WEBVTT 00:00:01.000 --> 00:00:11.000 Shabbat Shalom, everybody! It's Soul Spa, November 8. We are rounding the midpoint of the Jewish month of Cheshvan. 00:00:11.000 --> 00:00:17.000 We bring in blessings of healing. Rabbi Rachel. 00:00:17.000 --> 00:00:22.000 If you look up at the sky any time around now, you will see the moon. 00:00:22.000 --> 00:00:24.000 Approaching her fullness. 00:00:24.000 --> 00:00:28.000 That's how we know we're in the middle of the month. 00:00:28.000 --> 00:00:30.000 We dedicate… 00:00:30.000 --> 00:00:37.000 this week to healing. 00:00:37.000 --> 00:00:49.000 In the light of Shabbat. 00:00:49.000 --> 00:00:53.000 The lest are you, Adonai, our God, sovereign of the world. 00:00:53.000 --> 00:00:56.000 Who made us holy in connecting command. 00:00:56.000 --> 00:01:01.000 And commanded us to busy ourselves in words of Torah. 00:01:01.000 --> 00:01:02.000 Shabbat Shalom. 00:01:02.000 --> 00:01:04.000 Good job Shabbos. 00:01:04.000 --> 00:01:07.000 Parshat Valleera is a biggie. 00:01:07.000 --> 00:01:13.000 Let's tell you a few things about what happens before our excerpt. 00:01:13.000 --> 00:01:19.000 And after our excerpt, so you have context. After 00:01:19.000 --> 00:01:24.000 We have all of the Rosh Hashanah Torah readings. 00:01:24.000 --> 00:01:34.000 So, we can think of today a little bit like an echo of the Jewish high holidays, although the text that we're going to go into today is not directly on it. 00:01:34.000 --> 00:01:38.000 So, the birth of Isaac. 00:01:38.000 --> 00:01:40.000 Hagar Ishmael. 00:01:40.000 --> 00:01:45.000 The Akedah. Feeling a little tied up. 00:01:45.000 --> 00:01:47.000 encountering God. 00:01:47.000 --> 00:01:54.000 figuring out our theology, moving on from there. 00:01:54.000 --> 00:01:57.000 Before this… 00:01:57.000 --> 00:02:04.000 Avraham, if you were at, uh, Shirami yesterday, we opened Parshat Bhaira. Avram was sitting at his tent. 00:02:04.000 --> 00:02:13.000 He had just had his circumcision, the brief, the covenant was placed on him. Midrash says he had a fever from his circumcision. 00:02:13.000 --> 00:02:24.000 there was no antibiotics and all that, and 3 unashimed came to visit him, 3 people whom he immediately called Adonai. 00:02:24.000 --> 00:02:29.000 And from that comes the idea that God visits the sick. 00:02:29.000 --> 00:02:32.000 These… 00:02:32.000 --> 00:02:37.000 people were angels in Midrash. 00:02:37.000 --> 00:02:45.000 And the messengers, we know from what's about to come, had a purpose. And one of those purposes was first to check on Avraham, 00:02:45.000 --> 00:02:48.000 And then… 00:02:48.000 --> 00:02:51.000 to upturn Sodom and Gomorrah. 00:02:51.000 --> 00:02:55.000 Because their wickedness had risen up to God. 00:02:55.000 --> 00:02:58.000 And so… 00:02:58.000 --> 00:03:04.000 Two of them are now with his nephew, Lot. 00:03:04.000 --> 00:03:07.000 in the city of Sodom. 00:03:07.000 --> 00:03:08.000 He is… yep. 00:03:08.000 --> 00:03:14.000 I want to mention one more thing that you left out there, which is before… right before this, Avram argues with God. 00:03:14.000 --> 00:03:21.000 And says, are you sure you gotta wipe them out? What if there's 50 righteous people? Okay, what if there's 45 righteous people? What if there's 40? 00:03:21.000 --> 00:03:26.000 Talks got all the way down to, if we can find 10 righteous people, you've got to spare these cities. 00:03:26.000 --> 00:03:31.000 Because should not the judge of all the world do justly? 00:03:31.000 --> 00:03:36.000 Unfortunately, it appears that there aren't 10 righteous people, and now we're gonna see how that's the case. 00:03:36.000 --> 00:03:47.000 Right, so… he's got Lot, is living in the city of Sodom, he's got two daughters that have married into the city. 00:03:47.000 --> 00:03:53.000 And he's got two other daughters who we're going to hear about in a minute. He's keeping these messengers and a mob 00:03:53.000 --> 00:03:55.000 Bob shows up to the door. 00:03:55.000 --> 00:03:57.000 Dun dun dun! 00:03:57.000 --> 00:04:06.000 And this is where we're gonna pick up. We need 4 readers, please. 00:04:06.000 --> 00:04:10.000 And the first reader has a word that I'm just gonna… 00:04:10.000 --> 00:04:13.000 You'll see it when you reach it. Deanna, go for it. 00:04:13.000 --> 00:04:22.000 Sodom's council and militia shouted to Lot. And said to him, Where are two messengers who came tonight to you? 00:04:22.000 --> 00:04:25.000 Bring them to us so we will. leap them. 00:04:25.000 --> 00:04:28.000 Well said. 00:04:28.000 --> 00:04:33.000 Thank you. Lot went out to the mob and shut the door behind him. 00:04:33.000 --> 00:04:38.000 He said, please, my brothers, do not do this evil thing. 00:04:38.000 --> 00:04:41.000 Look, I have two daughters who have not known a man. 00:04:41.000 --> 00:04:46.000 Let me bring them out to you. and do with them as you please. 00:04:46.000 --> 00:04:49.000 Yeah, that's what it says. 00:04:49.000 --> 00:04:50.000 I'm not laughing at you. 00:04:50.000 --> 00:04:51.000 Yeah, that's what it says. Yeah, I know. 00:04:51.000 --> 00:04:55.000 I'm laughing at the expressions on our faces all around the room. 00:04:55.000 --> 00:05:06.000 But do not do this… But do not do with the others as they came under the shade of my roof. 00:05:06.000 --> 00:05:09.000 I could pause there and have quite a conversation for the next couple hours. 00:05:09.000 --> 00:05:10.000 Yeah… 00:05:10.000 --> 00:05:13.000 We won't, but we could. 00:05:13.000 --> 00:05:17.000 But wait, there's more! 00:05:17.000 --> 00:05:20.000 The messengers struck the mob at the entrance of the house. 00:05:20.000 --> 00:05:25.000 Low and high alike, with blinding light so they could not find the entrance. 00:05:25.000 --> 00:05:33.000 The messengers said to Lot. Whom else have you here? Sons-in-law, your sons and daughters. Anyone else you have in the city, bring them out. 00:05:33.000 --> 00:05:46.000 We are about to destroy this place for the outcry against them before Yurhay Vavi became so great that Yur-Heh-Vave sent us to destroy it. 00:05:46.000 --> 00:05:53.000 Lot went, spoke to his sons-in-law, and said, Up, get out of this place, for Yud-Heh-Vav-Heh will destroy the city. 00:05:53.000 --> 00:05:56.000 But he was, like, a jester to his sons-in-law. 00:05:56.000 --> 00:06:00.000 At dawn, the messengers urged Lot on, saying, 00:06:00.000 --> 00:06:09.000 up, take your wife and two remaining daughters, lest you be swept away because of the iniquity of the city. He tarried, so the agents grabbed his hand. 00:06:09.000 --> 00:06:18.000 Agents, interesting. And the hands of his wife and his two daughters, and Yod-Heh-Vav-Heh's mercy on him, took him out and left him outside the city. 00:06:18.000 --> 00:06:23.000 When they had brought them outside, one said, flee for your life, do not look behind you, flee, lest you be 00:06:23.000 --> 00:06:31.000 left away. 00:06:31.000 --> 00:06:35.000 The sun rose on earth, and Lot entered Soar. 00:06:35.000 --> 00:06:42.000 Yudhav-Heh reigned on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur fire from Yot-Hehav-Heh from heaven. 00:06:42.000 --> 00:06:48.000 God upturned the cities and all their inhabitants. Lot's wife gazed behind him, 00:06:48.000 --> 00:06:58.000 And turned into a pillar of salt. 00:06:58.000 --> 00:07:01.000 So, what's jumping out at us? 00:07:01.000 --> 00:07:04.000 Having just encountered this piece of Torah. 00:07:04.000 --> 00:07:07.000 And before we even start that, 00:07:07.000 --> 00:07:12.000 If you've studied with me before, you've seen me do what I'm about to do. 00:07:12.000 --> 00:07:15.000 I am going to very gently model 00:07:15.000 --> 00:07:19.000 Some of the expressions I saw in the room. 00:07:19.000 --> 00:07:25.000 One of them was… 00:07:25.000 --> 00:07:29.000 One of them was… 00:07:29.000 --> 00:07:33.000 One of them was… 00:07:33.000 --> 00:07:38.000 One of them was… 00:07:38.000 --> 00:07:52.000 And one of them was this, like, several of you had this Cheshire grin, like, I don't know what to do with this. I'm just so uncomfortable here, so I'm just gonna smile and hope nobody notices. 00:07:52.000 --> 00:07:56.000 Some of us may have been doing all of those at once. 00:07:56.000 --> 00:08:06.000 So… knowing that you will not be alone in whatever your response to this is, 00:08:06.000 --> 00:08:14.000 Cheryl… 00:08:14.000 --> 00:08:15.000 the not one? 00:08:15.000 --> 00:08:18.000 So, I'm going to go for the not… 1. Um… than not, oh my gosh, what? 00:08:18.000 --> 00:08:23.000 Okay. 00:08:23.000 --> 00:08:24.000 Mm-hmm. 00:08:24.000 --> 00:08:31.000 Um, last section, 2326. We have… 00:08:31.000 --> 00:08:36.000 Mute Vavhe rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur fire. 00:08:36.000 --> 00:08:53.000 from Yudhave from heaven. It's repeated twice must mean something. 00:08:53.000 --> 00:08:54.000 What does it mean? 00:08:54.000 --> 00:08:59.000 See, babe. 00:08:59.000 --> 00:09:07.000 So it feels like it means directly, not through a messenger, not through any other source, but directly from. 00:09:07.000 --> 00:09:08.000 I don't know. 00:09:08.000 --> 00:09:18.000 Anyone have a sense of that we've seen this somewhere else in Jewish life, that it doesn't come from a messenger? 00:09:18.000 --> 00:09:21.000 Nancy. 00:09:21.000 --> 00:09:22.000 burning bush. Burning Bush, Moses? 00:09:22.000 --> 00:09:35.000 Well, uh, the burning bush. Most, um… The tablets, um… But it's funny, because I picked up on the exact same thing, Cheryl. I was gonna say that, and I thought, but this sounds so trite. I mean, compared to all the other bad stuff that's going on. 00:09:35.000 --> 00:09:38.000 I'm sorry. 00:09:38.000 --> 00:09:47.000 But it's just the idea of. from God from heaven, and it's… That's where we usually think of God as in heaven. I mean. 00:09:47.000 --> 00:09:52.000 most of us, from a basic sort of childlike, you know, where is God? 00:09:52.000 --> 00:09:53.000 Uh-huh. 00:09:53.000 --> 00:09:59.000 So it's sort of like… but of course it's from heaven, but then I started to think about what God is all around us, and. 00:09:59.000 --> 00:10:05.000 inside us, and… but… Yeah, it gave me a… Pause. I don't have any. 00:10:05.000 --> 00:10:09.000 Yeah, there are times in… 00:10:09.000 --> 00:10:11.000 Torah in Jewish life, 00:10:11.000 --> 00:10:17.000 that the tradition puts in big neon lights. 00:10:17.000 --> 00:10:22.000 Um, raise your hand if you know this one. 00:10:22.000 --> 00:10:23.000 Wait, wait. 00:10:23.000 --> 00:10:29.000 Not by an angel, not by a seraph, not by a messenger. You! The Holy One! Yourself! 00:10:29.000 --> 00:10:41.000 And all your power, with awesome power, with signs and wonders! 00:10:41.000 --> 00:10:42.000 Sure. 00:10:42.000 --> 00:10:43.000 As our… 00:10:43.000 --> 00:10:44.000 Yeah, the Seder. 00:10:44.000 --> 00:10:50.000 It was so important that we be reminded that this is not coming from any 00:10:50.000 --> 00:10:53.000 anywhere else but God. 00:10:53.000 --> 00:10:54.000 Yeah. 00:10:54.000 --> 00:10:56.000 And may I add one more thing? In that same section. 00:10:56.000 --> 00:10:57.000 Yup, and then Brett. 00:10:57.000 --> 00:11:05.000 which I have… I have thought for a long time, which is Lot's wife turns to a pillar of salt. 00:11:05.000 --> 00:11:09.000 And I want to say that salt is vital. 00:11:09.000 --> 00:11:12.000 to humanity. And when, you know. 00:11:12.000 --> 00:11:14.000 You just took away our text! 00:11:14.000 --> 00:11:23.000 When Gandhi… when Gandhi wanted. Um, independence from Britain for India. 00:11:23.000 --> 00:11:33.000 They went and made their own salt. from the ocean. And so… I always felt like, I hope he lifted her up and took it with, because. 00:11:33.000 --> 00:11:39.000 fault is… is very important in Jewish tradition, and you have just… 00:11:39.000 --> 00:11:40.000 I mean, we bless a house with bread and salt. 00:11:40.000 --> 00:11:42.000 Anticipated some of where we're gonna go. 00:11:42.000 --> 00:11:44.000 The salt matters. 00:11:44.000 --> 00:11:46.000 And lots's wife matters. 00:11:46.000 --> 00:11:48.000 Yes. 00:11:48.000 --> 00:11:49.000 Yeah. 00:11:49.000 --> 00:11:50.000 Brett, you've got a hand up. 00:11:50.000 --> 00:11:53.000 Yeah, so I do want to come back to that. 00:11:53.000 --> 00:11:57.000 Which is one thing that I thought was interesting is… 00:11:57.000 --> 00:12:05.000 why… is there a reason why God waited specifically to… until daylight? 00:12:05.000 --> 00:12:06.000 Mmm… 00:12:06.000 --> 00:12:15.000 And… did all of this, like, because it's not like the messengers or the angels or whatever you want to call them, came in the middle of the night and said, you gotta get out of here. They said… they came at dawn. 00:12:15.000 --> 00:12:17.000 right before it happened. 