"Shall I hide from Abraham"

177. Therefore, because of this, THAT IS, BECAUSE HE ESCORTED HIS GUESTS, HE WAS FULLY MERITORIOUS, "and Hashem said, 'Shall I hide from Abraham that which I do?'" Rabbi Chiya opened the discourse with the verse, "For Hashem Elohim will do nothing, until He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets" (Amos 3:7). Blessed are the righteous of the world, that the Holy One, blessed be He, chose them. And all that He has done in the heavens and shall do in the world, He accomplishes through righteous people. And He never hides anything from them.

178. For the Holy One, blessed be He, wants the righteous to join Him. This is so that they may warn people and advise them to repent their iniquities so that they will not be punished by celestial punishment, and so that they will have no excuse to complain to Him, SAYING THAT HE DID NOT WARN THEM AND THEY DID NOT KNOW. Therefore, the Holy One, blessed be He, reveals to them the secret that He is about to punish them. He does not want them to be able to claim that He is punishing them without a trial.

179. Rabbi Elazar said, Woe to the wicked who do not seek TO KNOW, and do not know how to refrain from sin. Hence, the Holy One, blessed be He, whose deeds are just and whose actions are right, never acts before He reveals His plans to the righteous, so that other people will have no excuse to complain about Him. SIMILARLY, men should act in a way that prevents other people from uttering accusations against them. Therefore, it is written, "And you shall be clean before Hashem and before Yisrael" (Bemidbar 32:22).

180. And THE RIGHTEOUS should act accordingly, to prevent other people from complaining ABOUT THE HOLY ONE, BLESSED BE HE, and warn them that if they sin and do not guard themselves, the attribute of Judgment of the Holy One, blessed be He, might have a reason to ACCUSE them. And how may they ESCAPE THIS ATTRIBUTE OF JUDGMENT? By repenting and performing good deeds.

181. Come and behold, "And Hashem said, 'Shall I hide from Abraham.'" Rabbi Yehuda said, The holy One, blessed be He, has given the entire land to Abraham, as an everlasting heritage, as it is written, "For all the land which you see, to you I give it..." (Beresheet 13:15) as well as, "lift up your eyes and see..." (Ibid. 14). Later, when the Holy One, blessed be He, wanted to uproot and destroy these places, NAMELY SODOM AND GOMORRAH, He said, I have already given the land to Abraham, and he is the father of them all, as it is written, "for a father of a multitude of nations have I made you" (Beresheet 17:5). So it is not fitting for me to smite the children without informing their father whom I have called "Abraham my friend" (Yeshayah 41:8). Therefore, I must inform him. Thus, "And Hashem said, 'Shall I hide from Abraham that which I do?'"

182. Rabbi Aba said, Behold the humility of Abraham, even though the Holy One, blessed be He, said to him, "Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great" (Beresheet 18:20). Although He delayed Himself by informing Abraham that He wanted to punish Sodom, he did not pray before Him to save Lot from punishment. Why? So that he did not ask for a reward for his deeds.

183. Because of this, EVEN THOUGH HE DID NOT ASK FOR IT, the Holy One, blessed be He, sent for Lot and saved him for the sake of Abraham, as it is written, "And Elohim remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow" (Beresheet 19:29).

184. What is meant by "in which Lot dwelt?" WHY WERE THEY NAMED AFTER HIM? This has been explained; it is because they were all wicked and there was nobody among them who was good, save Lot. From this we learn that wherever the wicked stay, that place is doomed to be destroyed. FROM THE VERSE "IN WHICH LOT DWELT," WE LEARN THAT FOR ALL THE OTHER PEOPLE WHO DWELT THERE, IT WAS NOT CONSIDERED TO BE A DWELLING PLACE, BUT RATHER A PLACE OF DESTRUCTION AND DESOLATION UNFIT FOR HABITATION. AND THIS WAS BECAUSE THEY WERE WICKED PEOPLE.

185. Of the verse "the cities in which Lot dwelt," HE ASKS, Could it be that Lot lived in all of them? AND HE REPLIES, Because of his presence in those cities, they were not destroyed, and the people were able to dwell there. THIS IS WHY THEY ARE NAMED AFTER HIM. But if you say this was because of the merit of Lot, you are incorrect; it was because of the merit of Abraham.

186. Rabbi Shimon said, Come and behold. The service that a person does for the righteous protects him in this world. In addition, even if he is a sinful person, he will learn from the righteous person's behavior and emulate it.

187. Come and behold, as Lot accompanied Abraham, he did not learn all his ways, but he did learn how to show kindness to other people. Thus, as long as Lot dwelt there, the people settled in the cities, which continued to exist. THEREFORE, IT IS WRITTEN, "IN WHICH LOT DWELT."

188. Rabbi Shimon said, Behold how the Shechinah stayed with Abraham during the time that the Holy One, blessed be He, was with him. Rabbi Elazar said to him, But it was the Shechinah, Herself, that spoke to him, AND NOT ONLY THE HOLY ONE, BLESSED BE HE ALONE. Because the Holy One, blessed be He, revealed Himself to Abraham through this grade, as it is written, "And I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, by the name of El Shadai" (Shemot 6:3), WHICH IS THE SHECHINAH. IF SO, THEN WHAT IS THE POINT OF NOTING THE FACT THAT THE SHECHINAH DID NOT LEAVE ABRAHAM DURING THE TIME WHEN THE HOLY ONE, BLESSED BE HE, WAS WITH HIM? RABBI SHIMON said, It is certainly so, AND YOU ARE DEFINITELY RIGHT.

