Parashat Vayera - The escape from Sodom ends up bad... - Rabbi Alon Anava

how many weird stories are you familiar with in the Torah no you know know most of the stories in the Torah are normal and more than that it's very easy to see the moral and the meaning and the message H behind the story but some some stories in the Torah are very weird and not only that they're weird you don't even see the message behind it you read it if you pay attention you're like what and then when you're trying to figure out what's behind it if you're already thinking you can't see any message behind it so today I want to talk about one of the most weirdest stories in the Torah that seems like there's no common sense behind it and and uh I'm pretty sure that if you pay attention it will change your life and which story am I'm talking about in our parasha is the story with Lot's wife that suddenly she looks back as they're going out of Dum and she turns into a pillar of salt on the surface seems like what what is I going to do now who knows Lot's wife never heard of her we've been reading about lot for the last two never have we heard about his wife and not only that a story that a woman looks back and she turns into a pillar of salt from all story from all things like why salt and what did you do what did you do she turned back that's what she did she turns back and she turns into salt doesn't make sense here I can't even think of what would be the message that the Torah has to tell me that a woman turns into salt and I don't know salt usually is a very good thing uh you know we we put we use salt on the altar on the on the sacrifices on the bread salt it kind of represent present kindness not death and weirdness now comes even a even more weird question this is on the way out of stum how did they get salt there there wasn't any salt there you know if you're going by the original Geographic and histor history story that wasn't the Dead Sea then in that Valley after the destruction of stom formed the Dead Sea so what is behind this entire weird and unclear story and what's so back bad with looking back that she gets punished with that I don't know very very weird story but I guaranteed to you pay attention this story and the meaning behind it will change your life [Applause] [Music] oh [Music] we always like starting H with a question how many times in your life have you reached that you needed help personally I don't like asking for help I don't like asking for help for anything all my life I try to work it out myself I don't ask for help I don't depend on help I don't depend on people but nevertheless kadh always turns things around that you will need somebody's help that's it that's how life is so when was the last time that you needed somebody's help two hours ago yesterday I can tell you already that the best way to receive something if you need some type of help some type solution some type of a Salvation the best solution to it is to give some something to somebody else when you help somebody else then by default your salvation Your solution your answer will come back to you so again so my question to you before we start is H when was the last time you needed somebody's help a lot okay now that we have a question we have a weird topic let's begin it says in the talmud in tracted page 66 b is Sal m is money is a deficiency or a lack the explanation of this is that you want to add on your money then you have to take off from the money that's it very simple you have X amount of money you want to add on it then you have to take some amount off that money pretty simple this is what the says sh give 10% from what you earn and be that's a a remedy for you to be rich the exact same thing that's why the the the first in the tal which I'll explain later remember is salt m is money is a lack or take off that's the the same concept of salt as if you take salt by itself it's disgusting you lick it it's bitter it's salty you can't eat salt so by itself it's disgusting but when you add it to food it enriches the the the food it enriches what you're eating sometimes you eat something it's disgusting you put a little bit of salt oh that's it amazing exactly that's what our sages explain in the taled charity giv doing acts of kindness that's exactly like salt when you give a little bit when you're giving it hard to give from your hard earned money not so easy and from your time from your comfort from your home not easy but when you give it it enriches at the end of the day that's a very special concept that is taught in the T and in order for us to understand this concept we're going to have to explain very thoroughly this idea of Lot's wife and this idea this teaching is coming from the clear for the ones of you are not familiar it's a commentary on the Tor RAB schlomo epim from lnit about 300 years ago very very indepth commentary on the Torah and he explains that now in order for me to understand what I just told you and for sure the meaning behind the story with L's wife let's go back in the time machine to zom okay we know that zum was a place of H wickedness a place that deserved a destruction but we only familiar with the of Dum if we go back in the time machine Let's see what was Dum there after all if