00:12:17.000 --> 00:12:19.000 And as… unless I'm not… 00:12:19.000 --> 00:12:22.000 reading it, or it's implied. 00:12:22.000 --> 00:12:27.000 There's nothing that's saying, like, you gotta get out before this time. You have to get out before… 00:12:27.000 --> 00:12:30.000 tomorrow. Um… 00:12:30.000 --> 00:12:35.000 The other thing with this that's funny that Cheryl brought it up, because I was going there also, 00:12:35.000 --> 00:12:42.000 it was, you gotta get out of here, you have to leave, you have to leave, you have to leave, you have to leave. But only one time is it mentioned 00:12:42.000 --> 00:12:44.000 Don't look behind you. 00:12:44.000 --> 00:12:52.000 We're like, what will happen if you… it's… you'll be swept away if you don't… so what happens if you look behind you? Like, why is that… 00:12:52.000 --> 00:12:56.000 Is that the punishment? And also, is Pillar of Salt a punishment? 00:12:56.000 --> 00:12:59.000 Or is it a… 00:12:59.000 --> 00:13:01.000 memorial of some kind. 00:13:01.000 --> 00:13:05.000 it almost feels like it's not a punishment. The punishment is more like… 00:13:05.000 --> 00:13:12.000 you're gonna get swept away. She turns around, she's not… she's not swept away, she's… 00:13:12.000 --> 00:13:14.000 kept in place. 00:13:14.000 --> 00:13:19.000 Hmm, beautiful. 00:13:19.000 --> 00:13:27.000 Who's next? 00:13:27.000 --> 00:13:29.000 Keep it coming. 00:13:29.000 --> 00:13:31.000 Why does all of this matter? 00:13:31.000 --> 00:13:38.000 Yeah, Deanna. 00:13:38.000 --> 00:13:40.000 Well, I have to say, in that first part. 00:13:40.000 --> 00:13:47.000 That line about. giving his daughters to these people to rape them. 00:13:47.000 --> 00:13:49.000 I know, right? 00:13:49.000 --> 00:13:54.000 was such a shock. To my system, because it was like. 00:13:54.000 --> 00:14:01.000 He's the father. It was such a turnaround, and. 00:14:01.000 --> 00:14:02.000 Yeah, I don't even think you need a question mark on that. 00:14:02.000 --> 00:14:09.000 I mean, I don't have words… 00:14:09.000 --> 00:14:10.000 in TerraBang! 00:14:10.000 --> 00:14:19.000 Yeah, that kind of question mark. Um, and then… And then… Yeah, the sheer absolute worthlessness of these two girls. 00:14:19.000 --> 00:14:33.000 And then also, I'm wondering why, in 14 through 17, why was he, like, a jester to his sons-in-law? 00:14:33.000 --> 00:14:34.000 Of course not. 00:14:34.000 --> 00:14:35.000 Like, do we have backstory about that? That he was a joke, or… I'm just wondering about that. 00:14:35.000 --> 00:14:41.000 Literally, it says he… in their eyes, he was like a joker, someone joking. 00:14:41.000 --> 00:14:45.000 It's the same root as Yitzchak to laugh. 00:14:45.000 --> 00:14:47.000 I think, like, a jokester. 00:14:47.000 --> 00:14:50.000 Like, they thought he was kidding. They didn't… they couldn't believe it. 00:14:50.000 --> 00:15:00.000 They thought he was kidding. Because he had a history of being a jokester, or because they just didn't take him seriously because he was an old guy, or what? 00:15:00.000 --> 00:15:08.000 Oh, Dad, you're so funny! God wouldn't destroy the city, ha, ha, ha! 00:15:08.000 --> 00:15:11.000 What do you mean it's gonna rain? 00:15:11.000 --> 00:15:15.000 God told you to build a boat? 00:15:15.000 --> 00:15:29.000 What do you mean the global climate is getting warmer? 00:15:29.000 --> 00:15:34.000 So we've got a little misogyny between friends, we've got disbelief… 00:15:34.000 --> 00:15:41.000 We've got directly from God… 00:15:41.000 --> 00:15:44.000 Check inside yourself. 00:15:44.000 --> 00:15:54.000 What feels… pinched or stuck, Delia? 00:15:54.000 --> 00:15:55.000 Delia, I'm very sorry, can you… is there a way to turn up your volume? 00:15:55.000 --> 00:15:58.000 It came under my roof. 00:15:58.000 --> 00:16:04.000 Bye. I'm not here. 00:16:04.000 --> 00:16:07.000 Alright, Delia's gonna please work on that. 00:16:07.000 --> 00:16:14.000 Does someone else want to jump in while she tries? 00:16:14.000 --> 00:16:19.000 Rachel Radansky. 00:16:19.000 --> 00:16:32.000 You'll have to excuse me, but I just. All that's going on… In our world, I have such a hard time repeating these stories over and over again. 00:16:32.000 --> 00:16:42.000 Oh, I'm struggling with that, and yet I know that… We're grappling, and in our grapple, we're going to be learning. 00:16:42.000 --> 00:16:46.000 But it is… I just, like, enough already, like. 00:16:46.000 --> 00:16:50.000 Where's the holiness question is coming up for me. 00:16:50.000 --> 00:16:52.000 Thank you for naming that. 00:16:52.000 --> 00:16:55.000 Yeah, that's a biggie here. 00:16:55.000 --> 00:16:59.000 Why is this story here? What are we to learn? 00:16:59.000 --> 00:17:03.000 Hang on to that, Rachel. We're gonna go there right quick. 00:17:03.000 --> 00:17:08.000 I see Natalie's hand. 00:17:08.000 --> 00:17:09.000 And then we'll try Delia again. 00:17:09.000 --> 00:17:21.000 I'm… I'm wondering why Lot is saved when he really did this evil thing, and why it's his wife. I mean, I see she didn't obey the command, so she's punished, but… 00:17:21.000 --> 00:17:23.000 It seems to me that… 00:17:23.000 --> 00:17:28.000 He was more evil. I wonder why… I mean, I see that 00:17:28.000 --> 00:17:35.000 That God saved the two unmarried daughters, and not… not… 00:17:35.000 --> 00:17:36.000 Yeah. 00:17:36.000 --> 00:17:42.000 Not the married ones, and again, what… it was not their fault that the son-in-law… that their husbands didn't listen. 00:17:42.000 --> 00:17:47.000 But they paid the price. 00:17:47.000 --> 00:17:53.000 It feels like a very kind thing. When you're fleeing, to turn around. 00:17:53.000 --> 00:18:00.000 Maybe it's not obedient, but. Who could leave somewhere? 00:18:00.000 --> 00:18:09.000 that you knew people. You lived and not turn around. You know, I feel like it's punitive. 00:18:09.000 --> 00:18:14.000 The way it reads, but I feel like I would be that person. 00:18:14.000 --> 00:18:21.000 And I don't mean it in a rebellious way at all. 00:18:21.000 --> 00:18:22.000 Yeah. 00:18:22.000 --> 00:18:27.000 And bear in mind that Lot's wife has also left behind her two married daughters. 00:18:27.000 --> 00:18:37.000 It's not just looking back at what used to be home, it's also looking back at her own children. 00:18:37.000 --> 00:18:41.000 Yeah. 00:18:41.000 --> 00:18:44.000 Delia. 00:18:44.000 --> 00:18:45.000 Yes, hooray! 00:18:45.000 --> 00:18:47.000 Let's see if this works. Okay, I'm on two different things. 00:18:47.000 --> 00:18:48.000 Yep. 00:18:48.000 --> 00:18:54.000 Um… I just was struck, strangely, it's kind of a side thing. 00:18:54.000 --> 00:19:00.000 But why didn't his daughters count as being protected under his roof? 00:19:00.000 --> 00:19:05.000 Mm-hmm. 00:19:05.000 --> 00:19:06.000 I think in this case, Julia, it might be literal. 00:19:06.000 --> 00:19:09.000 That… that he says about the strangers. 00:19:09.000 --> 00:19:15.000 So, the daughters that were married now live under their sons' roofs. 00:19:15.000 --> 00:19:16.000 That's a bigger point. 00:19:16.000 --> 00:19:17.000 Right, but the ones who live under his own roof… 00:19:17.000 --> 00:19:18.000 Ah, okay, thanks. 00:19:18.000 --> 00:19:21.000 who are unmarried and are still living at home, 00:19:21.000 --> 00:19:22.000 They're the ones he says, oh, take my daughters, please. 00:19:22.000 --> 00:19:25.000 Right. Right. 00:19:25.000 --> 00:19:26.000 How? 00:19:26.000 --> 00:19:29.000 Why don't they count as much as the strangers who are under his roof? That's what I… 00:19:29.000 --> 00:19:32.000 Take your wife and your two remaining daughters. They… 00:19:32.000 --> 00:19:37.000 They left. The unmarried daughters got out. 00:19:37.000 --> 00:19:39.000 Right, but in the first… in verses 5 through 8, 00:19:39.000 --> 00:19:40.000 Yeah. 00:19:40.000 --> 00:19:44.000 those are the two daughters that he says, please take them instead of the angels. 00:19:44.000 --> 00:19:48.000 Yeah, this is not getting better. 00:19:48.000 --> 00:19:53.000 Mm-hmm, here come all the hands. James Joan. 00:19:53.000 --> 00:19:59.000 So, the married daughters are with the sons-in-laws, they're not under his roof, obviously. 00:19:59.000 --> 00:20:02.000 And the sons-in-laws viewed him as a jester, as a jokester. 00:20:02.000 --> 00:20:07.000 so did the daughters. Nobody believed them. They thought he was full of baloney. 00:20:07.000 --> 00:20:08.000 Hmm. 00:20:08.000 --> 00:20:10.000 So, why would they not be spared? Because… 00:20:10.000 --> 00:20:12.000 they didn't heed his warnings either. 00:20:12.000 --> 00:20:20.000 Nobody did. Uh, the only ones who did were the ones that he had direct control over, which in this case was the two unmarried daughters. 00:20:20.000 --> 00:20:22.000 Because, you know, they were living right there. 00:20:22.000 --> 00:20:24.000 It does seem that way, yeah. 00:20:24.000 --> 00:20:29.000 I don't think there's anything deeper to that aspect of this story, I really don't. 00:20:29.000 --> 00:20:32.000 And the other parts of it, maybe, but that… 00:20:32.000 --> 00:20:34.000 that just seems kind of… 00:20:34.000 --> 00:20:39.000 it's pretty clear and obvious. I don't see anything more deep than that. 00:20:39.000 --> 00:20:46.000 The only thing I would add, James, is that we actually don't know what the married daughters thought. 00:20:46.000 --> 00:20:50.000 They're not given a voice here. 00:20:50.000 --> 00:20:53.000 We don't know if… we don't know anything. 00:20:53.000 --> 00:20:57.000 What I heard, Delia, to be saying is, 00:20:57.000 --> 00:20:59.000 Why is he sending the unmarried ones out? 00:20:59.000 --> 00:21:04.000 I think, James, I think there is general agreement that the married ones were… 00:21:04.000 --> 00:21:06.000 were in their own households, it's a different situation. 00:21:06.000 --> 00:21:11.000 Yeah. Oh, no, I'm not talking about, look, Lot sending them his daughters out. 00:21:11.000 --> 00:21:13.000 That screwed up, okay? I'm not talking about that. 00:21:13.000 --> 00:21:14.000 Yeah, true. 00:21:14.000 --> 00:21:17.000 I'm just speaking specifically to the 00:21:17.000 --> 00:21:19.000 get your kids and go statement. 00:21:19.000 --> 00:21:20.000 Got it. 00:21:20.000 --> 00:21:22.000 Yeah, yeah. 00:21:22.000 --> 00:21:28.000 Joan and Debra. 00:21:28.000 --> 00:21:33.000 Pardon me, as horrific as. the situation is in 5 through 8. 00:21:33.000 --> 00:21:41.000 They were, perhaps, the most precious thing he had to bargain with, and he was willing… well, you know. 00:21:41.000 --> 00:21:42.000 I mean, yeah, and… 00:21:42.000 --> 00:21:50.000 Okay. I know, I know, but… Uh, does it say something? 00:21:50.000 --> 00:21:57.000 About, is he… is he so desperate? That, um, he would offer up… I mean, you know. 00:21:57.000 --> 00:22:06.000 A virgin girls used to and still are, a commodity, so to speak, unfortunately. 00:22:06.000 --> 00:22:15.000 Um, and… They… so he is so desperate that he would bargain with them. 00:22:15.000 --> 00:22:16.000 Hmm. 00:22:16.000 --> 00:22:22.000 Why… why he would be willing to go to that ex… To that degree. 00:22:22.000 --> 00:22:28.000 Uh, bargaining. I don't understand, and I don't understand shade of my roof. 00:22:28.000 --> 00:22:40.000 Literally, um, well, ha, ha, this gets real interesting real fast. So, literally, you know, they're under my roof, they're under my care, they're my responsibility. 00:22:40.000 --> 00:22:44.000 And these are not just messengers, they're from God. 00:22:44.000 --> 00:22:46.000 So, put another way, 00:22:46.000 --> 00:22:52.000 If you had to choose between your unmarried daughters and God, who would you choose? 00:22:52.000 --> 00:22:55.000 Oi. 00:22:55.000 --> 00:23:01.000 Or how about this one? If you had to choose between your son, whom you loved, Isaac, 00:23:01.000 --> 00:23:04.000 And God, whom would you choose? 00:23:04.000 --> 00:23:07.000 David Green is going, uh-huh. 00:23:07.000 --> 00:23:10.000 Here's… and they're both in this Parsha. 00:23:10.000 --> 00:23:14.000 I've just been… I've just been waiting for somebody to bring that up as a… 00:23:14.000 --> 00:23:15.000 analogy. 00:23:15.000 --> 00:23:16.000 Please. 00:23:16.000 --> 00:23:18.000 Well, David, I… you had something to say, so what I hear you saying is that this sounds like the Aakeda. 00:23:18.000 --> 00:23:24.000 Well. 00:23:24.000 --> 00:23:30.000 Now, under the shade of the roof, 00:23:30.000 --> 00:23:37.000 Kabbalistically, we can understand that as the shade of Shekinah. 00:23:37.000 --> 00:23:43.000 the shade of the indwelling presence, the feminine aspect of God. It doesn't make the story 00:23:43.000 --> 00:23:47.000 easier. In some respects, it makes the story… 00:23:47.000 --> 00:23:54.000 Harder. 00:23:54.000 --> 00:23:56.000 hears the voice. 