189. Come and behold. It is written, "And Hashem said (lit. 'And said Hashem'), 'Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great...'" At first, IT IS WRITTEN, "And Hashem said," (Beresheet 18:17) WHICH APPLIES TO HIM AND HIS HEAVENLY COURT, NAMELY THE SHECHINAH. And later, IT IS WRITTEN, "And said Hashem, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great," WHICH DOES NOT REFER TO HASHEM ALONE, BUT RATHER TO the upper grade YUD HEI VAV HEI that appeared to him over the lower grade, WHICH IS THE SHECHINAH.

190. Midrash Hane'elam (Homiletical interpretations on the obscure). "And Hashem said, Shall I hide from Abraham..." What is written before? "And the men rose up from there, and looked toward Sodom," in order to punish the wicked. And what is written after? "Shall I hide from Abraham."

191. Rabbi Chisda said, The Holy One, blessed be He, does not execute Judgment on the wicked until He has consulted the souls of the righteous. This is as it is written, "By the blast (also, 'soul') of Eloha they perish" (Iyov 4:9), and "Shall I hide from Abraham." The Holy One, blessed be He, said, How can I punish the wicked without consulting the souls of the righteous, telling them that the wicked have sinned before Me, and I am about to punish them. This is as it is written, "And Hashem said, 'Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous.'"

192. Rabbi Abahu said, The soul remains standing in its place and is afraid to come nearer and say anything to Him until Metatron says he will present it. Then, it may say what it wants. This is as it is written, "And Abraham drew near, and said, 'Will You also destroy the righteous with the wicked?'" (Beresheet 18:23) "Far be it from You to do after this manner..." (Ibid. 25).

193. "Perhaps there are fifty righteous within the city..." (Ibid. 24) Hence, the soul starts by saying, Master of the Universe, they may have learned the fifty portions of the Torah. And even though they did not learn the portions for its sake alone, they are still entitled to a reward in the World to Come and should not be sent to Gehenom. After this, it is written, "And Hashem said, If I find in Sodom fifty just men within the city..." (Ibid. 26).

194. He commented, But there are more than fifty portions in the Torah, there are 53. But, as Rabbi Avahu said, Every one of the five books in the Torah includes the Ten Utterances, WHICH IS THE SECRET OF the Ten Divine injunctions (sayings) by which the world was created. Multiply by the five books and you have fifty.

195. The soul goes on, saying, Master of the Universe, even though the people did not study the Torah, they may have already been punished for their sins in court and have been forgiven, as it is written, "Forty stripes he may give him, and not exceed..." (Devarim 25:3). And if they have felt ashamed in front of them, this is sufficient for them to be pardoned and not be sent to Gehenom. The following verse says, "I will not do it for the forty's sake" (Beresheet 18:29).

196. The verse continues, "Perhaps there shall be thirty found there" (Ibid. 30). Maybe there are righteous people among them who have achieved the thirty attributes indicated in the verse, "Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year" (Yechezkel 1:1), and that are included within the 32 paths, which are formed by the 22 Hebrew letters and the ten Sfirot. The latter, at times, are counted as eight.

197. It speaks further, "Perhaps there shall be twenty found there..." (Beresheet 18:31) Perhaps they will raise sons to study the Torah, thereby receiving their reward of the Ten Utterances, twice every day. This is according to Rabbi Yitzchak, who said, He who educates his son in the Torah and takes him to the house of his Rabbi (teacher) in the morning and in the evening is described by the words of the Torah as though he has performed the entire Torah twice a day. What does it say? "And he said, I will not destroy it for the twenty's sake" (Ibid.).

198. It goes on, "Perhaps ten shall be found there..." (Ibid. 32). It says, Master of the universe, maybe they were among the first ten who arrived at the synagogue. If so, they have earned the reward of all the people who came in after them. Then, it is written, "I will not destroy it for the sake of the ten."

199. The soul of the righteous one has all this to say for the sinners. And because they have nothing, it is written, "And Hashem went His way, as soon as he left speaking to Abraham, and Abraham returned to his place" (Beresheet 18:33). What is "to his place?" It is the place of his well-known grade.

200. Rabbi said, It is behooves a person to pray for the sinners so that they may repent and not enter Gehenom, as it is written, "But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth..." (Tehilim 35:13). And Rabbi continued, A person should never pray that the sinners may leave the world. Because had the Holy One, blessed be He, taken Terah out of this world for worshipping idols, Abraham would have never come into the world; the tribes of Yisrael would not have existed, nor would King David or King Messiah; the Torah would not have been given; and none of the righteous and pious men would have been in the world, nor any of the prophets,. Rabbi Yehuda said, Because the Holy One, blessed be He, sees that the sinners have nothing from all that was mentioned above, it is written, "And there came two angels to Sodom..." (Beresheet 19:1)