you remember last week we read that Abraham and lot separated their ways lot went to a real estate agent and told him listen I have a lot of money I want to I want to live in a nice place maybe Beverly Hills maybe I don't know what something like that West Palm Beach the realtor told him let me take you to the richest place the most perfect place in the world s s was like a like the amorites Dubai it was the place of richness it was a place that we whoever lived there was a was Mega millionaire you can't live there if you don't have money and it's not that you know we imagine D is a sleazy place it wasn't necessarily just a sleazy Place according to all the commentaries stum was the most richest place and the most most fanciest place in the world to a to a point that if you go to the book of to Job chapter 286 he says it's stones replac of sapphire and it had Gold Dust I'm imagining Stone like Dubai not that I've been in Dubai or not that I have any desire to go there but from pictures you know it looks like oh huge Towers beautiful cars wealth everywhere water you know I mean I had a friend who went there not too long ago he told me you walk there everything is gold you go into the mall Everything Gold Everywhere shiny beautiful cars fancy hotels it's like a that's how imaginings D and that's what a says it's not that I'm like some you know a place of gold so the entire place was only for rich people only wealthy people but they didn't want anybody to come into zom the residents of zom wanted to be a closed community and they didn't want anybody coming in there so Geographic geographically if you look all around Dum was poor poor people so I don't have necessarily a place to to to compare it in our generation but if you travel in many places I've been now to America you go to a very fancy neighborhood that the houses that are worth millions and you go two miles down the road and it's like the slums and and and like a place of of poverty and and CRI crime same thing here Dum imagine is like a Dubai and all around geographically it's like poor people why they didn't want to open their gate it was a closed community like a big city of course but closed community you can't come in here you have to be a billionaire and above to come into our club sounds familiar no but nevertheless you don't have money you are not somebody you can't come and live here we only want wealthy people that was the idea of Dum now the commentary explains that there were rule means mean people cruel people and they had very strict laws about their territories that they enforced it in a very horrible way the talmud is telling us about a story that they they they didn't like guests they didn't like Intruders in any type of a way and what's the proof to that in our parasa the Angels come to save lot people don't know their Angels they look like people and right away they all come to attack them and bring them out we're going to kill them and that was their how they ran their sh there the talmud says the commentary says they were mean they were cruel they were mean to people and the story says that how would they treat the guests that would come there if a guest would come into zom they would tell him here's a bed lie on the bed if the bed is too short for you and your legs go out of the bed they would cut the legs if you are too short if the person the guest was too short and the bed was long then they would stretch the person to a imagine the person would scream to to to to the heavens anything just that guests won't come to their City nobody wanted to go into stum it wasn't like Dubai that you can buy a ticket nobody wanted to go into Dum it was so bad there that hasem himself self says I have to go down and see what's going on there where do we see that in our Paras chapter 18 verse 21 translation I will descend now and see that's Hashem saying whether according to her cry which has came to me they have done this is in our par book of chapter 18: 21 Hashem heard the screams of these poor people that Hashem says I have to come down I can't believe such evil is done in my world that I have to come down and see it says hem now it says in the Tor her cry whose cry the comment there raashi doesn't say who's the cry nobody says who's the cry why does hasem says I have to go down and to this place because the scream her scream Her Cry came all the way up to me who's this uh cry coming from so the talud says there was a young girl there was a young girl and the story says that they spotted in the city of zom a poor person you know with all the cameras all the surveillence all the guards everything they spotted a poor person now normally a poor person will survive there a day or two and they don't understand how is this poor person H surviving a person is not going dressed with fendy Armani and whatever other names they have now they spotted a person and they're like how is this person surviving here something something is is making this person H ER surviving somebody must have done the horrible sin of helping this poor person and of course they made a quick search and they found this young girl who what did she do she would carry a pcture of water on her shoulder and underneath it was a piece of bread and every