00:23:56.000 --> 00:24:00.000 And he has to leave his father. 00:24:00.000 --> 00:24:02.000 To follow God. 00:24:02.000 --> 00:24:06.000 To leave everything behind. 00:24:06.000 --> 00:24:09.000 These early chapters. 00:24:09.000 --> 00:24:11.000 I really… 00:24:11.000 --> 00:24:14.000 Remixing. 00:24:14.000 --> 00:24:22.000 human family experience and relationship with divinity. 00:24:22.000 --> 00:24:32.000 To this day, religion sometimes really mixes up a family. 00:24:32.000 --> 00:24:34.000 Boy. 00:24:34.000 --> 00:24:35.000 Deborah Sherrill. 00:24:35.000 --> 00:24:39.000 You… your… 00:24:39.000 --> 00:24:48.000 I appreciate Joe's perspective. 00:24:48.000 --> 00:24:51.000 Why am I omnipotent in God. 00:24:51.000 --> 00:24:55.000 Why can't that, you know, 00:24:55.000 --> 00:24:59.000 communicator. I mean, in theory, 00:24:59.000 --> 00:25:02.000 Could you write that down, Rabbi David? 00:25:02.000 --> 00:25:04.000 Oh, oh, I am so doing that. 00:25:04.000 --> 00:25:05.000 I may even, like… 00:25:05.000 --> 00:25:08.000 Why can't an omnipotent God be a better communicator? 00:25:08.000 --> 00:25:13.000 appeared to every single person. 00:25:13.000 --> 00:25:19.000 time he needed them, he could have nipped them. 00:25:19.000 --> 00:25:21.000 I know, right? 00:25:21.000 --> 00:25:30.000 Which, in a way, I think links back to the question that's currently at the top left of our screen, tough Torah wears the holiness. 00:25:30.000 --> 00:25:33.000 because there has to be… 00:25:33.000 --> 00:25:39.000 There has to be something… there has to be meaning or holiness, potentially. 00:25:39.000 --> 00:25:40.000 Here, somewhere. 00:25:40.000 --> 00:25:47.000 in this struggle to understand. 00:25:47.000 --> 00:25:48.000 So let me… 00:25:48.000 --> 00:25:54.000 I also want to lift up, James has said in the chat box, I'd be the one who would say this cannot be as I know God to be a just God who would not ask such a thing. 00:25:54.000 --> 00:25:57.000 Therefore, I'm not gonna do it. 00:25:57.000 --> 00:26:05.000 Soren Kierkegaard of the Arcada said that Abraham failed the test. He should have said, hell no. 00:26:05.000 --> 00:26:11.000 And this story is given as one of the reasons why, because just a few verses ago, he… 00:26:11.000 --> 00:26:18.000 Avraham was saying, God, you can't wipe out these cities. There might be somebody decent there. 00:26:18.000 --> 00:26:25.000 But that argument doesn't seem to be made on behalf of the children, whether it's Lot's children or Avraham's own. 00:26:25.000 --> 00:26:27.000 Oof. 00:26:27.000 --> 00:26:30.000 So, yeah, this is getting easier. 00:26:30.000 --> 00:26:35.000 Well, I think the texts we've found for today are going to definitively make all of this easy and comprehensible. 00:26:35.000 --> 00:26:38.000 Absolutely! 00:26:38.000 --> 00:26:47.000 Cheryl, resolve all of our ambiguities, uncertainties. Be, be, be God's communicator! Make it good! 00:26:47.000 --> 00:26:50.000 Or just say whatever you were gonna say. 00:26:50.000 --> 00:26:51.000 No pressure! No pressure! 00:26:51.000 --> 00:26:53.000 Oh my gosh, the pressure! 00:26:53.000 --> 00:27:04.000 So, I would like to say… Because… As many people have said here, this is just too difficult to comprehend. 00:27:04.000 --> 00:27:11.000 That as with… Um, Abraham and Isaac. 00:27:11.000 --> 00:27:17.000 There was no consummation. Of these messengers. 00:27:17.000 --> 00:27:22.000 And lost children. Lot's daughters. He offered them. 00:27:22.000 --> 00:27:28.000 That's… that offer itself. Was enough. 00:27:28.000 --> 00:27:34.000 And the messenger said, no, no, no, okay. We get your faith. 00:27:34.000 --> 00:27:37.000 I'm sorry, did somebody say that already? Am I, like, repeating? 00:27:37.000 --> 00:27:38.000 No, that's an interesting take. 00:27:38.000 --> 00:27:43.000 Something. I mean, if God steps in. 00:27:43.000 --> 00:27:49.000 via Messenger, mostly. Um, in other circumstances. 00:27:49.000 --> 00:27:54.000 such as… Sarai needing a baby. 00:27:54.000 --> 00:28:00.000 and Ishmael leading up. world, and not starving with his mommy. 00:28:00.000 --> 00:28:06.000 And Isaac not being… You know, an offering. 00:28:06.000 --> 00:28:11.000 How are we to know that the same thing wouldn't happen here, and wouldn't we expect. 00:28:11.000 --> 00:28:17.000 As people who are reading this. God would step in. 00:28:17.000 --> 00:28:27.000 And say, that is too great a sacrifice. Because, you know, at that time, then those women are soiled. Who's taking them? 00:28:27.000 --> 00:28:39.000 Well, it appears that God does step in in a certain way, because on God's behalf, presumably, the messengers strike the mob blind. 00:28:39.000 --> 00:28:40.000 No, no, I'm just pointing at the right, that's the next thing that happens, is that… 00:28:40.000 --> 00:28:43.000 Okay, sorry. Shows you how much I know. 00:28:43.000 --> 00:28:44.000 Um… 00:28:44.000 --> 00:28:47.000 This is what happens when you only take portions, and it's excerpts. 00:28:47.000 --> 00:28:50.000 Oh, yes and. Um, but, you know, we, we, we… 00:28:50.000 --> 00:28:53.000 Oh, now… 00:28:53.000 --> 00:28:54.000 That's not what I meant. 00:28:54.000 --> 00:28:55.000 And I don't know any better. 00:28:55.000 --> 00:28:56.000 No, there's a lot going on here. 00:28:56.000 --> 00:28:59.000 No, no, no, I… I… Oh, I see. Okay. 00:28:59.000 --> 00:29:05.000 blinding light. There's blinding light. 00:29:05.000 --> 00:29:14.000 But they struck the mob, so the mob couldn't get in. What happened between 8 and 11? 00:29:14.000 --> 00:29:19.000 We're in chapter… I'll tell you, because I have it right here. 00:29:19.000 --> 00:29:20.000 Nope, it's okay. 00:29:20.000 --> 00:29:23.000 I didn't bring mine to knock down here. 00:29:23.000 --> 00:29:28.000 Um, here's what happens. There's a little ellipsis there. They came under the shade of my roof. 00:29:28.000 --> 00:29:41.000 And the mob says, step back, get out of the way! They said, this one came as an immigrant, and now he wants to be a judge, speaking of Lot. We'll now deal worse with you than with them. 00:29:41.000 --> 00:29:51.000 And they pushed hard at Lot and came near to break the door, and the men put out their hands. This is the messenger, and pulled lots of them into the house, and slammed the door back. 00:29:51.000 --> 00:29:53.000 And then struck the mob blind. 00:29:53.000 --> 00:29:54.000 Temporarily. 00:29:54.000 --> 00:30:02.000 Okay, but… Is there a section that says this act did not happen anyway? 00:30:02.000 --> 00:30:09.000 Well, it appears… I think it appears from the surface of the narrative that Lot offers the daughters, 00:30:09.000 --> 00:30:15.000 The mob says, alright, well, now we're mad at you, we're gonna kick your ass even worse, you're an immigrant. 00:30:15.000 --> 00:30:17.000 They go to break down the door, 00:30:17.000 --> 00:30:26.000 And then the messengers pull, load in and slam the door in their face. So yeah, it appears that the rape does not actually happen. Yippee. 00:30:26.000 --> 00:30:29.000 After Lot and the messengers are in the house, and the door is shut. 00:30:29.000 --> 00:30:34.000 Yeah, because the daughters weren't good enough. They wanted the messengers. 00:30:34.000 --> 00:30:36.000 Give me the angels. 00:30:36.000 --> 00:30:44.000 That is so messed up. Alright, I see James's hand, and then at some point, I want to start dipping into the commentary that we brought. 00:30:44.000 --> 00:30:46.000 What I was gonna say, and I put this in the chat, 00:30:46.000 --> 00:30:50.000 we're dealing with another case of a corrupt world. 00:30:50.000 --> 00:30:53.000 Um, here, and we see this multiple times in Scripture. 00:30:53.000 --> 00:30:58.000 Anybody associated with the corrupt world ends up being smited. 00:30:58.000 --> 00:30:59.000 Um, you know… 00:30:59.000 --> 00:31:00.000 Like Noah all over. Noah… the story of Noah all over again. 00:31:00.000 --> 00:31:06.000 Yeah. Yeah, and it's not the… it's not the only time we see this. It happens repeatedly. 00:31:06.000 --> 00:31:09.000 Uh, whenever God finds that 00:31:09.000 --> 00:31:12.000 somebody, he judges some group as corrupt. 00:31:12.000 --> 00:31:15.000 Everybody that is a part of that group, no matter 00:31:15.000 --> 00:31:17.000 what their association is with it, 00:31:17.000 --> 00:31:22.000 is going to end up falling under the edict of Destruction. 00:31:22.000 --> 00:31:24.000 Um, and that's what we see here. They all do. 00:31:24.000 --> 00:31:27.000 Um, load, of course, is… 00:31:27.000 --> 00:31:34.000 at the gate, he's kind of on the outside, he's the alien, the immigrant that comes and becomes a judge. 00:31:34.000 --> 00:31:36.000 all these different things, you know. 00:31:36.000 --> 00:31:40.000 he's kind of separated, so he can be spared. 00:31:40.000 --> 00:31:44.000 Um, his daughters in the household, they're still separated. 00:31:44.000 --> 00:31:46.000 So they can be spared, and you know, their virgins, which… 00:31:46.000 --> 00:31:51.000 is even more of a look at how they're not a part of this corruption. 00:31:51.000 --> 00:31:54.000 Because virginity is always considered purity, et cetera, et cetera. 00:31:54.000 --> 00:31:55.000 Meh. 00:31:55.000 --> 00:31:56.000 Um, this thing goes with the wife. 00:31:56.000 --> 00:32:02.000 You know, so, I mean, we've got this clear separation, and I think that's why the story can do this. 00:32:02.000 --> 00:32:05.000 And still stay true to its bones. 00:32:05.000 --> 00:32:11.000 And why, basically, all of Sodom goes away, you know, because again, they're all corrupt. Even the innocents 00:32:11.000 --> 00:32:13.000 by their mere association, 00:32:13.000 --> 00:32:15.000 fall under the edict. 00:32:15.000 --> 00:32:19.000 This is really hard. 00:32:19.000 --> 00:32:23.000 This is real hard. 00:32:23.000 --> 00:32:27.000 the narrative needs to tell us that there are not 10 innocents, remember. 00:32:27.000 --> 00:32:31.000 Avraham has established that with God. 00:32:31.000 --> 00:32:37.000 Would you save the city for one? Notice it didn't get there. 00:32:37.000 --> 00:32:42.000 So, do we have God as a destroyer? 00:32:42.000 --> 00:32:45.000 We face that straight up. 00:32:45.000 --> 00:32:54.000 There's no way to avoid that, because it's not from an angel, and it's not from a messenger. We have that, boom, right there. And for those of us for whom God is 00:32:54.000 --> 00:33:00.000 love and light and gentleness and peace and kittens and puppies and rainbows. 00:33:00.000 --> 00:33:03.000 This is not that. 00:33:03.000 --> 00:33:06.000 So yeah, that's going on. 00:33:06.000 --> 00:33:15.000 Then we have… you know, it doesn't go so well for the women here. 00:33:15.000 --> 00:33:22.000 And doesn't go so well for all of the inhabitants of the city, but then again, look at how the city appears to be behaving. 00:33:22.000 --> 00:33:28.000 Right? What is the sin of Sodom? 00:33:28.000 --> 00:33:30.000 It's this kind of behavior. 00:33:30.000 --> 00:33:31.000 It's all of this, it's… 00:33:31.000 --> 00:33:32.000 Mm-hmm. 00:33:32.000 --> 00:33:35.000 give me the strangers so that I can… 00:33:35.000 --> 00:33:38.000 Give us to strangers so that we can rape them. It's… 00:33:38.000 --> 00:33:41.000 I'll throw you my daughters, like, like… 00:33:41.000 --> 00:33:43.000 Meet to the wolves? 00:33:43.000 --> 00:33:46.000 It's… right? 00:33:46.000 --> 00:33:49.000 It's power, it's abuse of power. 00:33:49.000 --> 00:33:58.000 Whether it's in the form of sexual immorality, or anti-immigrant bias, from what I just read to you, or just murder. 00:33:58.000 --> 00:34:02.000 It's mob rule, abuse of power, 00:34:02.000 --> 00:34:09.000 Whatever you're thinking right now, it's just a total coincidence. 00:34:09.000 --> 00:34:14.000 Well, for thinking anything, it might be that humanity is still humanity. 00:34:14.000 --> 00:34:18.000 And unfortunately, what we're reading about in Torah tends to be a little familiar. 00:34:18.000 --> 00:34:24.000 Because we are still human beings. 00:34:24.000 --> 00:34:32.000 So, I want to lift up two comments. One of them was Rachel Radansky's This Is Tough Torah, Where is Holiness? 00:34:32.000 --> 00:34:37.000 We need to answer that question, because otherwise… 00:34:37.000 --> 00:34:39.000 what is Torah doing to us today? 00:34:39.000 --> 00:34:46.000 And why are you here, and why are we doing this to you? So, we have to do that. We have to go there, one. 00:34:46.000 --> 00:34:50.000 2. Um, I don't know if you saw in the chat box, but Amy 00:34:50.000 --> 00:34:54.000 has decided that she's never again, or never ever will, 00:34:54.000 --> 00:35:00.000 invite lots for Shabbat dinner. 00:35:00.000 --> 00:35:03.000 And it really does… I mean, it's hysterical. 