And why was salt involved? Rashi says:
ותהי נציב מלח. בְּמֶלַח חָטְאָה וּבְמֶלַח לָקְ תָה; אָמַר לָהּ תְּנִי מְעַט מֶלַח ָלוּ, אָמְרָ ה לוֹ אַף הַמִּנְהָג הָרַ ע הַזֶּה אַתָּה בָא לְהַנְהִיג בַּמָּקוֹם לָאוֹרְ חִים הַל הַזֶּה )בראשית רבה(:
By salt had she sinned and by salt was she punished. He (Lot) said to her once: “Give a little salt to these strangers” and she answered him, “Do you mean to introduce this bad custom, also, into our city?” (Bereshit Rabbah 50:4).
Lot’s wife refused to allow guests in. She refused to give strangers a bit of food to eat. She thought this was normal, lawful, and moral behavior! Sefer Ora v'Simcha says, what does it mean she didn’t want to give salt? When Lot brought guests home – something natural to him as he came from the house of Avraham – she would serve them food but without any salt. Food without taste, just to check the box but without a desire for them to enjoy. Not only did she not want them to return, but she wanted them to leave after the first course and let others know it’s not a house worth visiting! Sefer Kerem Chemed says the opposite. Lot’s wife scared away guests not by withholding salt but by pouring it on heavy! Any recipe calling for a teaspoon got a cup, and a tablespoon was replaced with a bagful. Food without any salt can still be eaten, but when salt is the primary ingredient – one quick taste and guests darted off from the house, lips burning and all. She didn’t then throw away the food. Rather, when permissible family members would arrive to eat, she’d add more water and other ingredients to bring the dish to an edible point. This is why Lot asked her – תְּנִי מְעַט מֶלַח he wanted just a bit of salt this time, for these special guests, and not a bagful like she’d usually throw in. And that is why she answered, “What? You want to impress the guests and make them comfortable? No way!” Kerem Chemed says, she used a ton of salt, so she turned into a ton of salt!
וְאַנְשׁ ֵי סְדֹם רָ עִים וְחַטָּאִים לַ ה' מְ אֹ ד׃
The people of Sedom were wicked and sinful towards Hashem, exceedingly.
Chazal say they were wicked with sins of sexual immorality, and sinful with their money. But Hakadosh Baruch Hu did not destroy them for these two grave sins. The Navi tells us (Yechezkel 16:49):
ָאוֹן שִׂבְעַת־לֶחֶם וְשׁ ַלְוַת הַשְׁקֵט הָיָה לָהּ גְהִנֵּה־זֶה הָיָה עֲוֺן סְדֹם אֲחוֹתֵך וְלִבְנוֹתֶיהָ וְיַד־עָנִי וְאֶבְיוֹן לֹא הֶחֱזִיקָה׃
Only this was the sin of your sister Sedom: arrogance! She and her daughters had plenty of bread and untroubled tranquility; yet she did not support the poor and the needy.
They didn’t feed the poor and for that Sedom was destroyed. Avraham Avinu was told to teach his children, through the lesson of Sedom, that without tzedakah and mishpat there is no purpose or right to live. Without tzedakah and mishpat, destruction comes.
The Midrash tells us (Bereshit Rabbah 8:5), four classes of angels were consulted prior to man’s creation. Malachei HaChesed responded favorably, as man will perform acts of chesed. Malachei HaTzedakah answered in similar fashion, as man will perform acts of tzedakah. Malachei HaShalom voiced opposition, however, saying man will make altercations, and Malachei HaEmet also opposed the idea, saying man will speak lies and live with falsehood. Hakadosh Baruch Hu asked for four opinions and the result was a tie. Two versus two. Given there was no majority present and no overtime to be played, man could not be created. So, what did Hakadosh Baruch Hu do? He took Emet (Truth) and threw it to the ground, effectively eliminating its vote. The other angels asked why it was thrown to ground, after all Hakadosh Baruch Hu is called Emet, and both Kiso Emet and Chotamo Emet. He responded to the angels, “Fear not, I will eventually raise him back up, as it says אֱ מֶ ת מֵ אֶ רֶ ץ תִּ צְ מָ ח– Truth springs up from the earth (Tehillim 85:12). Which were the two angels in favor of man’s creation? The angels of tzedakah and chesed. Without them, there is no world.