time she would walk next to this poor person put the pcture down pick the picture up and the bread the piece of bread would stay down on the on the ground wherever she put it and he would take it and eat it the tud says that they took her they tied her to the wall they smeared her H with honey and they let the bees sting her so much till she died from the stinging of the bees and that was the screaming that Hashem says I will go down and to hear this scream that came up when hasem came down and saw this that's when that was the the at this point theem says okay I had enough with this place that is what turned the decree against D that Hashem says I'm going to destroy D but right before the destruction of zum they had to send the Special Forces to release lot out of AR of's D they had to spend send the the seals the Navy SEALS or the yamam in Israel they had this is one of the first special op Force mission in the Torah now we have hostages sitting in AA for a year which I'm still asking how did they not get them somehow they found to kill him somehow they found and killed him somehow they found Nala and killed him but the hostages they they can't find interesting but nevertheless we did see a few months ago uh special ops the yamam went into AA and took out these three four men remember three men uh in a unbelievable heroic Mission and went in took them out which again that's my own opinion I don't understand why they don't do it to the other hostages but they couldn't find them yet they find everybody they found all the bunkers they found everything that the hostages they didn't interesting but nevertheless let's stick to our story hasem is sending the Navy Seals the yamam to get lot out of course in the shape of angels but that was a you know what we call in HEB an operation speci Ops came with helicopters in the dark and you know came down from the helicopters you know now we got to get lot out cuz technically Hashem can do things like this and get lot out so in the Merit of abrah ainu hasem is sending Special Forces to get lot out before the destruction of D now that we reach to the point of the special op taking lot out ofum this is where the message of this class lies pay attention before we understand the special mission of getting lot out of stom we have to understand where did they where did this evil come from I mean okay I understand the residents of zom are rich and they don't want Outsiders I understand I can relate you know I'm not that I'm agreeing but go now to any country and when you have uh a community that they don't want people coming into their Community right I can understand I'm not complaining not judging and definitely not cheering for the residents of Z but the idea that I have a close Community I don't want people coming in I understand but to have such wickedness such evil to torture anyone who comes in to make to send out a message we have to understand where this where this evil is coming from so for that we have to go back to the mishna specifically in Tred aot where it says any big evil maybe I'm using the wrong word in Hebrew it's called is like wickedness and like evil but evilness or however you would say evil as a verb but the any big evil starts with small which means when you see something tremendously evil it has to start somewhere small I don't know if you're noticing what's going on in the world recently literally a few days ago the IDF infiltrated into jabalia and now they're releasing all this footage of how the Kamas is torturing their prisoners did you see these videos go on YouTube that's it you don't have to be such research go on YouTube and you'll see the IDF went into jabalia and they found from different headquarters and and and places of the Kamas footage from the surveillance cameras how they're actually torturing people their own people not Jewish and Israeli soldiers or or hostages their own people then you should see what the tortures they're doing to them hanging them upside down and beating them up and you can't even imagine now why is the idea of using these videos now to show the entire world this is what we're dealing with we're dealing with animals we we're not dealing with normal humans the joke is that who supports the Kamas all the Liberals half the people they're torturing are homosexuals and they're torturing them because they're homosexuals and and you know you know there's a uh somebody sent me a picture it's on the social media that you see like a lot of er l gbt people standing with a colorful flag and they're saying LGBT for for Kamas and underneath it it says it's like chickens cheering for KFC you're like what I want to see a homosexual going into to Aza right now they chop him into in a second and in this video you actually see how they're torturing people and why is the idea of showing it to the world so the world can understand we're dealing with animals here this is not normal people so you look at this type of evil and you're saying where did this evil come from the mishna says any huge evil that you see in front of your eyes started somewhere small go back 80 years you see the evil that the Nazis did you know now last week I'm sure that you saw with what's going on in what was going on in Amsterdam