00:35:03.000 --> 00:35:08.000 But we now need to deal with… 00:35:08.000 --> 00:35:13.000 All these issues of power and gender. 00:35:13.000 --> 00:35:19.000 We have to, because they're right here. 00:35:19.000 --> 00:35:28.000 Let's see if we can. 00:35:28.000 --> 00:35:36.000 As we often do, we're going to start with received tradition. 00:35:36.000 --> 00:35:39.000 Rashi says that she, Mrs. Lott, 00:35:39.000 --> 00:35:42.000 became a pillar of salt. Why? 00:35:42.000 --> 00:35:47.000 He's referring to a Midrash, which we're going to do in a minute. By salt she sinned, 00:35:47.000 --> 00:35:50.000 And by salt, she was punished. 00:35:50.000 --> 00:35:55.000 She was punished by salt. Why? Because she must have sinned 00:35:55.000 --> 00:35:58.000 With the same implement, with SALT. 00:35:58.000 --> 00:36:02.000 Before we even get into that, 00:36:02.000 --> 00:36:06.000 Think for a second about what is implicit in this. What's 00:36:06.000 --> 00:36:09.000 bothering Rashi. 00:36:09.000 --> 00:36:11.000 If you've ever learned about Rashi before, that's always the question. 00:36:11.000 --> 00:36:13.000 with either one of us. 00:36:13.000 --> 00:36:14.000 Yeah, well, either one of us. 00:36:14.000 --> 00:36:15.000 My conversion class learns this, too. 00:36:15.000 --> 00:36:16.000 What's bothering Rashi? 00:36:16.000 --> 00:36:24.000 Right, the question is always, what's bothering Rashi? What made him pipe up about this? 00:36:24.000 --> 00:36:30.000 Why does it matter? 00:36:30.000 --> 00:36:40.000 So, several of you are doing, like, this thing with your hands, and oh, yeah, Natalie. 00:36:40.000 --> 00:36:41.000 You're saying something both brilliant and… there it is. 00:36:41.000 --> 00:36:45.000 It's… it seems to me that… 00:36:45.000 --> 00:36:49.000 He has to find a way to justify this happening to her. 00:36:49.000 --> 00:36:52.000 Why? 00:36:52.000 --> 00:36:54.000 Because she's not… 00:36:54.000 --> 00:36:58.000 Perhaps… 00:36:58.000 --> 00:37:02.000 justifyably done something that merits her death. 00:37:02.000 --> 00:37:10.000 Ah! So, we want justice. This has to be just. Why does it have to be just? 00:37:10.000 --> 00:37:13.000 Because otherwise, what does it say about God, that he just… 00:37:13.000 --> 00:37:15.000 There it is! 00:37:15.000 --> 00:37:18.000 shall not the God of all the world do justly? 00:37:18.000 --> 00:37:19.000 Uh-huh! 00:37:19.000 --> 00:37:21.000 That's from this Parsha, too! 00:37:21.000 --> 00:37:22.000 What's bothering Rashi? 00:37:22.000 --> 00:37:26.000 God has to be just, so what gives? 00:37:26.000 --> 00:37:33.000 This is huge! What's bothering Rashi? This had to have happened because it was right. 00:37:33.000 --> 00:37:39.000 Because God is righteous and just always. 00:37:39.000 --> 00:37:43.000 But it's like the classic blame the victim. 00:37:43.000 --> 00:37:47.000 Hang on to your hats! 00:37:47.000 --> 00:37:48.000 Unless they're made of salt. 00:37:48.000 --> 00:38:01.000 Here we go! This is a big question. How many of you know someone, or ourselves, who got sick or lost a job, or got into a car accident, or a sparrow fell from the sky? 00:38:01.000 --> 00:38:05.000 And our first question was… 00:38:05.000 --> 00:38:09.000 Why? 00:38:09.000 --> 00:38:13.000 It isn't so simple just to say… 00:38:13.000 --> 00:38:16.000 Crap happens. 00:38:16.000 --> 00:38:24.000 Although it does, there's this human impulse that wants to know why. And even more, how often do we blame ourselves? 00:38:24.000 --> 00:38:30.000 For someone else. 00:38:30.000 --> 00:38:34.000 This is an elementally human question. 00:38:34.000 --> 00:38:41.000 And it's being projected onto God. 00:38:41.000 --> 00:38:47.000 Do we have thoughts and feelings just about that before we take the running leap. 00:38:47.000 --> 00:38:49.000 Deanna. 00:38:49.000 --> 00:38:53.000 Hmm. Yeah, I think it's getting projected onto Lot's wife. 00:38:53.000 --> 00:38:59.000 Mm-hmm. 00:38:59.000 --> 00:39:00.000 Yeah. 00:39:00.000 --> 00:39:05.000 And can I ask a question about… because I've just been reading ahead on here. 00:39:05.000 --> 00:39:08.000 The Genesis Raba. This is all mid-rush, this is not the original Torah. 00:39:08.000 --> 00:39:11.000 Yes. 00:39:11.000 --> 00:39:13.000 So they're all making up reasons why. Okay, got it. 00:39:13.000 --> 00:39:18.000 Right. Yeah. So this is the Midrashic tradition. Um, Genesis Rabba. 00:39:18.000 --> 00:39:23.000 is the… one of the first substrata. 00:39:23.000 --> 00:39:28.000 of the Midrashic tradition after the Second Exile. 00:39:28.000 --> 00:39:30.000 And that we know they're written by people. 00:39:30.000 --> 00:39:39.000 So we can ask the Midrash, just like what's bothering Rashi, what's bothering you? 00:39:39.000 --> 00:39:54.000 Just like we're asking each other, what's bothering you? Right? So here we go. Who wants Genesis Rabba 50.4? 00:39:54.000 --> 00:40:00.000 Go for it. 00:40:00.000 --> 00:40:02.000 Please. 00:40:02.000 --> 00:40:11.000 Lot… lot made a feast. For the messengers. In the house of his uncle, Avraham, he learned to receive passers-by. 00:40:11.000 --> 00:40:17.000 Rabbi Itzak said, a great quarrel arose over the salt. 00:40:17.000 --> 00:40:22.000 Lot said to his wife, Give these guests gathered to us a bit of salt. And she said to him. 00:40:22.000 --> 00:40:28.000 really accustom them to plenty in this place also. 00:40:28.000 --> 00:40:30.000 So what is this one? 00:40:30.000 --> 00:40:33.000 Saying about what she did wrong. 00:40:33.000 --> 00:40:34.000 Wrong. 00:40:34.000 --> 00:40:41.000 Sounds like she's being stingy. And she's implying that. 00:40:41.000 --> 00:40:51.000 By… by indulging them, because salt was special, I guess. 00:40:51.000 --> 00:40:52.000 In Sodom. 00:40:52.000 --> 00:40:58.000 Um, I don't understand, in this place also. I understand where they are, but. 00:40:58.000 --> 00:40:59.000 In Avram's tent. 00:40:59.000 --> 00:41:03.000 Where else are they accustomed to plenty? 00:41:03.000 --> 00:41:11.000 And earlier in this Parsha, we've seen Avram jump up from his own sickbed to feed these very strangers. 00:41:11.000 --> 00:41:12.000 Same strangers! 00:41:12.000 --> 00:41:17.000 So, yup. So maybe there's something here about generosity or lack thereof. 00:41:17.000 --> 00:41:21.000 Or maybe there's something here about thrift. 00:41:21.000 --> 00:41:25.000 The other way to look at it is Mrs. Lott understands that… 00:41:25.000 --> 00:41:31.000 This is a… this is a… you know, there's poverty in this town, and not everybody has, and… 00:41:31.000 --> 00:41:35.000 And maybe the… whoa, sorry, and I just lost my screen. 00:41:35.000 --> 00:41:36.000 Um… 00:41:36.000 --> 00:41:39.000 And I'll keep going. Yeah. 00:41:39.000 --> 00:41:44.000 Yeah, and again, this is not what Taurus says. This is Midrash, 00:41:44.000 --> 00:41:47.000 trying to figure out… 00:41:47.000 --> 00:41:52.000 Why did Mrs. Lott deserve this? 00:41:52.000 --> 00:41:56.000 here come all the hands. Natalie! 00:41:56.000 --> 00:42:03.000 Um, I think we also have to remember that salt was not an easily accessible 00:42:03.000 --> 00:42:04.000 commodity. It was extremely… 00:42:04.000 --> 00:42:07.000 Right. 00:42:07.000 --> 00:42:08.000 Yeah. 00:42:08.000 --> 00:42:10.000 extremely precious and traded for, and… 00:42:10.000 --> 00:42:13.000 cultures that were able to figure out how to make salt from the sea, 00:42:13.000 --> 00:42:14.000 Mhm. 00:42:14.000 --> 00:42:20.000 had this major advantage. It allowed people to preserve food. 00:42:20.000 --> 00:42:23.000 So, it was exceedingly precious. 00:42:23.000 --> 00:42:26.000 But… that said, 00:42:26.000 --> 00:42:33.000 it makes me so angry to think that all these male commentators had to blame 00:42:33.000 --> 00:42:34.000 Yep. 00:42:34.000 --> 00:42:41.000 Mrs. Lott, rather than accept that God, perhaps, did something very injust. 00:42:41.000 --> 00:42:42.000 Uh-huh! Oh yeah, yup. 00:42:42.000 --> 00:42:44.000 Thank you. Thank you for naming that. 00:42:44.000 --> 00:42:52.000 Yo, oh yeah, we're gonna go there, and then we're gonna try to back out of it. Dion and then James. 00:42:52.000 --> 00:43:02.000 Yeah, thank you, Natalie, for naming that. Um, the other thing that she's being blamed for here is for not recognizing that there are angels in their midst. 00:43:02.000 --> 00:43:08.000 Mm-hmm. 00:43:08.000 --> 00:43:11.000 isn't seeing who they are. 00:43:11.000 --> 00:43:17.000 Yup. Yup. Uh, James, and then Susan. 00:43:17.000 --> 00:43:23.000 So, I feel like we're spending an awful lot of time on the surface meaning of this. 00:43:23.000 --> 00:43:24.000 Okay? 00:43:24.000 --> 00:43:27.000 salt throughout Scripture 00:43:27.000 --> 00:43:30.000 has a much more symbolic meaning. 00:43:30.000 --> 00:43:33.000 The covenant, um, we talked about… 00:43:33.000 --> 00:43:34.000 Mm-hmm. 00:43:34.000 --> 00:43:35.000 Mm-hmm. 00:43:35.000 --> 00:43:38.000 how it is used within the lands to preserve things. 00:43:38.000 --> 00:43:39.000 Yup. 00:43:39.000 --> 00:43:40.000 Um… 00:43:40.000 --> 00:43:41.000 The covenant of salt. 00:43:41.000 --> 00:43:42.000 Yeah, and the covenant of salt. 00:43:42.000 --> 00:43:43.000 Sacrificial system with salt. 00:43:43.000 --> 00:43:44.000 Uh-huh. 00:43:44.000 --> 00:43:45.000 Yeah. So, I mean, salt has… 00:43:45.000 --> 00:43:47.000 Right? The sacrifices were salted. 00:43:47.000 --> 00:43:52.000 Yeah, it has a lot of meaning throughout both the society of the time as well as Scripture. 00:43:52.000 --> 00:44:01.000 And it symbolizes that covenant. It symbolizes the faith, the faithfulness, if you will. 00:44:01.000 --> 00:44:05.000 And when she turns back to Sodom, 00:44:05.000 --> 00:44:08.000 She's expressing an attachment to Sodom. 00:44:08.000 --> 00:44:12.000 And it's not just a quick glance back. 00:44:12.000 --> 00:44:15.000 She turns back and looks on at basically longingly. 00:44:15.000 --> 00:44:20.000 I mean, that's what the Hebrew word that's used here basically means. It's not just, you know, a, oh, look at that. 00:44:20.000 --> 00:44:21.000 Lahabit. Yeah. 00:44:21.000 --> 00:44:24.000 No, it's a… yeah, it's a… 00:44:24.000 --> 00:44:26.000 kind of look, you know? 00:44:26.000 --> 00:44:27.000 So, she's showing… 00:44:27.000 --> 00:44:31.000 Every translation is a midrash. Every translation is a midrash. 00:44:31.000 --> 00:44:35.000 Yeah, she's showing a sort of allegiance, if you will. 00:44:35.000 --> 00:44:40.000 to Sodom. And that makes her a part of the corruption. 00:44:40.000 --> 00:44:47.000 That makes her a part of Sodom. 00:44:47.000 --> 00:44:48.000 Does that mean… 00:44:48.000 --> 00:44:49.000 And… that's why she is turned to SALT, the land that's been salted with ruin. 00:44:49.000 --> 00:44:51.000 Now she is, too. 00:44:51.000 --> 00:44:52.000 Wait, 00:44:52.000 --> 00:45:01.000 Yeah. Mmm, does that mean that we should, like, run to do vengeance on the folks who deserve vengeance? Oh, but we're kind, gentle, loving people. 00:45:01.000 --> 00:45:02.000 Uh, well, you know. 00:45:02.000 --> 00:45:09.000 Ooh! 00:45:09.000 --> 00:45:10.000 Ooh! 00:45:10.000 --> 00:45:11.000 with ruin. 00:45:11.000 --> 00:45:12.000 I want to lift up… I want to lift up something I just heard James say, which is the land is salted, right? The place wherein this happens, 00:45:12.000 --> 00:45:16.000 Think about the Dead Sea, also known as the Salt Sea. 00:45:16.000 --> 00:45:21.000 So, in a certain way, this is also about the ecology, and it's… 00:45:21.000 --> 00:45:30.000 It's another one of those stories that explains how something came to be. How did this piece of the environment of the land of promise become? 00:45:30.000 --> 00:45:34.000 So full of salt, and salt formations, and salt 00:45:34.000 --> 00:45:39.000 Salt stalagmites and all of that jazz, right? So this is another piece of this is… 00:45:39.000 --> 00:45:43.000 the landscape. 00:45:43.000 --> 00:45:44.000 that it's happening. 00:45:44.000 --> 00:45:45.000 Literally. 00:45:45.000 --> 00:45:46.000 So, 00:45:46.000 --> 00:45:53.000 Well, when Roman armies and others did, uh, took a nation or country or whatever, they decided to destroy completely and obliterate. 00:45:53.000 --> 00:45:55.000 What did they do? They salted the lands. 00:45:55.000 --> 00:45:56.000 salt in the fields. 00:45:56.000 --> 00:45:59.000 Yep, yep, yep. We're gonna start to move now, because we just… we need to move through this. 00:45:59.000 --> 00:46:02.000 We've, yeah, we're about halfway… we're approaching midpoint. We have some good stuff to get to. 00:46:02.000 --> 00:46:05.000 Yep. Yep. 00:46:05.000 --> 00:46:13.000 we have to redeem this text. So, next piece of Genesis Rabba. 