And if there is no chesed, there is no mishpat. I’ll bring an example from the Gemara. The locals wanted to dispose of visitors, so they’d lay them down on a מיטת סדום– a bed that only allowed a very specific size to fit properly. If a person was too short, they’d remove their pelvis and stretch them. If they were too long, they’d chop off part of the body without hesitation. Who does something like that? Who can reach such a level of cruelty? I think we know all too well.
People who can chase poor people from town, who create laws against helping the poor, and who brutally kill anyone caught helping out someone in need – they teach us the need to perform tzedakah and mishpat. The Gemara (Ketubot 66b) speaks of an incident involving Rabban Yoḥanan ben Zakkai, who was riding on a donkey and leaving Jerusalem when he saw a young woman gathering barley from among the dung of the animals of Arabs. She was so poor that she subsisted on the undigested barley within the dung. She said to him: Rabbi, sustain me. He did not recognize her, and replied: My daughter, who are you? She replied: I am the daughter of Nakdimon ben Guryon. He then said: My daughter, the money of your father’s household, where did it all go? How did you become so poor? She replied: Is there not a Proverb that says מֶלַח מָמוֹן חֶ סֶ ר – Salt for money is lacking? Just like salt protects the meat, so does tzedakah protect one’s money. A generation that does not want to give tzedakah and chases away the poor – their punishment is fire and brimstone, and nothing ever growing from their land again.
When the angels left Avraham Avinu’s tent, we are told they looked toward Sedom – ַשׁ ְ קִ פוּ עַל־פְּנֵי סְדֹם וַי. All instances of the word השקפה in the Torah have negative connotations, except for one. In Parshat Ki Tavo we read:
הַשְׁקִיפָה מִמְּעוֹן קָדְ שְׁך מִן־הַשָּׁמַיִם וּבָרֵ ך אֶת־עַמְּך אֶת־יִשְׂרָ אֵל וְאֵת הָאֲדָמָה אֲשׁ ֶר נָתַתָּה לָנוּ כַּאֲשׁ ֶר נִשְׁבַּעְתָּ לַאֲבֹתֵינוּ אֶרֶ ץ זָבַת חָלָב וּדְ בָשׁ ׃
Look down from Your holy abode, from heaven, and bless Your people Israel and the soil You have given us, a land flowing with milk and honey, as You swore to our fathers.
Who recites this verse? One who brings Bikurim. They are in a position to ask because they gave. One who gives tzedakah is in a position to bring growth, whereas one who does not give tzedakah – brings destruction.
A place where people decapitate human beings, and where all they pursue is murder and death, there is no reason for existence. כְּמַהְפֵּכַת סְדֹם וַעֲמֹרָ ה – that is what Hakadosh Baruch Hu needs to do to such a place!
And we, we who have stepped up with such genuine generosity to help anyone and everyone in need, bringing clothing and food, doing laundry for others, assisting in every way imaginable – we have a ruach shel tzedakah amongst us and have the ability to look to the heavens and cry out הַשְׁקִיפָה! We have the ability to ask that every soldier fighting for us be protected. We have the ability to daven that every person in captivity be returned home safely.
כִּי מַ לְאָכָיו יְצַוֶּה־לָך לִשׁ ְ מָ רְ ך בְּ כָל־דְּ רָ כֶיך
For He will order His angels to guard you wherever you go.
Hakadosh Baruch Hu will, IY”H, usher each and every one home, to a full healing in guf and nefesh.
מַ לְוֵה ה' חוֹנֵן דָּ ל וּגְמֻלוֹ יְשׁ ַלֶּם־לוֹ׃
He who is generous to the poor makes a loan to the Lord; He will repay him his due.
The tzedakah we give will be repaid to us by Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Sefer Leket Yosher says something amazing. When there is a dispute between a lender and borrower, and each wants to bring the case to a different Beit Din, we go according to the choice of the lender. In the case of tzedakah, we are the lender to Hakadosh Baruch Hu. And if that is case, we have the right to demand of Hakadosh Baruch Hu that He not judge us in Din but rather in Rachamim. May Hakadosh Baruch Hu judge us with Rachamim and may we speedily see an end to our troubles and the ushering in of Mashiach Tzidkeinu. ◊