you know the second Crystal n thousands of Muslims are running in the streets beating up Israelis and of course the world doesn't say anything the the Dutch government doesn't do anything no arrests nobody's in jail it's okay to to beat up Jews in the street that's fine but when you go back and you're seeing the evil of how the Nazis were evil you ask a question where does this come from the mishna tells us any evil that you see that is big starts with something small it starts small and eventually it becomes big that's it now what is small or little evil you're looking now at Kamas you're looking at the Nazis you're looking at many other people in the past that you see like psychotic evil so what's little evil can you define little evil a little bit of evil a little bit of wickedness so I'll tell you what's a little bit of wickedness or evil and in Hebrew it's called antipa the English word to it is anti antipathy they not to care somebody else that's it when I don't care about you that's little evil okay and maybe I'm saying the the word wrong in Hebrew we say antipa if a person doesn't care about another person antip in English antipathy okay or in our day of age it's also known as capitalism I don't care about you I care about myself that's how things start when you don't care about another person that's a little bit of wickedness that's a little bit of evil that I just don't care about you I'll see you on the floor bleeding like now let's go back to our time in Amsterdam you see Jews Israelis on the floor getting beat up you think any of the people around did anything they didn't care like 80 years ago in Europe and like in many other places inam and to explain this there's another problem inam were greedy and they also had lust for money unfortunately that's most of the world right now most of the world are greedy when I'm saying most of the world I'm talking people and it doesn't matter which country most people are greedy for money they'll do anything for money they'll step all all over other people just to make another dollar and more than that the lust and the desire for money will cause people to to to do horrible things when I only care about myself eventually I will become evil and wicked that's what the mishna says and you can see it with your own eyes you don't have to be a genius for that when you care about others that's the remedy of you not becoming evil but when you only care about yourself eventually you'll become very very evil so let's see what the mishna says let's go back to tract itot the ethics of the father chapter 5 ver h mishna 10 it says that there are four types of individuals in regards to carrying and giving the first one the mishna says what's mine is yours what's yours is mine or to what we know it in our generation it's called socialism right what's mine is yours what's yours is mine like they do now in the Kim in is we all share right Community you work you work you work I work and we all share socialism they did it now in the Kim in is 70 80 years ago I don't know about the success but nevertheless that's what the mishna says the next option that the Torah the mishna is explaining is I will call it capitalism mine is mine yours is yours and I'm quoting the mishna if you don't recognize the the the the words the mishna says and then it says what mine is mine but yours is yours this is capitalism and then there's another two options one of them is considered a wicked and other one is considered Aid let's wait till the end for me to explain it let's focus right now on these two okay what's mine is mine what's yours is yours or as they call in our generation capitalism the mishna calls it is half here half here which in to some extent makes sense okay I can I can uh I can understand that what's mine is mine I work for my own stuff what's your your is yours you stay there I stay here I can relate with that but the mishna calls it mid it's not not Wicked but definitely not Pious is in the middle but listen what the mishna says right after that some say it's the attribute of and again I'm quoting the mishna it's not me reading out of my notes the mishna says some say it's the attribute ofum how we just now said learned that were Wicked people they were evil people how do you tell me what's mine is mine what's yours is yours is the mid of and in the beginning the M says it's not Pious but it's not Wicked when we go to the main commentary on the mishna of tra which is called he says that's how it starts till it gets to Mid it starts when it's mid it starts when it makes sense you work for your earning I work for my earning what's mine is mine what's yours is yours which listen a common sense what's mine is mine what's yours is yours it's kind of Common Sense but then you're telling me that's the attribute ofum the says it starts that it's mid but eventually it becomes a mid of the attribute of what is it teaching us that the residents of zom weren't born evil they didn't start evil they only were born cheap and what we call in Hebrew egoism how would you say in in English egoist you don't care about you only care about yourself okay what's the word in English egotistic egotistic okay so in Hebrew it sounds the same egoist egotistic so they were born