00:46:13.000 --> 00:46:15.000 She became a pillar of salt. 00:46:15.000 --> 00:46:17.000 Rabbi Yitzhak said, 00:46:17.000 --> 00:46:22.000 Because she sinned with salt on the night the messengers came to Lot. 00:46:22.000 --> 00:46:26.000 What did she do? She went to all her neighbors and said to them, 00:46:26.000 --> 00:46:28.000 Give me salt, because we have guests. 00:46:28.000 --> 00:46:33.000 And her intention was that the city residents should become aware of them. 00:46:33.000 --> 00:46:36.000 That's why she became a pillar of salt. 00:46:36.000 --> 00:46:40.000 So, what is this Midrash saying that she did wrong? 00:46:40.000 --> 00:46:46.000 Let's make this clear, unpack it. What… what are they saying she did? 00:46:46.000 --> 00:46:49.000 She publicized their presence. 00:46:49.000 --> 00:46:50.000 No, no. 00:46:50.000 --> 00:46:56.000 She went house to house, saying, Hey, do you have any salt? We've got these guests, and I need salt to feed them. 00:46:56.000 --> 00:46:58.000 We have guests! 00:46:58.000 --> 00:46:59.000 Ha! Ha! 00:46:59.000 --> 00:47:03.000 Knowing what happens to guests in this town, 00:47:03.000 --> 00:47:05.000 Amy, you're right, don't invite them to dinner. 00:47:05.000 --> 00:47:08.000 she went around and made sure everybody in town knew. 00:47:08.000 --> 00:47:12.000 that there were strangers in her house. 00:47:12.000 --> 00:47:15.000 That's what this text is telling us. 00:47:15.000 --> 00:47:17.000 And again, you know, 00:47:17.000 --> 00:47:21.000 This is the Midrashic imagination. This is the Midrash trying to… 00:47:21.000 --> 00:47:23.000 to tease out 00:47:23.000 --> 00:47:28.000 the… there must be a why, so what could she have done that was so bad? 00:47:28.000 --> 00:47:32.000 Well, maybe she went around and… with a loudspeaker saying, we've got guests! 00:47:32.000 --> 00:47:33.000 Come and take them! 00:47:33.000 --> 00:47:42.000 Right. And it indicts, you know, in our language, with our modern eyes and ears and heart, this is totally indicting. Now, 00:47:42.000 --> 00:47:52.000 Check out, even better, who was the rabbi who figured this out in the first Midrash? 00:47:52.000 --> 00:47:58.000 Who's the rabbi in the second midrash? 00:47:58.000 --> 00:48:01.000 Jitzcock, what an interesting name. Is there a Yitzcock in this Parsha? 00:48:01.000 --> 00:48:02.000 Bye! 00:48:02.000 --> 00:48:03.000 It's ah, yes, uh. 00:48:03.000 --> 00:48:06.000 Oh, wait, there is! 00:48:06.000 --> 00:48:08.000 He's almost sacrificed on a mountaintop. 00:48:08.000 --> 00:48:17.000 Yeah, and this guy, you know, maybe it's a coincidence for the name, but this guy is, like, he's really on a tear. It's gotta be something. Okay, maybe it's this. 00:48:17.000 --> 00:48:24.000 Wait, I want to lift up in the chat, Nancy has asked, did I miss something? Are guests slash outsiders hated in Sodom and Gomorrah? 00:48:24.000 --> 00:48:27.000 The simple answer is yes. 00:48:27.000 --> 00:48:37.000 One of the verses that we cut from the Parsha, just to make it all fit on one page, is the townspeople… first, the townspeople come and say, we've got some strangers in your house, 00:48:37.000 --> 00:48:41.000 Give them to us so we can rape them. 00:48:41.000 --> 00:48:42.000 Yep. 00:48:42.000 --> 00:48:46.000 And then when Loat pushes back, they say, oh, you know what, you're an immigrant too, you're just as bad as they are. 00:48:46.000 --> 00:48:48.000 Now you've got it coming, mister, we're gonna come for you. 00:48:48.000 --> 00:48:51.000 So this is an anti-immigrant town. 00:48:51.000 --> 00:48:53.000 It is known that in this town, 00:48:53.000 --> 00:48:59.000 If you show up as an… it's one… it's a sundown town, right? Don't… don't be there after dark, or you're gonna get 00:48:59.000 --> 00:49:02.000 screwed. 00:49:02.000 --> 00:49:03.000 And that is known… that's… 00:49:03.000 --> 00:49:04.000 I wonder if we can just, like, edit that out. I don't know. 00:49:04.000 --> 00:49:06.000 Common knowledge. 00:49:06.000 --> 00:49:12.000 among the sages who are commenting on this text. That's their assumption about the town. 00:49:12.000 --> 00:49:15.000 Uh-huh, this place sucks. 00:49:15.000 --> 00:49:17.000 This really sucks. 00:49:17.000 --> 00:49:26.000 Alright, so Yitak is on a tear. It's gotta be something. Alright, maybe it's she's stingy. Um, maybe it's she doesn't… 00:49:26.000 --> 00:49:28.000 you know, 00:49:28.000 --> 00:49:33.000 She doesn't like guests. Maybe it's, alright, guys, go get them! 00:49:33.000 --> 00:49:40.000 Maybe it's she doesn't see that they're messengers from God, maybe. It's that she does! I mean, there's gotta be something! 00:49:40.000 --> 00:49:44.000 Right? 00:49:44.000 --> 00:49:50.000 So, Rabbenu Bakia picks this up. 00:49:50.000 --> 00:49:52.000 And turns it around. 00:49:52.000 --> 00:50:01.000 It's gotta be something, yeah, it's gotta be something, who wants it? 00:50:01.000 --> 00:50:11.000 Someone, please. 00:50:11.000 --> 00:50:12.000 No, we're here, we're here, sorry. 00:50:12.000 --> 00:50:13.000 Your symptoms. 00:50:13.000 --> 00:50:15.000 His wife looked from behind him in Midrash. 00:50:15.000 --> 00:50:16.000 She's there. 00:50:16.000 --> 00:50:18.000 That's… That's… that's what I said. 00:50:18.000 --> 00:50:19.000 Oh, I'm so sorry. 00:50:19.000 --> 00:50:21.000 Going. You're good. 00:50:21.000 --> 00:50:29.000 Anyway, in Midrash, a poor person came to her door to borrow salt, and she refused to give any, so she was punished measure for measure. 00:50:29.000 --> 00:50:32.000 By saltri sent in with a pillar of salt, she was punished. 00:50:32.000 --> 00:50:36.000 So, Rabinu Bahia takes a midrash, 00:50:36.000 --> 00:50:43.000 About the first one, she actually went to all the neighbors to borrow salt, 00:50:43.000 --> 00:50:51.000 What if it was the other way around? What if they came to her to borrow salt and she said no? 00:50:51.000 --> 00:50:58.000 Notice the phrase, measure for measure in Hebrew, midak, 00:50:58.000 --> 00:51:05.000 Kenegged is that word you might remember from our very first week when we were talking about an Ezernegdo, an 00:51:05.000 --> 00:51:10.000 an equal and opposite partner, or a… 00:51:10.000 --> 00:51:16.000 you know, this for that, some kind of equivalence or equality 00:51:16.000 --> 00:51:20.000 So, right, it's a character… Amida is a character trait, we talk about Midot. 00:51:20.000 --> 00:51:26.000 And developing me dote like generosity or patience. 00:51:26.000 --> 00:51:30.000 You don't want to be stingy, you don't want to give salt? Fine! 00:51:30.000 --> 00:51:33.000 Fine, now you're gonna get to not give salt, you're gonna be salt. 00:51:33.000 --> 00:51:44.000 Haha. Great! But the rabbis are so eager to pin this on Mrs. Lott. 00:51:44.000 --> 00:51:50.000 For all the reasons you've said, it's gotta be just, let's blame the victim. Who do you want to blame, the victim or God? 00:51:50.000 --> 00:51:53.000 Oi! Oi! 00:51:53.000 --> 00:51:58.000 Bear in mind that up until now, we… she's still just Mrs. Lutt, she doesn't have a name. 00:51:58.000 --> 00:51:59.000 We don't even know who she is! 00:51:59.000 --> 00:52:01.000 Until we get to the bottom of this page, where the rabbis are going to give her one. 00:52:01.000 --> 00:52:04.000 Torah doesn't tell her. So the Radakh… 00:52:04.000 --> 00:52:07.000 Rabbi David Kimchi, 00:52:07.000 --> 00:52:11.000 Docu? 00:52:11.000 --> 00:52:13.000 goes this way. 00:52:13.000 --> 00:52:19.000 His wife, we still don't know who he is, she is, who has been behind him, turns around. 00:52:19.000 --> 00:52:31.000 For she had little faith that the city would be upturned, though she had ever heard the angel warning Lot that nobody should turn around. What is bothering Rabbi David Kimchi? 00:52:31.000 --> 00:52:35.000 Who cares about this? 00:52:35.000 --> 00:52:39.000 His wife, who had been behind him, 00:52:39.000 --> 00:52:46.000 turned around. What is the Radak imply? 00:52:46.000 --> 00:52:49.000 Have you ever seen… 00:52:49.000 --> 00:52:52.000 Canada geese. 00:52:52.000 --> 00:52:58.000 take care of their babies. 00:52:58.000 --> 00:53:00.000 Sure, you have. 00:53:00.000 --> 00:53:05.000 Or ducks, whatever. There's… there's a mama duck, 00:53:05.000 --> 00:53:09.000 And then… 00:53:09.000 --> 00:53:14.000 And then there's Daddy Duck in the back. 00:53:14.000 --> 00:53:19.000 If you want to protect the vulnerable, 00:53:19.000 --> 00:53:23.000 You don't put the vulnerable in the back. 00:53:23.000 --> 00:53:27.000 What did Mrs… where was Mrs. Lott? 00:53:27.000 --> 00:53:28.000 In the back. 00:53:28.000 --> 00:53:32.000 Nancy's getting it. Nancy's getting it. 00:53:32.000 --> 00:53:37.000 So who's actually at fault here for what happened to her? 00:53:37.000 --> 00:53:42.000 Perhaps the husband who should have been at the back of the line protecting the… 00:53:42.000 --> 00:53:43.000 The wife and daughters. 00:53:43.000 --> 00:53:44.000 Uh-huh. 00:53:44.000 --> 00:53:50.000 Whatever we might feel about the assumption that a husband is needed to protect the wife and daughters. 00:53:50.000 --> 00:53:52.000 That would have been the paradigm. 00:53:52.000 --> 00:53:53.000 At this time. 00:53:53.000 --> 00:54:01.000 Okay, so the Radakh is saying, hold on a minute. 00:54:01.000 --> 00:54:04.000 Maybe it isn't Mrs. Lott's fault. 00:54:04.000 --> 00:54:10.000 It's gotta be somebody's fault, right? So maybe it's Mr. Lott. 00:54:10.000 --> 00:54:12.000 So the presumption 00:54:12.000 --> 00:54:16.000 is now going to be unpacked. 00:54:16.000 --> 00:54:23.000 The mistake that Mr. Lott made was leaving his wife unprotected at the back of the line. 00:54:23.000 --> 00:54:26.000 And we don't do that. 00:54:26.000 --> 00:54:28.000 We don't do that. 00:54:28.000 --> 00:54:29.000 The story of Amalek. 00:54:29.000 --> 00:54:31.000 We don't… we have vulnerable. 00:54:31.000 --> 00:54:34.000 Amalek picks off the vulnerable. 00:54:34.000 --> 00:54:36.000 That's… 00:54:36.000 --> 00:54:41.000 That's not what we do, that's not who we are. Okay. 00:54:41.000 --> 00:54:45.000 So, who wants the next piece? 00:54:45.000 --> 00:54:47.000 I'm sorry, I was just going to say that. 00:54:47.000 --> 00:54:53.000 When you go on a group hike or walk, there's always someone at the back known as the sweep. 00:54:53.000 --> 00:54:55.000 Mm-hmm. 00:54:55.000 --> 00:55:01.000 Or some other name, meaning that for the stragglers, or for people who can't keep up as. 00:55:01.000 --> 00:55:07.000 Fast as the front people, or when you're bicycling as a group, you always have someone at the end. 00:55:07.000 --> 00:55:08.000 Huh? 00:55:08.000 --> 00:55:16.000 To make sure, in case there's somebody struggling. That they're not alone. 00:55:16.000 --> 00:55:17.000 Mm-hmm. Okay. 00:55:17.000 --> 00:55:19.000 it's just human kindness. 00:55:19.000 --> 00:55:25.000 So, our next couple of texts are going to take us into someplace different. I'm seeing James asking in the chat, 00:55:25.000 --> 00:55:29.000 How did they miss all the obvious symbolism? And I want to say, let us get through the… 00:55:29.000 --> 00:55:32.000 The texts we've prepared, and then I want to know if you still think that that's the case. 00:55:32.000 --> 00:55:38.000 Right. And remember, this is 3,500 years ago, so I'm not sure that… 00:55:38.000 --> 00:55:45.000 you know, the actors knew the symbolism, and 2,000 years ago, our symbol systems have evolved somewhat. 00:55:45.000 --> 00:55:49.000 Some, some. Alright. 00:55:49.000 --> 00:55:53.000 Let's start redeeming Mrs. Lott. 00:55:53.000 --> 00:56:00.000 Who wants the next one? Also, Midrash Agada. 00:56:00.000 --> 00:56:10.000 Maybe someone who hasn't read. 00:56:10.000 --> 00:56:17.000 She became a pillar of salt. After the angel said, do not look behind you. 00:56:17.000 --> 00:56:23.000 Her soul was stirred regarding her daughter's. That remained in silence. 00:56:23.000 --> 00:56:27.000 She's a mom! 00:56:27.000 --> 00:56:28.000 What are you gonna do? 00:56:28.000 --> 00:56:33.000 Yes, she is. 00:56:33.000 --> 00:56:37.000 Right, so part of what I love here is that 00:56:37.000 --> 00:56:42.000 The sages are beginning to recognize, oh, you know, actually, it might be… 00:56:42.000 --> 00:56:45.000 Part of a mother's instinct. 