Passover’s Message of Hope in the Aftermath of Oct. 7
6 min read
Bereishit, 18:32: “And he said, ‘please do not get angry, my Master, and I will speak even this time, perhaps You will find there ten’. And He said, ‘I will not destroy because of the ten.”
When God informs Avraham of His plans to destroy Sodom, Avraham famously beseeches God to save the city if there are enough righteous men there. He begins by hoping there are fifty tzaddikim and continually requests smaller numbers, until he finally asks God to spare Sodom if there are just ten. The obvious question is how could Avraham request God to spare a whole city of murderers and wicked people, for the sake of just ten tzaddikim? It would be understandable if he asked God to simply save those ten from the destruction, but it is evident that Avraham was asking that the existence of ten should save the whole city.
The Alter MiKelm1 answers this question based on the brief words of the Ibn Ezra.2 On the verse describing Avraham’s request to spare Sodom because of fifty tzaddikim who are within the city, the Ibn Ezra writes, “who fear God in public (b’farhesya).” The Ibn Ezra emphasizes that the Torah is referring to tzaddikim who are righteous in public. The Alter MiKelm explains that Avraham was arguing that if these kind of tzaddikim were in Sodom, then there was a reasonable hope that they would succeed in influencing the people of Sodom to repent. The Alter then explains then asks that this idea seems to contradict another concept – “ve’hatsnaya lechet im Elokecha”3 – “go modestly with your God” – which teaches a person should act in a modest manner. He explains this is true with regard to one’s own Divine service, but when one can influence others he must do so in public, with the hope that it will impact them. In this vein, Avraham would call out in the name of God in public, despite his modest nature. Similarly, Rabbi Meir Chadash writes that Avraham was arguing that if there was even just ten righteous men they could have the ability to cause a turnaround of the entire city of Sodom.4
This idea teaches us that in order for a person to attain the level of 'righteous’, it is insufficient that he works on only himself - he must also actively influence others. This is especially true in recent generations when myriads of Jews have sadly left the Torah path. In this vein, Rabbi Yisrael Salanter once referred to the idea that there are thirty-six hidden righteous men in the world. He asserted that in his times any true tzaddik could not remain hidden, given the need to influence Jews to adhere to the Torah path.
One may ask the question, that this idea makes a lot of sense with regard to righteous men, but what about most people who are not on that level – are we also obligated to help others in the spiritual realm? The following fascinating story with the Chofetz Chaim can help answer this question:5
The Chofetz Chaim once spoke at a major gathering of the Agudat Yisrael. He stressed that it was incumbent upon every individual to be involved in increasing God’s honor in his place of residence: One who was able to teach children, should teach children; one was able to give a class (shiur), should give a class; and one who was adept at speaking with people, should do that. Everyone should do what they could according to their ability.
Several hours later, the Chofetz Chaim surprisingly asked to speak again. He explained that after his first speech, he heard that some people were saying that the Chofetz Chaim himself is a great tzaddik and he can fulfil what he was saying, but who were they to be able to give shiurim or speak to people. They argued, that first they needed to teach themselves – with this argument they nullified the initial words of the Chofetz Chaim. In response to this argument, he gave the following analogy.
On one occasion a powerful non-Jewish landowner came to visit one of his Jewish workers. The worker hurried to serve him tea, but the water in the tea was full of sand! The worker explained that the water in their city was full of sand. The landowner explained that it is possible to clean the water by filtering it and thereby making it drinkable. The worker agreed to that in the future. A short time later, a fire broke out in the city but nobody did anything to extinguish it. The furious landowner demanded an explanation from the worker. The worker explained that they did not have any clean water with which to put out the fire, and so they could not put it out. Now even more angry at the stupidity of the worker – “to drink tea, we need clean water, but when there is a fire, we put it out with whatever water we have!”
Said the Chofetz Chaim, in this generation there is a fire raging the streets, the generation is getting destroyed – in such a situation, it is not feasible to say, “who am I and what am I”? With whatever ‘water’ one has – whether it be clean or dirty – full of sand or totally pure – we must run to put out the fire! Concluded the Chofetz Chaim, in this generation we are all obligated to do whatever we can to increase the honor of God in the world.
The Chofetz Chaim’s words certainly apply to the present generation as well, and each person must strive to do what he can according to his situation, to bring Jews closer to Torah. We learn from the Ibn Ezra, the Alter MiKelm, that ten tzaddikim can turn a whole city around, and from the Chofetz Chaim that even those who are not tzaddikim must do what they can. May we all merit to increase God’s honor in the world.
