By Tuvia Goldstein
רש"י פרשת וירא
ישב - ישב כתיב, בקש לעמוד, אמר לו הקדוש ברוך הוא שב ואני אעמוד, ואתה סימן לבניך, שעתיד אני להתיצב בעדת הדיינין והן יושבין, שנאמר (תהלים פב א) אלהים נצב בעדת אל:
Rashi explains that יושב is written חסר to imply that הקב"ה gave אברהם a direct command to sit. In this way, their audience would be similar to the format of a בית דין, where הקב"ה is “standing” and the דיינים are sitting. Why is this the format that הקב"ה wants for their discussion?
To introduce the answer, the Rav invoked the גמרא in יומא (לה:). There, the גמרא goes through a list of potential excuses one could make to explain why they didn’t learn תורה in their lifetime and a person in history who renders that excuse worthless. If one claims that he was too poor to make time to learn, ה'will point to הלל who was too poor to pay the fee to enter the בית מדרש but climbed to the roof of the בית מדרש in the snow to learn. Similarly, if one claims he has too many business dealings, רבי אלעזק בן חרסום demonstrates the weakness of that claim, as he owned a thousand ships and a thousand cities, yet still spent his whole day learning.
In a similar way, אברהם was מחייב the people of סדום. As it is clear from the רמב"ם’s description of אברהם’s upbringing in הלכות עבודה זרה, he didn’t have any special teachers or circumstances. He was raised like everyone else. The difference was that he made a choice to ask questions and think critically, which eventually led him to the discovery of הקב"ה. The people of סדום could’ve easily done the same if they only took the time to stop and think.
The fact that אברהם is מחייב the people of סדום is what ה' is trying to demonstrate with this image of a בית דין. Avraham was able to discover God on his own. Avraham made the choice to sit at the entrance of his tent in the blazing heat, two days removed from his ברית מילה at the tender age of 99. He is מחייבthe people of סדום who do the opposite to their guests and pay no attention to God.
This idea, of אברהם as the מחייב of the people of סדום, can explain a few strange פסוקים. In יח:טז, the תורה describes ויקמו משם האנשים וישקפו על־פני סדם ואברהם הלך עמם לשלחם. In יח:כב, the תורה describes ויפנו משם האנשים וילכו סדמה ואברהם עודנו עמד לפני ה'. In between, ה' soliloquizes about how He can't possibly hide His plans for סדום from אברהם because כי ידעתיו למען אשר יצוה את־בניו ואת־ביתו אחריו ושמרו דרך ה' לעשות צדקה ומשפט למען הביא ה' על־אברהם את אשר־דבר עליו. Why does the תורה repeat that these men are headed towards סדום? Additionally, what does telling אברהם about the punishment for the people of סדום have to do with the fact that אברהם will pass along his מסורה to his family?
The point is that not only is Avraham מחייב the people of סדום because he discovered הקב"ה for himself, but אברהם was also incredibly successful at inspiring others. He was so successful that it is practically guaranteed that his children will follow in his footsteps. ה' is giving us one more reminder why the people of סדום deserved destruction. They had their chance. They had their chances to come close to ה'. אברהם was traveling the land preaching his message, but they were unmoved. They chose to keep their eyes closed, in stark contrast to the conduct of אברהם אבינו.
The message for us is simple. How often do we close our eyes? How often do we justify our actions, or lack thereof, with excuses? There are people around us dealing with much harder challenges, yet they strive on and power through. We need to open our eyes and minds to ways that we can work harder and better ourselves. If they can do it, we can too!
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