00:56:45.000 --> 00:56:48.000 Ideally, to look back 00:56:48.000 --> 00:56:51.000 and pine for her kids. 00:56:51.000 --> 00:56:57.000 Arguably, we might say it should be your father's instinct, too. And in today's paradigm, I think that is so. 00:56:57.000 --> 00:57:03.000 But… right, so this is another way of making it maybe not so much her fault, 00:57:03.000 --> 00:57:07.000 She was looking back because that's what a mother 00:57:07.000 --> 00:57:09.000 is meant to do. 00:57:09.000 --> 00:57:15.000 Or at least a mother who cares about her children. Or, like Nancy says in the chat, longing for her home. 00:57:15.000 --> 00:57:21.000 In our world, emotion… 00:57:21.000 --> 00:57:26.000 I mean, in the self-help literature, in the cookie-cutter 00:57:26.000 --> 00:57:33.000 fortune cookie, self-help stuff, you know, emotions just are, they're not right or wrong, they just are. 00:57:33.000 --> 00:57:42.000 Or we might even have some emotions that are laudable. Of course you care for your child, or Nancy, of course you long for your home. 00:57:42.000 --> 00:57:47.000 Those things shouldn't be penalized. Our 00:57:47.000 --> 00:57:57.000 modern emotional vocabulary and our modern liberal with a lowercase l and a capital one, 00:57:57.000 --> 00:58:04.000 Not just tolerance for, but even defense of emotional liberty. 00:58:04.000 --> 00:58:07.000 does not find expression 00:58:07.000 --> 00:58:09.000 thousands of years ago. 00:58:09.000 --> 00:58:13.000 This is our modern eyes and ears. 00:58:13.000 --> 00:58:20.000 throwing our values onto text that thousands of years ago really wasn't about how you feel. 00:58:20.000 --> 00:58:22.000 It's about what you do. 00:58:22.000 --> 00:58:26.000 But I do think that the notion of maternal instinct 00:58:26.000 --> 00:58:28.000 Yeah. 00:58:28.000 --> 00:58:32.000 is much older than modernity. 00:58:32.000 --> 00:58:37.000 Sure. We're not gonna have a point-counterpoint. So if, you know, 00:58:37.000 --> 00:58:42.000 Who are you gonna believe? God or your, yeah, maternal instinct? Right? 00:58:42.000 --> 00:58:43.000 Your mom! 00:58:43.000 --> 00:58:53.000 You may have, right? And this is what it's forcing us to grapple with. What's the role of God, divinity, justice, vis-a-vis 00:58:53.000 --> 00:58:59.000 Emotion, human longing. 00:58:59.000 --> 00:59:03.000 It's right here. 00:59:03.000 --> 00:59:05.000 So, the next one… 00:59:05.000 --> 00:59:06.000 really goes there. 00:59:06.000 --> 00:59:11.000 In the next one, she gets a name, and the name is very interesting. 00:59:11.000 --> 00:59:14.000 Who wants it? 00:59:14.000 --> 00:59:17.000 This is big. 00:59:17.000 --> 00:59:18.000 Yes. 00:59:18.000 --> 00:59:25.000 Can you hear me? Um, but Bjards, well… Ah, your, your uh. 00:59:25.000 --> 00:59:29.000 faces over the text for me. I can't move it, I'm sorry. 00:59:29.000 --> 00:59:30.000 Oh! Um… 00:59:30.000 --> 00:59:35.000 You're a little… I'm trying to move it up, okay. 00:59:35.000 --> 00:59:37.000 I'll give up on technology, someone else. 00:59:37.000 --> 00:59:43.000 You can… you can minimize that by clicking the icon in the corner of the picture of his face. 00:59:43.000 --> 00:59:45.000 It'll land it off the screen for you. 00:59:45.000 --> 00:59:52.000 Oh, got it, got it, okay. The pity of edit, wife of Lot. 00:59:52.000 --> 00:59:56.000 stirred for her daughters, who were married in Sodom. 00:59:56.000 --> 01:00:01.000 She looked back behind her to see if they were coming after her or not. 01:00:01.000 --> 01:00:05.000 And she saw behind Shahina. So she became a pillar of salt. 01:00:05.000 --> 01:00:06.000 A little bit of a… 01:00:06.000 --> 01:00:08.000 what now? 01:00:08.000 --> 01:00:11.000 What? And who? 01:00:11.000 --> 01:00:17.000 So this is the first place that she gets a name. 01:00:17.000 --> 01:00:20.000 Anybody know what her name means? 01:00:20.000 --> 01:00:21.000 It did? 01:00:21.000 --> 01:00:22.000 I'm go… I'm going to… 01:00:22.000 --> 01:00:24.000 embiggen this? 01:00:24.000 --> 01:00:29.000 and put it in green. 01:00:29.000 --> 01:00:36.000 Anybody? 01:00:36.000 --> 01:00:39.000 Alright, let's do a little bit of Hebrew grammar. 01:00:39.000 --> 01:00:44.000 The TAV at the end is just feminizing. 01:00:44.000 --> 01:00:46.000 The Yud over here… 01:00:46.000 --> 01:00:51.000 is grammar, don't worry about it. 01:00:51.000 --> 01:00:53.000 So we have… 01:00:53.000 --> 01:00:57.000 I'm Yud… Dalid. 01:00:57.000 --> 01:00:58.000 This… who? 01:00:58.000 --> 01:01:05.000 Your day. No, to know your day up? 01:01:05.000 --> 01:01:06.000 Good guest. 01:01:06.000 --> 01:01:07.000 No, that would be the opposite, but I love it, right? Right? And this Yud is weak. 01:01:07.000 --> 01:01:08.000 No, but yeah, right, right. 01:01:08.000 --> 01:01:16.000 So, it isn't really core to this. So it's really Eindalid. 01:01:16.000 --> 01:01:20.000 What is an aid? 01:01:20.000 --> 01:01:22.000 Kedim, Edut? 01:01:22.000 --> 01:01:25.000 Is this word ringing a bell? 01:01:25.000 --> 01:01:30.000 Witness. Thank you, Adam, in the chat. Witness. 01:01:30.000 --> 01:01:34.000 Her name means witness. 01:01:34.000 --> 01:01:37.000 The one who looks back, 01:01:37.000 --> 01:01:42.000 is the one who sees what happens. 01:01:42.000 --> 01:01:43.000 She looked back, and she saw. 01:01:43.000 --> 01:01:46.000 Hmm. 01:01:46.000 --> 01:01:54.000 She's the only one who really sees. 01:01:54.000 --> 01:01:56.000 She's the one who sees the death. 01:01:56.000 --> 01:01:57.000 She's the one. 01:01:57.000 --> 01:01:59.000 She's the one who faces… 01:01:59.000 --> 01:02:02.000 the destruction 01:02:02.000 --> 01:02:05.000 And everything that comes with it. 01:02:05.000 --> 01:02:11.000 So… 01:02:11.000 --> 01:02:12.000 Nancy. 01:02:12.000 --> 01:02:20.000 But I guess I'm a little confused, because she's seeing the feminine aspect of God, which seems. 01:02:20.000 --> 01:02:23.000 The antithesis, to me, of destruction, though I'm really like, what? 01:02:23.000 --> 01:02:27.000 Right! Right! 01:02:27.000 --> 01:02:28.000 Okay, so I'm not… okay, no wonder I'm confused. 01:02:28.000 --> 01:02:36.000 Well, so it's unclear, I would say grammatically, whether it means she saw the back of Shehina? 01:02:36.000 --> 01:02:37.000 Or she saw what was behind Shechina, like on the other side. 01:02:37.000 --> 01:02:40.000 Um… Yeah, I wondered, okay. 01:02:40.000 --> 01:02:41.000 It's not clear. 01:02:41.000 --> 01:02:46.000 All right. So, what is going on here? 01:02:46.000 --> 01:02:50.000 What do you mean, behind Sheena? 01:02:50.000 --> 01:02:57.000 Where is the Pier K. Darabi Eliezer getting this? So, I'm gonna go back to the top for a second, 01:02:57.000 --> 01:03:02.000 And I'm going to begin working this out. 01:03:02.000 --> 01:03:05.000 Lot's wife 01:03:05.000 --> 01:03:07.000 gazed behind 01:03:07.000 --> 01:03:12.000 Him. 01:03:12.000 --> 01:03:17.000 But we've already established that Lot is in front of her. 01:03:17.000 --> 01:03:20.000 Right? At least according to one of our stages. 01:03:20.000 --> 01:03:22.000 He was not in the… 01:03:22.000 --> 01:03:26.000 Carrying up the rear guards. So, behind him, 01:03:26.000 --> 01:03:30.000 What does that mean? 01:03:30.000 --> 01:03:34.000 Behind… who? 01:03:34.000 --> 01:03:36.000 God… 01:03:36.000 --> 01:03:41.000 Well, that's exactly where the text is gonna go. 01:03:41.000 --> 01:03:44.000 Behind Sheena. 01:03:44.000 --> 01:03:47.000 Behind him, Shkina? What? 01:03:47.000 --> 01:03:54.000 The Ramban, Nachmanides. 01:03:54.000 --> 01:04:00.000 flips it around, and says, hold on a second, actually Lot was not in 01:04:00.000 --> 01:04:05.000 front of her. Lot actually was behind her. 01:04:05.000 --> 01:04:08.000 Acting as the rear guard, and… 01:04:08.000 --> 01:04:11.000 Ramban wants to protect Lot. 01:04:11.000 --> 01:04:15.000 from getting midrashically schmeissed. The ZOP! 01:04:15.000 --> 01:04:16.000 from being the bad guy. 01:04:16.000 --> 01:04:19.000 Right. The Zohar has no 01:04:19.000 --> 01:04:24.000 concern about that. 01:04:24.000 --> 01:04:30.000 The Zohar says, Behind him, 01:04:30.000 --> 01:04:34.000 It means behind God, behind God's Shekhina. 01:04:34.000 --> 01:04:39.000 And the Zohar now tells a story that we're leaving out just for time. 01:04:39.000 --> 01:04:48.000 But this notion of vaifen acharab turning behind and looking behind oneself, 01:04:48.000 --> 01:04:50.000 The Prophet did that. 01:04:50.000 --> 01:05:01.000 Alicia's like Elijah, the successor to Elijah. Looks behind him and sees Shekinah, and from seeing Shekhina was able to discern some things. 01:05:01.000 --> 01:05:07.000 essentially was able to prophecy. 01:05:07.000 --> 01:05:10.000 What do we know about people 01:05:10.000 --> 01:05:19.000 who try to prophecy, even they're not prophets. 01:05:19.000 --> 01:05:20.000 Well, people don't believe in whether they're prophets or not! 01:05:20.000 --> 01:05:23.000 People don't believe them. 01:05:23.000 --> 01:05:24.000 It's gonna rain, haha! 01:05:24.000 --> 01:05:31.000 Well, true. 01:05:31.000 --> 01:05:35.000 What do we say about people who pretend to be prophets, or try to… 01:05:35.000 --> 01:05:37.000 try to profit when they're not 01:05:37.000 --> 01:05:47.000 prophetified. 01:05:47.000 --> 01:05:51.000 There's a famous story in Talmud. 01:05:51.000 --> 01:05:59.000 The rabbis are trying to figure out the nature of existence. 01:05:59.000 --> 01:06:06.000 They're essentially trying to probe the mind of God. And yes, I'm using a lot of anthropomorphic words here. 01:06:06.000 --> 01:06:11.000 They're trying to figure out the secrets of the universe. 01:06:11.000 --> 01:06:17.000 They're trying to get into the lab of Dumbledore. 01:06:17.000 --> 01:06:20.000 And so… 01:06:20.000 --> 01:06:25.000 rabbis talking about how there's this heaven and that heaven and another heaven, and above the chayot, 01:06:25.000 --> 01:06:26.000 Heavens above heavens. 01:06:26.000 --> 01:06:32.000 Right. And above the chayot, literally the holy animals, 01:06:32.000 --> 01:06:37.000 There's a level of heaven called the Chayotz. It's an electrified 01:06:37.000 --> 01:06:42.000 level of existence. 01:06:42.000 --> 01:06:48.000 In Ezekiel, it says, the likeness of heaven was on the heads of 01:06:48.000 --> 01:06:52.000 the animals of the sacred chariot. 01:06:52.000 --> 01:06:57.000 This is… this is a whole piece from mysticism, where the prophet Ezekiel sees 01:06:57.000 --> 01:07:07.000 A chariot. Ezekiel saw the wheel way up in the middle of the air. Ezekiel saw the wheels way up in the middle of the air. 01:07:07.000 --> 01:07:12.000 these animalistic, quasi-divine images were… 01:07:12.000 --> 01:07:18.000 rotating. And above it, and above it, and above it, and above it was the likeness. 01:07:18.000 --> 01:07:29.000 of a human. And the likeness of that heaven was on the heads of the Chayot, like the color of awesome ice stretched above their heads. 01:07:29.000 --> 01:07:34.000 you just said the likeness of a human, but I think you mean the likeness of… 01:07:34.000 --> 01:07:36.000 In Ezekiel, no, I meant a human. 01:07:36.000 --> 01:07:37.000 Okay. 01:07:37.000 --> 01:07:43.000 I meant a human, but in this case, it was like the color above, above, above, above, above is the color of ice. 01:07:43.000 --> 01:07:49.000 What is that? And the rabbis tried to figure it out, and they said, here's what we think it means. 01:07:49.000 --> 01:07:52.000 Up until that point, 01:07:52.000 --> 01:07:54.000 You have the right to speak. 01:07:54.000 --> 01:07:59.000 You can… you can let your mind reach this point. 01:07:59.000 --> 01:08:07.000 But above that, what kind of egotism do you think that a limited human 01:08:07.000 --> 01:08:10.000 can reach this level without permission. 01:08:10.000 --> 01:08:14.000 To really know the mind of God. 01:08:14.000 --> 01:08:17.000 At a certain point, our words will fail us. 01:08:17.000 --> 01:08:22.000 Our concepts will fail us. Our egos will get in the way. 01:08:22.000 --> 01:08:27.000 How can they not? We're people. 01:08:27.000 --> 01:08:31.000 So until then, fine. But beyond that, 01:08:31.000 --> 01:08:36.000 Don't go wandering, Harry Potter, into the lab of Dumbledore. 01:08:36.000 --> 01:08:39.000 Don't inquire what's too wondrous for you. 01:08:39.000 --> 01:08:44.000 Because, at a certain point, you have no business investigating. 01:08:44.000 --> 01:08:49.000 the secrets of heaven. 01:08:49.000 --> 01:08:54.000 This is a famous rabbinic story. 01:08:54.000 --> 01:08:56.000 Because it says… 01:08:56.000 --> 01:08:58.000 Whatever you think. 01:08:58.000 --> 01:09:01.000 Whatever you think you know 01:09:01.000 --> 01:09:06.000 your investigatory, I-need-to-know-the-why. 01:09:06.000 --> 01:09:10.000 It reaches a certain point, 01:09:10.000 --> 01:09:13.000 And then it can't go further. 01:09:13.000 --> 01:09:16.000 without… 01:09:16.000 --> 01:09:20.000 self-aggrandizing. 01:09:20.000 --> 01:09:25.000 Yeah, who do you think you are, God? 01:09:25.000 --> 01:09:28.000 rabbis. 01:09:28.000 --> 01:09:33.000 had two reasons for saying that. One, I think, was theological, 01:09:33.000 --> 01:09:36.000 But maybe the other was protecting their own power. 01:09:36.000 --> 01:09:40.000 Because so long as the rabbis 01:09:40.000 --> 01:09:43.000 owned investigation. 01:09:43.000 --> 01:09:50.000 And discernment. 