomorrah. The angels took leave and on their way from Abraham, they gave Sodom “a look.” They basically eye rolled Sodom (in my opinion).

God then considers how to navigate what to do with Sodom (which was in the land given to Abraham) and the impact it would have on Abraham. And God seems to give Abraham a compliment; “I have known him (Abraham) because he instructs his sons and his household after him to keep the way of God, acting with charity and justice.”

Let’s stop there for a minute. Charity and Justice. That is what Hashem notices about Abraham. My immediate internalization of this is “what about me? Do I act with charity and justice? Does Hashem notice?”

Where do we fall when it comes to charity? I’m not talking about giving money necessarily. To me acting charitably is being generous with the resources we have; including our time.

Where do we fall when it comes to justice? Are we treating others justly?

The last question for me here is the integration of charity and justice. How can I act charitably in the face of injustice? Do I act charitably in the face of injustice? Or do I remain silent?

Desmond Tutu once said; “If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality.”

I’d argue our silence comes from a place of neutrality. I mean at least mine does.

So moving forward, Hashem hears the “outcry” of Sodom and Gomorrah. The Talmud and Rashi both tell the story of a woman who was kind (and charitable) and would hide food to give to the poor when no one was looking. She was discovered and was smeared with honey and placed on the city wall and was devoured by bees. It was her cries specifically which Hashem is referring to in this weeks Torah portion when deciding the fate of Sodom.

Hashem decides to “see for himself” what is going on in Sodom given the outcry. Why? Why does Hashem need to come down and see? Can’t he see from where he is?

Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Rymanow writes that Hashem understood there may be context, and wanted to check out for himself the context of what was going on. He was given Sodom every benefit of the doubt.

So the angels walking with Abraham turned and went to Sodom.

Then we get the famous exchange between Abraham and Hashem.

Interesting context that Hashem recognizes Abraham’s charity and justice and Abraham responds by seemingly speaking harshly with Hashem.

Rabbi Schneerson writes a really excellent point here “this teaches that when faced with the task of saving a life, you (we) must be prepared to overcome your (our) natural disposition and take radical action.” Rabbi Schneerson goes on to apply this spiritually as well; “if you see someone drowning spiritually, you must make every effort to help that person, even if it entails an act which is out of character with your personality.”

Let me stop here. Let’s pause for a minute. If you are reading this and struggling spiritually, please let me know. I’d love to make every effort to help. If that means going outside of my nature and personality and just listen, I am very willing to do that! Please reach out via DM and I would love to support you!

Learning Torah without putting it into action seems counter intuitive for me. Everything works for our good. That is literal. If you are learning Torah as I am learning Torah; let’s put it into action! No pressure; but I also wanted to put that out there!

The close of todays portion is Abraham “negotiating” with God. Abraham wants to save the righteous in Sodom. He believed there was a remnant. A spark left; even though there was wickedness. The story of the woman and the sneaking of food reinforces this idea. Abraham and Hashem agree that if there are 10 righteous people in Sodom, Hashem would spare the destruction of the city.

What are your thoughts? Let me know in the comments below!