By Rabbi Moshe Pogrow
Why did Hashem choose Avraham? Not to make him rich and powerful, but to be the founder of a nation charged with a noble mission. Avraham was to instill in his son the guiding principles of the future nation, so that long after he passed away, his children would still live on the basis of these principles.
Their mission: lishmor derech Hashem laasos tzedakah u’mishpat. Lishmor derech Hashem means to walk before Hashem in holiness and purity, symbolized by the mitzvah of milah. Laasos tzedakah u’mishpat refers to decency in human relationships, exemplified by Avraham’s hospitality. Just as Hashem made milah the cornerstone of His people, just as later the Torah will place chukim before mishpatim, setting limits for the body and only then rules for relationships with each other—so too here it says first v’shamru derech Hashem, and only then laasos tzedakah u’mishpat. Walking with G-d in moral purity is a precondition for just human relationships. Mitzvos bein adam lamakom are the root of mitzvos bein adam lachaveiro.
Mishpat, justice, is what a person is entitled to demand. Tzedakah, benevolence, is not inherently one’s own. Typically, mishpat comes before tzedakah; you cannot steal with one hand while giving charity with the other. In this pasuk, however, tzedakah is first, to protest the policies of Sedom.
Sedom shows us that a pleasure-seeking world, one that values a person only to the extent that he is useful, may twist justice into the double-edged sword of “what’s mine is mine; what’s yours is yours.” Under this philosophy, selfishness is sacred, helplessness is a crime, and offering assistance is foolish. In Sedom, what you are entitled to is dictated by your achievements, not your needs. A wealthy man like Lot, who provides jobs and profit, is granted rights; but those who cannot support themselves are punished, imprisoned, and deported. Mishpat without tzedakah is deprived of a humane spark and turns to cruelty.
In contrast, Avraham’s descendants place tzedakah ahead of mishpat. In certain cases, tzedakah is a legal obligation! We give Jewish tzedakah—not spare change that makes the giver proud and the recipient humiliated, nor public aid designed to insulate the rich from the anger of the poor. We give tzedakah, entitling the needy to the rights given to them by G-d. Tzedakah helps the poor stand tall, and the rich to realize that they are merely custodians of money that rightfully belongs to the poor.
True tzedakah and mishpat cannot be practiced in isolation, but are part of a G-dly life. This cannot be legislated by government, nor achieved through a Communist revolution. Only the soul can produce people with a sense of duty and commandment who will transmit Avraham's testament to generations: v’shamru derech Hashem laasos tzedakah u’mishpat.
Based on the commentary of Rav Shamshon Raphael Hirsch zt”l on Chumash, with permission from the publisher.