01:09:50.000 --> 01:10:00.000 You see their power could be preserved. And who were those rabbis? What do you want to tell me about them? 01:10:00.000 --> 01:10:04.000 As I sit here, stroking my beard. 01:10:04.000 --> 01:10:06.000 Yeah. 01:10:06.000 --> 01:10:09.000 You've made your point. 01:10:09.000 --> 01:10:10.000 So now… 01:10:10.000 --> 01:10:11.000 They're all men. 01:10:11.000 --> 01:10:15.000 Shower writes is not God's Shekhina our shechina? Oh, yeah. 01:10:15.000 --> 01:10:21.000 So here is Mrs. Lott, Edit, the witness. 01:10:21.000 --> 01:10:25.000 Who sees the whole thing. 01:10:25.000 --> 01:10:28.000 turns around. 01:10:28.000 --> 01:10:31.000 and sees behind God. 01:10:31.000 --> 01:10:36.000 Literally behind God, behind that… that… 01:10:36.000 --> 01:10:43.000 existential layer of why. 01:10:43.000 --> 01:10:50.000 Is she violating the, uh, you know, don't, don't, don't go looking behind the veil? 01:10:50.000 --> 01:10:52.000 Or is it the opposite? 01:10:52.000 --> 01:10:54.000 Once you know… 01:10:54.000 --> 01:10:59.000 You can't be human anymore. 01:10:59.000 --> 01:11:06.000 Oh, Moses, Moses, you really want to see my face, says God? Sorry, kid. 01:11:06.000 --> 01:11:07.000 Sorry, kid. 01:11:07.000 --> 01:11:10.000 You can see my after image, right? I'll protect you in the cleft of this rock, and you'll see 01:11:10.000 --> 01:11:13.000 The afterglow after I'm gone. 01:11:13.000 --> 01:11:15.000 Sorry, kid. 01:11:15.000 --> 01:11:30.000 So I'll send you my back, my akhorav, same word, same word. And he hears Adonai, Adonai. 01:11:30.000 --> 01:11:35.000 Compassionate and gracious. 01:11:35.000 --> 01:11:40.000 That's as close as we can get to seeing God. 01:11:40.000 --> 01:11:47.000 So now, now we have Rachel Radansky's question on our hearts. 01:11:47.000 --> 01:11:49.000 Why? 01:11:49.000 --> 01:11:54.000 What is this story doing here? Why? 01:11:54.000 --> 01:11:57.000 Is this a holy story at all? 01:11:57.000 --> 01:12:00.000 What are we to do with this? 01:12:00.000 --> 01:12:10.000 One possible answer is when bad things happen in a world and there's justice, crap's gonna happen. 01:12:10.000 --> 01:12:14.000 And that is… maybe true. 01:12:14.000 --> 01:12:16.000 Here's another! 01:12:16.000 --> 01:12:19.000 There's a limit. 01:12:19.000 --> 01:12:22.000 to human ability. 01:12:22.000 --> 01:12:26.000 Beyond which is no longer human. 01:12:26.000 --> 01:12:32.000 Which is not to say that Mrs. Lott was penalized. 01:12:32.000 --> 01:12:37.000 Rather, a natural consequence. 01:12:37.000 --> 01:12:38.000 I've seen. 01:12:38.000 --> 01:12:41.000 He becomes something else. 01:12:41.000 --> 01:12:45.000 She becomes something else. 01:12:45.000 --> 01:12:48.000 This isn't blaming Mrs. Lot. 01:12:48.000 --> 01:12:53.000 She didn't do bad, she transcended humanity. 01:12:53.000 --> 01:12:56.000 She was the existential witness. 01:12:56.000 --> 01:13:00.000 And now Joan is going, oh, okay. 01:13:00.000 --> 01:13:04.000 What you got? 01:13:04.000 --> 01:13:08.000 Thoughts, feelings, what's in the room now? 01:13:08.000 --> 01:13:13.000 Because then the last 15-20 minutes, we're going to shift to the women's commentary. 01:13:13.000 --> 01:13:17.000 Boy, this really kicks the story on the side of the head, doesn't it? 01:13:17.000 --> 01:13:18.000 Yep. 01:13:18.000 --> 01:13:35.000 I mean, I think all of us. Those of us who grew up knowing this story, or this, you know, um… thought, oh my gosh, she's done wrong, you know, she's turned into this pillar of salt, and you know, if you don't know. 01:13:35.000 --> 01:13:40.000 Which many of us know as adults now, that salt is a preservative and, you know, as. 01:13:40.000 --> 01:13:51.000 several people have commented, you know, it's the way you preserve meat, food, you know, it's a scarce commodity, but a pillar of salt sounds, if you don't know, sounds just horrid. 01:13:51.000 --> 01:14:03.000 You know, it's like, why not stone and be just as good? Um… So this really… Wow, turns it on its head. 01:14:03.000 --> 01:14:05.000 For thousands of years. 01:14:05.000 --> 01:14:09.000 I mean, multiple mid-rashim have been here. 01:14:09.000 --> 01:14:16.000 For those of you who… how many of you knew the story of Mrs. Lott turning to a pillar of salt? 01:14:16.000 --> 01:14:24.000 Yeah, a bunch of us. How many of us had ever heard a redemptive midrash about it? 01:14:24.000 --> 01:14:26.000 Not a single one of you. 01:14:26.000 --> 01:14:27.000 That… 01:14:27.000 --> 01:14:29.000 I hadn't either until I started researching for this class. 01:14:29.000 --> 01:14:32.000 That tells us something. 01:14:32.000 --> 01:14:37.000 right there. That was swimming in the dominant social paradigm, 01:14:37.000 --> 01:14:40.000 was, let's blame Eve for the apple. 01:14:40.000 --> 01:14:43.000 But then we had another way to do it. 01:14:43.000 --> 01:14:49.000 Let's ignore Mrs. Noah. 01:14:49.000 --> 01:14:56.000 And now, right, so rye becomes Sarah, and it was her fault that she was, quote, barren. 01:14:56.000 --> 01:14:59.000 Not so fast. 01:14:59.000 --> 01:15:00.000 And now… 01:15:00.000 --> 01:15:02.000 At least not… it ain't necessarily so. 01:15:02.000 --> 01:15:07.000 And now Mrs. Lott. And these midrashim are not ones that Rabbi Rachel and I sort of, like, 01:15:07.000 --> 01:15:12.000 created for us, and the Kimchi and the Radakh are not obscure. 01:15:12.000 --> 01:15:14.000 No. 01:15:14.000 --> 01:15:17.000 They're not. They're just… they're right there. You look in Safari, boom, they're right there. But they weren't… 01:15:17.000 --> 01:15:19.000 Right there. 01:15:19.000 --> 01:15:23.000 in the dominant social paradigm that those of us knew the story, 01:15:23.000 --> 01:15:30.000 were raised with. The story was, she did wrong. 01:15:30.000 --> 01:15:35.000 It ain't necessary. 01:15:35.000 --> 01:15:42.000 And this again gets back to what we were talking about last week with the white fire around the black fire. 01:15:42.000 --> 01:15:47.000 And that there's sacredness in recognizing 01:15:47.000 --> 01:15:53.000 How are social constructs and our paradigms have shaped what stories we can imagine. 01:15:53.000 --> 01:15:57.000 To tell. And then expanding our sense of that. 01:15:57.000 --> 01:16:04.000 So, in the last little chunk of our time, we've… so, it was mentioned in the chat that the Torah, a women's commentary, 01:16:04.000 --> 01:16:08.000 Which was published by the BRJ, it's a big green hardback book. 01:16:08.000 --> 01:16:12.000 Um, has some material on this. Does someone want to read… 01:16:12.000 --> 01:16:17.000 This little passage from a women's commentary. 01:16:17.000 --> 01:16:24.000 His wife looked behind him. This is precisely what Lot is warned against. 01:16:24.000 --> 01:16:30.000 Nowhere does the text indicate. that he passes the information to his wife and daughters. 01:16:30.000 --> 01:16:36.000 The question remains, does Lutz's wife not know about the warning? 01:16:36.000 --> 01:16:39.000 Or does she look back in spite of it? 01:16:39.000 --> 01:16:48.000 And became a pillar of salt, she is reluctant to ignore what happens to those she leaves behind, and this concern costs her life. 01:16:48.000 --> 01:16:51.000 Which is exactly what we've been talking about. 01:16:51.000 --> 01:16:59.000 Mm-hmm. So, nowhere does the text indicate that he told his wife and daughters what he had been told. 01:16:59.000 --> 01:17:02.000 is a little bit like, uh, Eve. 01:17:02.000 --> 01:17:07.000 And the snake and the apple. Joan, I see your hand. 01:17:07.000 --> 01:17:17.000 All I can… oh. Yes, thank you, Ever, Rachel. All I can think of is… Um, female empowerment and agency, and where. 01:17:17.000 --> 01:17:22.000 Uh, where perhaps women were repressed and were supposed to be. 01:17:22.000 --> 01:17:30.000 following their husband's. It then shows, and we know that it is looking back, which. 01:17:30.000 --> 01:17:35.000 teaches us so much that we couldn't see looking forward. 01:17:35.000 --> 01:17:41.000 And this is such a wonderful opportunity. for women to come to the fore. 01:17:41.000 --> 01:17:43.000 Beautiful. Thank you. 01:17:43.000 --> 01:17:47.000 So you mentioned Edit as her name, right? She's the witness. 01:17:47.000 --> 01:17:52.000 One of the questions this brings up for me is, what is it that we bear witness to? 01:17:52.000 --> 01:17:54.000 in the world around us. 01:17:54.000 --> 01:17:58.000 What are we willing to see? 01:17:58.000 --> 01:18:02.000 What do we not feel willing to see, and what is the work? 01:18:02.000 --> 01:18:08.000 of learning how to look at it anyway, right? What are the places where we're doing this habitually? 01:18:08.000 --> 01:18:11.000 I can't look at that, I don't want to look at that. 01:18:11.000 --> 01:18:14.000 And where might God be calling us? 01:18:14.000 --> 01:18:16.000 to be more like Edit. 01:18:16.000 --> 01:18:18.000 And to open our eyes, 01:18:18.000 --> 01:18:23.000 And to see what's happening, and to feel the compassion 01:18:23.000 --> 01:18:27.000 Maybe the compassion of Edit, looking back at her daughters. 01:18:27.000 --> 01:18:32.000 What would that… what could that be for us? What is the compassion that we need? 01:18:32.000 --> 01:18:39.000 To lift up in ourselves, witnessing the world around us being what it is. 01:18:39.000 --> 01:18:42.000 Amy, I see your hand. 01:18:42.000 --> 01:18:52.000 I'm wondering, do people give their. Children in Israel or their daughters here. 01:18:52.000 --> 01:18:53.000 Ever met anyone named Edith? 01:18:53.000 --> 01:18:56.000 The name indeed. 01:18:56.000 --> 01:18:57.000 Edith is an anglicization of Edith. 01:18:57.000 --> 01:19:01.000 Yeah. 01:19:01.000 --> 01:19:04.000 Now, sometimes people give names without knowing what they mean. 01:19:04.000 --> 01:19:05.000 This is where it comes from. 01:19:05.000 --> 01:19:06.000 Um, I was named Rachel after my grandmother. I had no idea it meant female sheep. 01:19:06.000 --> 01:19:11.000 Mm-hmm. 01:19:11.000 --> 01:19:13.000 Sometimes names have… 01:19:13.000 --> 01:19:16.000 Deeper significance and consequence in Edit is one of those. 01:19:16.000 --> 01:19:26.000 you know, I have never thought of it this way, but Archie and Edith from All in the Family, I think I can never see that show the same way again. 01:19:26.000 --> 01:19:27.000 Yeah, alright, no. 01:19:27.000 --> 01:19:33.000 Because she's usually the one that has the moral vision, right? 01:19:33.000 --> 01:19:34.000 But just… 01:19:34.000 --> 01:19:39.000 Oh, James is noting in the chat, what is it that we hold onto that is corrupting, destructive, that we should be releasing? 01:19:39.000 --> 01:19:42.000 So we can move forward rather than being a pillar of salt. 01:19:42.000 --> 01:19:45.000 Depends on how you read Becoming a Pillar of Salt, right? 01:19:45.000 --> 01:19:50.000 Was she transcending humanity, or did she get stuck? 01:19:50.000 --> 01:19:51.000 Great. 01:19:51.000 --> 01:19:52.000 But either way, what should we… what do we need to release? 01:19:52.000 --> 01:19:54.000 is a great spiritual question. 01:19:54.000 --> 01:19:55.000 Yeah! 01:19:55.000 --> 01:19:57.000 We have a little piece here from the Five Books of Miriam. 01:19:57.000 --> 01:20:07.000 It's gonna… yeah, we just… it does fit here. Okay, good. 01:20:07.000 --> 01:20:10.000 Somebody want to read? 01:20:10.000 --> 01:20:15.000 Our daughter does, why does Lot's wife look back? 01:20:15.000 --> 01:20:20.000 Edith, the one who looks back, whom the rabbis named Edit. 01:20:20.000 --> 01:20:24.000 I looked back at all that I had left behind. 01:20:24.000 --> 01:20:31.000 My other daughter's grave, my friends and relatives, my home with its cherished mementos. 01:20:31.000 --> 01:20:36.000 My childhood, and I wept. And so hot was the desert sun. 01:20:36.000 --> 01:20:39.000 A typo, sorry. 01:20:39.000 --> 01:20:40.000 Desert Sun. 01:20:40.000 --> 01:20:41.000 And the brims? 01:20:41.000 --> 01:20:42.000 I mistyped that. 01:20:42.000 --> 01:20:46.000 Oh. Oh, son. 01:20:46.000 --> 01:20:57.000 And the brimstone torchings. Sodom, that my flowing tears dried instantly, turning me into a pillar of salt. 01:20:57.000 --> 01:21:02.000 The rabbi said, her turning into a pillar of salt. 01:21:02.000 --> 01:21:10.000 is an example of the divine principle. Milda, can it get me the measure for measure. 01:21:10.000 --> 01:21:15.000 Lot's wife brought this fate upon herself through indiscretion. 01:21:15.000 --> 01:21:22.000 When the two angels came to stay in Lot's house, Lot prudently kept their visit a secret. 