The whole story of Avraham Avinu with Sodom is troublesome. Hashem says, “Will I hide from Avraham that which I am going to do?” (Bereshis 18:17). In other words, “Am I not going to tell him that I am about to destroy Sodom? I need to tell him!” Hashem knows what Avraham is going to do. It is that which in fact Avraham does – he is going to daven and bargain with Hashem NOT to destroy Sodom.
So Hashem knows what the end of the story is going to be. He also knows that there are not 50 righteous people in Sodom, nor are there 40 nor 30 nor 20 and not even 10 tzaddikim in the city. So why give Avraham Avinu the opportunity to daven when Hashem knows that his tefillos will be futile? What is the point?
The answer is a lesson that we all need to learn because it is so prevalent. The lesson is that no tefillah [prayer] ever goes to waste. The tefillos that Avraham Avinu offered for Sodom may not have helped for that situation but somewhere, sometime, some place those tefillos helped.
In fact, Rav Yonoson Eybeschutz in his Tiferes Yonasan says that this is similar to ma’aseh avos siman l’banim [the actions of the patriarchs foreshadow the actions of the descendants]. Just like the deeds of the fathers blaze the trail for similar deeds by their children in a more literal sense, so too there is a concept that when a city is in trouble or a community is in trouble, they go to a tzaddik and request that he davens for them. Where does this come from? Rav Yonoson Eybeschutz says the original source for this custom is the action of Avraham in davening for Sodom. Avraham Avinu instituted the concept that a tzaddik can daven for a city in trouble to save them from their plight.
This answers a question. In Tefilas Neilah, at the very end of Yom Kippur, when we pull out all stops, we invoke the following words: “Heaven forbid from You to do this thing, to kill the righteous along with the wicked. The Judge of the entire world will not do such a thing.” Now consider something: Is this a wise tefillah to invoke at Neilah? These words are immediately recognizable as being lifted from the tefillah of Avraham Avinu for Sodom (Bereishis 18:25). However, it did not work then, so why are we using the same (failed) formula: Heaven forbid from you... (chalilah lecha..)?
The answer is that it DID work the first time. It may not have worked for the people of Sodom because they did not deserve it — but eventually it worked. It worked – according to the Tiferes Yonasan – in that now all tzaddikim can daven for communities in trouble. And it worked because sometime, someplace – it did have an impact. In fact, we can say that this is the underlying message of the sequence of pasukim: “Am I going to hide from Avraham that which I am going to do? (Bereishis 18:17) For Avraham is going to become a great and mighty nation. (18:18) What does pasuk 18 have to do with pasuk 17? It does not seem to belong in this monologue. What does the fact that Avraham will in the future become a great and mighty nation have to do with the price of tea in this discussion?
The answer is that Hashem is saying the following: I am not going to hide from Avraham what I am about to do, and I know that Avraham is going to daven, and I know that his tefillos at this juncture are not going to help Sodom. However, a great and mighty nation will descend from Avraham. I know that this nation is going to need those tefillos at various times in the future. Let him verbalize those tefillos now for the welfare of his future descendants.
R’ Frand relates an amazing story which he heard from Lev L’Achim workers in Eretz Yisroel, who were personally involved in this very incident:
There is a small shul on a street in Tel Aviv. It was Mincha time and they needed a tenth man. In the time-honored tradition of Jews throughout the world, one of the nine assembled worshippers inside the shul went out to the street and looked for a “tenth man.” They could not find a tenth man. Suddenly, a young fellow walks by – a typical secular Israeli, — long hair, the whole works. They said, “Could you come in and help us make a minyan?” He responded, “I am not interested.” They pleaded, “We need a minyan. Someone has a yahrtzeit. He needs to say kaddish. Please come in for a short time.” He was still not interested. Finally, they pestered the fellow so much that he agreed to come in.
He was totally unfamiliar with what was taking place inside. He just stood there. He stood there through ashrei, kaddish, etc. However, apparently, being in a shul for the first time in his life made an impression on him. One thing led to another. He contacted Lev L’Achim workers. The end of the story is that today this young man is an observant Jew.
However, this is not the whole story. This boy’s parents are totally secular Jews. Their son went “off the path” and became Chareidi ["ultra-Orthodox”]. His former friends came to his parents and asked them “What happened? You raised you son well. How could this have happened?” The father said, “Well, I know exactly what happened. This boy’s grandfather – my own father – was a religious Jew. He came to Eretz Yisroel but his son (myself) wanted to have nothing to do with Judaism. The son grew up totally secular and went his own way and he was going to make sure that his children would follow in the same path. It has to do with his grandfather, I guess.”
Here is the end of the story: The grandfather davened in this very shul in Tel Aviv that pulled his grandson in for the minyan. That was his shul. Think about it. When this old Jew saw his son go “off the derech” and saw his grandson being raised as a secular Israeli – how many tefillos did this man offer that Hashem bring them back to Yiddishkeit? He davened and davened and davened. “It didn’t help”... or so he thought! The grandfather never lived to see what happened. It did not happen then. It did not happen to his son. But apparently the tefillos helped for his grandson.
That is what this pasuk is about. Hashem knew that Avraham was going to daven after He told him what He was planning to do to Sodom. Hashem knew that these tefillos would be futile for Sodom, but Avraham was going to become a “great nation.” And one day, one place, one time, somewhere, somehow, those tefillos would help his descendants. There are many more stories of this kind, where tefillos of grandparents or even parents which seemingly went to waste, helped – two or even three generations later – as all tefillos do. (R’ Frand)