01:21:22.000 --> 01:21:26.000 But his wife goes to a neighbor to borrow salt to cook for them. 01:21:26.000 --> 01:21:36.000 And so gives them away. Because of her thoughtlessness, she pays back the borrowed salt with her life. 01:21:36.000 --> 01:21:41.000 Deanna's asking in the chat, have we mentioned this, that human tears are salty? Right, I love that. 01:21:41.000 --> 01:21:49.000 Her flowing tears dried instantly. So, the second paragraph where it says the rabbi's ad, right, these are the midrashim that we just 01:21:49.000 --> 01:21:54.000 unpacked this morning and looked at. 01:21:54.000 --> 01:21:58.000 The very last thing I want to put in front of us, maybe before we move to just… 01:21:58.000 --> 01:22:02.000 talking about what this lifts up and where this takes us, and where… 01:22:02.000 --> 01:22:09.000 where this can enrich our lives. First of all, from Jewish Women's Archive, the pillar of salt was left by God as a memorial for all time. 01:22:09.000 --> 01:22:11.000 Moses saw it. 01:22:11.000 --> 01:22:14.000 When he got a vision of the land before his death. 01:22:14.000 --> 01:22:17.000 So, Moses, the hundreds of… 01:22:17.000 --> 01:22:19.000 Years later in Torah's time. 01:22:19.000 --> 01:22:25.000 And so this… she really does become something eternal. 01:22:25.000 --> 01:22:32.000 we're not going to have time to read this Midrash, this modern Midrash from Rabbi Amy Josepha Ariel. 01:22:32.000 --> 01:22:36.000 But I want to point out that it begins with some… 01:22:36.000 --> 01:22:39.000 texts about the importance of salt? 01:22:39.000 --> 01:22:44.000 which some of y'all hinted at at the beginning of our learning. 01:22:44.000 --> 01:22:46.000 And it is a spectacular… 01:22:46.000 --> 01:22:50.000 really short story. 01:22:50.000 --> 01:22:55.000 that has lines like, When those men came, how was I to know they were angels? 01:22:55.000 --> 01:23:00.000 Right, and we've got Lot's wife, Edith, speaking. 01:23:00.000 --> 01:23:04.000 to the anonymous author of this story. 01:23:04.000 --> 01:23:06.000 And I think it offers… 01:23:06.000 --> 01:23:10.000 To me, it offers a different way of looking at Edit. 01:23:10.000 --> 01:23:15.000 And feeling compassion for her in the impossible situation that she was in. 01:23:15.000 --> 01:23:19.000 And so we… I commend it to you as something to read. 01:23:19.000 --> 01:23:22.000 In your own time, 01:23:22.000 --> 01:23:24.000 We have… 01:23:24.000 --> 01:23:28.000 finished. Five minutes early. 01:23:28.000 --> 01:23:33.000 I don't understand. 01:23:33.000 --> 01:23:34.000 Yeah. Yeah. 01:23:34.000 --> 01:23:37.000 Well, it just means these last 5 minutes are for whatever is floating around in the room. 01:23:37.000 --> 01:23:39.000 Yeah, Susan asked us… 01:23:39.000 --> 01:23:44.000 to make a… a bridge to how we… 01:23:44.000 --> 01:23:47.000 use this in our lives. 01:23:47.000 --> 01:23:51.000 Rabbi Rachel, do you want to… 01:23:51.000 --> 01:23:53.000 odds-evens this? Do you want to take it? Do you want me to take it? 01:23:53.000 --> 01:23:58.000 I'll start, and then I'll pass the ball to you. 01:23:58.000 --> 01:24:04.000 For me, the piece that I'm taking away this week is that… is her name, Edith. 01:24:04.000 --> 01:24:06.000 that the sages gave her. 01:24:06.000 --> 01:24:12.000 And that her role, ultimately, was to bear witness 01:24:12.000 --> 01:24:14.000 Even to the unbearable. 01:24:14.000 --> 01:24:18.000 And then the loss of children is about as unbearable. 01:24:18.000 --> 01:24:22.000 as my imagination can go. 01:24:22.000 --> 01:24:28.000 For me, that opens up the question of what is it in our world that we need to bear witness to? 01:24:28.000 --> 01:24:32.000 Where are we closing our eyes, or covering our eyes? 01:24:32.000 --> 01:24:35.000 What's the stuff we don't want to see? 01:24:35.000 --> 01:24:39.000 But it's not just about witnessing 01:24:39.000 --> 01:24:42.000 what's happening, it's about what are we gonna do? 01:24:42.000 --> 01:24:45.000 in the world. What does it call us to do? 01:24:45.000 --> 01:24:55.000 Um, yeah, so, uh, James is noting that Josephus claimed he saw the pillar of salt with his own two eyes. Sure, so did Moses. There is a… 01:24:55.000 --> 01:24:57.000 Uh, salt formation. 01:24:57.000 --> 01:25:00.000 that is said to be Lot's wife. 01:25:00.000 --> 01:25:04.000 Three guesses where it is, 01:25:04.000 --> 01:25:09.000 Anybody here ever been to the Dead Sea, the Salt Sea? 01:25:09.000 --> 01:25:11.000 I'm seeing some hands go up, right? 01:25:11.000 --> 01:25:12.000 Anybody remember? 01:25:12.000 --> 01:25:14.000 Mm-hmm. 01:25:14.000 --> 01:25:16.000 sculptures of salt? 01:25:16.000 --> 01:25:19.000 Right? The wind and the water have… 01:25:19.000 --> 01:25:23.000 whisked everything else away in their salt formations? 01:25:23.000 --> 01:25:27.000 Like, being in a cave, kind of, right? Stalactites, stalagmites. 01:25:27.000 --> 01:25:29.000 Made of salt. 01:25:29.000 --> 01:25:33.000 Avraham and looked, uncle and nephew. 01:25:33.000 --> 01:25:36.000 had a bit of a falling out. 01:25:36.000 --> 01:25:38.000 You go this way, I'll go that way. 01:25:38.000 --> 01:25:41.000 Right. Which way did Locke go? 01:25:41.000 --> 01:25:44.000 east, from the center of… 01:25:44.000 --> 01:25:47.000 Israel. 01:25:47.000 --> 01:25:51.000 east from the Jerusalem area. 01:25:51.000 --> 01:25:54.000 Where do you get, if you go east of the Jerusalem area? 01:25:54.000 --> 01:25:57.000 Yum HaMelech. 01:25:57.000 --> 01:25:58.000 Salt Sea. 01:25:58.000 --> 01:26:02.000 That… that is where Sodom was. 01:26:02.000 --> 01:26:06.000 The ancient city of Stone and Amora. 01:26:06.000 --> 01:26:07.000 point on Earth. 01:26:07.000 --> 01:26:12.000 Which we know to be the lowest… right at the lowest point on Earth, it's where the water flows to, it's where the salt evaporates, we can… 01:26:12.000 --> 01:26:17.000 We can make all kinds of scientific explanations for why those pillars of salt are there. 01:26:17.000 --> 01:26:23.000 So who knows? If you go back to the Dead Sea and you're swimming around, you know… 01:26:23.000 --> 01:26:28.000 I'll let you drosh that yourselves. 01:26:28.000 --> 01:26:30.000 how do I bridge? 01:26:30.000 --> 01:26:32.000 There's a both-and. 01:26:32.000 --> 01:26:35.000 to a lot of what we saw today. 01:26:35.000 --> 01:26:38.000 There's, uh, an element of justice 01:26:38.000 --> 01:26:41.000 That needs to be done. 01:26:41.000 --> 01:26:45.000 James has given a lot of voice to that. 01:26:45.000 --> 01:26:53.000 And to not do that justice is to be complicit. 01:26:53.000 --> 01:26:56.000 There's a both-and, and the AND is the compassion. 01:26:56.000 --> 01:27:01.000 How do you not look and see the totality of the whole? 01:27:01.000 --> 01:27:07.000 But if you see only the totality of the whole, and it stops you from doing what needs to be done, 01:27:07.000 --> 01:27:15.000 then you run back into the… James' concern about not doing justice. But if you only do the justice, and you don't 01:27:15.000 --> 01:27:21.000 feel the compassion. Who are we? 01:27:21.000 --> 01:27:25.000 Indeed is giving voice to that. 01:27:25.000 --> 01:27:30.000 Are there things that are worth risking ourselves to see? 01:27:30.000 --> 01:27:36.000 Are there things… you know, I don't think I'm gonna turn into salt for this? 01:27:36.000 --> 01:27:39.000 I hope? 01:27:39.000 --> 01:27:42.000 But are there things that… 01:27:42.000 --> 01:27:46.000 we need to press ourselves to see in the world. 01:27:46.000 --> 01:27:55.000 And at the same time, know as much as we want to know why, as much as we can reason up to here. 01:27:55.000 --> 01:27:59.000 That there is an element beyond which humanity cannot. 01:27:59.000 --> 01:28:01.000 So we have to hold our reason 01:28:01.000 --> 01:28:06.000 with an element of spaciousness and gentleness. 01:28:06.000 --> 01:28:11.000 And that applies to both sides of that equation. If we're on the justice side, 01:28:11.000 --> 01:28:15.000 Ah, you think you know everything. If you're on the compassion side, 01:28:15.000 --> 01:28:20.000 Ah, yeah, but it isn't all just that, is it? 01:28:20.000 --> 01:28:23.000 So, for me, it's that both-and. 01:28:23.000 --> 01:28:28.000 And that's a very spacious place, even though the story that tells it… 01:28:28.000 --> 01:28:38.000 is a very hard story, because maybe that's the only story that can. 01:28:38.000 --> 01:28:42.000 I'm curious what other folks are taking out of this. 01:28:42.000 --> 01:28:45.000 And then we'll stop the recording and stay on. 01:28:45.000 --> 01:28:50.000 For anyone who wants to schmooze. Yeah, Rachel Radansky. 01:28:50.000 --> 01:29:01.000 Yeah, I was, um… Uh, what measure for measure… mean, the meaning of it in a Jewish context, or Hebrew. 01:29:01.000 --> 01:29:07.000 And there was something about mercy and human sympathy should temper justice. 01:29:07.000 --> 01:29:13.000 Mercy and human sympathy should temper justice, which I think you just said. 01:29:13.000 --> 01:29:17.000 But I liked the succinctness of that, and especially in our day. 01:29:17.000 --> 01:29:29.000 Where, as Jews, we feel divided. I feel concerned, and yet want healing, and we want change. 01:29:29.000 --> 01:29:35.000 I just think it's quite a… meaningful, uh, lesson this morning. 01:29:35.000 --> 01:29:36.000 Beautiful. Thank you for listening. 01:29:36.000 --> 01:29:39.000 Thank you. This is… this is my, um, one of my 01:29:39.000 --> 01:29:40.000 One of your Justice Kankiot. 01:29:40.000 --> 01:29:42.000 Kanaki Yods. 01:29:42.000 --> 01:29:48.000 Yep, so as you see, this is Lady Justice, she's holding a sword, but not up, she's holding it down. 01:29:48.000 --> 01:29:52.000 And there's always a scale. 01:29:52.000 --> 01:29:53.000 She's also always blindfolded. 01:29:53.000 --> 01:29:57.000 And she's always blindfolded. 01:29:57.000 --> 01:29:59.000 Is this… 01:29:59.000 --> 01:30:02.000 Chesed and Gevorah? Is it… 01:30:02.000 --> 01:30:08.000 Justice and mercy? 01:30:08.000 --> 01:30:09.000 Yeah. 01:30:09.000 --> 01:30:10.000 Balance. 01:30:10.000 --> 01:30:25.000 Can't believe I'm holding a kanuki, oh my gosh. Others… 01:30:25.000 --> 01:30:30.000 If there are no others, I'm going to grab another Hanuki I keep in my rabbinic office. 01:30:30.000 --> 01:30:31.000 Um, 01:30:31.000 --> 01:30:34.000 Another justice one? Yes, indeed. 01:30:34.000 --> 01:30:39.000 Uh, that's a goodie. 01:30:39.000 --> 01:30:42.000 That's part of justice, too? 01:30:42.000 --> 01:30:47.000 And if we really want her to, she'll point a finger. 01:30:47.000 --> 01:30:50.000 So you're telling me that's Edith? 01:30:50.000 --> 01:30:53.000 Indeed, the first letters of it and the last. 01:30:53.000 --> 01:30:58.000 Oh my goodness! Oh, wow! 01:30:58.000 --> 01:31:02.000 You did, bearing witness and occasionally dissenting. 01:31:02.000 --> 01:31:03.000 There it is. 01:31:03.000 --> 01:31:05.000 There. There. Edit. 01:31:05.000 --> 01:31:08.000 Read not, I dissent, but edite. There you go. 01:31:08.000 --> 01:31:13.000 Love it! 01:31:13.000 --> 01:31:17.000 One of the things that I love about this whole process is that 01:31:17.000 --> 01:31:26.000 In this deep dive, we've taken a story that I think a lot of us may overlook. Okay, whatever, she got turned into a pillar of salt, right? It's, you know, it's like the… 01:31:26.000 --> 01:31:27.000 Um, what's the one, uh… 01:31:27.000 --> 01:31:28.000 Nothing to see here. 01:31:28.000 --> 01:31:34.000 What's the Greek… what's the Greek myth where if she looks back, she gets stuck in the underworld? 01:31:34.000 --> 01:31:36.000 Yeah, you're ready, Che, right? Orpheus and you're ready, Che. Like, okay… 01:31:36.000 --> 01:31:37.000 Of course it is! 01:31:37.000 --> 01:31:39.000 Yeah. Although it's… although it's Orpheus who looks back and she ends up having to go back, but yeah. 01:31:39.000 --> 01:31:47.000 It is Orpheus who looks back, that's true. But, you know, like, okay, whatever, it's a story, she looks back, she gets turned into salt, who really cares? 01:31:47.000 --> 01:31:55.000 What I love about this process is going deeper and deeper into the story and these layers of teaching about it, 01:31:55.000 --> 01:31:59.000 And realizing that there's so much… 01:31:59.000 --> 01:32:05.000 wisdom and spirit that we can find in a piece of a story that I never really thought I cared about before. 01:32:05.000 --> 01:32:10.000 And that our ancestors felt they had 01:32:10.000 --> 01:32:13.000 had to, because the story needed to be redeemed. 01:32:13.000 --> 01:32:15.000 It had to mean something. 01:32:15.000 --> 01:32:18.000 It was bothering them. 01:32:18.000 --> 01:32:21.000 As it bothers us, and as they can do, 01:32:21.000 --> 01:32:24.000 That so can we. 01:32:24.000 --> 01:32:29.000 So I thank you for being part of this today, and being part of that continuing 01:32:29.000 --> 01:32:32.000 story of redemption. 01:32:32.000 --> 01:32:38.000 Shabbat Shalom, everybody. I'm going to stop the recording and stay on. 01:32:38.000 --> 01:32:41.000 Good job, his friends.