cheap I don't want to give you anything and they were born egoistic that's it they weren't born evil okay now that we kind of explain the structure let's continue the the main theme of what I'm trying to get here is the mission of getting lot out of H stom a very interesting story first we encounter the Angels they're coming to abrah ainu one Angel comes to heal him from the Brit the other the Angels coming to tell him about he's going to have a son and then once they're done their little rundu with abah ainu they put their special ops gear you know the night vision and they go into stum they somehow infiltrate into Dum they come through all the gates maybe you know an Apachi helicopter came in the middle of the night they go down on ropes you know I don't know how they if we have to imagine it like in a movie how did they get into zum well they're Angels they just appeared but then we're we're introduced to the whole m to the special ops of getting lot out of D and the Tor goes in length how they went in lot took them into their house and everybody all the residents came banging on the door bring them out first we have to understand about lot because technically besides the Merit of abrah Ain why would he be out of Z out of Z when he doesn't have any any any other merits actually the Tora is saying he wasn't such a nice guy lasta we read that he was a you know a crook a thief right Greed for money he wasn't a you know such a stand outstanding Citizen First of all the Torah is is showing to showing him to us as a very weak individual and in Hebrew it's called one time this opinion one time this opinion you know very weak personality goes you know wherever wherever he can get something to eat now we have to understand that on his own he has no merit but nevertheless he's the son-in-law of Abraham aino but what a lot of people Miss he has a double merit with abrah aino he's not only abrah ain's son-in-law he's also abrah ain's brother-in-law why because lot is the son of haran that makes him the son the the nephew of Rino but lot is also the brother of Sarah because Sarah is the daughter of har it says that haran had two daughters milka Anda yah is Sarah which means that lot is Sarah's brother I told you last week that Abraham ainu married his sister well he's she she's half sister because lot had different wives I mean haran had different wives so when abah went down to to MIT last week and he told them SAR is my sister he didn't lie he was also married to her but nevertheless lot has two types of merits he's abrah ain's nephew and abrah ain's brother-in-law okay lot is pictured to us in the Torah as a greedy individual not as a Pious individual he's so greedy that he's willing to live leave Abraham ainu for money the Torah is very clear last week's par in that he had also a lot of cattle a lot of sheep and and he would let our his workers would let the Sheep go eat in other people's Fields this is gazel and then he fought the the workers of abaho fought with the workers of lot and started a how do you call a broth fight there because the workers of abah says why why you you're not allowed to to put your your sheep and everything and cattle to eat here this is not your Fields anyways you know the whole story if you don't just go to last par it's in the end of the par it's very clear send there so comes to lot and says we're family I don't want to fight with you let's separate obviously we became too big both of us you want to go left I'll go right you want to go right I'll go left and lot was so greedy about money that he's willing to live leave abah aino if you had such an uncle would you leave him I would sit next to him the the the the you know such an individual why would I want to leave abah ainu so lot is is painted by the Tor as a very greedy low individual that is willing to leave abrah ainu and all that just for money now where does St go where does lot go he goes to St you have the entire land of Israel abah tells you go wherever you want and you choose to go to S so I told you in the beginning lot had a lot of money he went to a real estate agent told him I have a lot of money I want buy like a nice Farm where I can settle down maybe West pal Beach I don't know boaron the realtor tells him go to Dum first of all you need a minimum $100 million just to show in your bank accounts to go get through the board so lot loves money he likes all the shiny things or what they call it now the bling and he goes to stum but we also have to understand that not only that he likes the H his wife was from s he met a sadomi woman he went on Match.com and he didn't just look for the looks he found a woman from zum how do you get in you have to be part of the part of the Familia to get into the Clos community so he comes with his resume his abah ain's nephew he's loaded with money his wife is from zom so he gets a green card to Doom he gets somehow into Doom and not only that they like him so much they make him a judge they make him the judge of the city okay so the story is the Angels come into Z lot accepts him very very nice he opens the door makes a whole meal to them after all he's still abrah ain's nephew he all his life he grew up with he knows how to accept guests into his house okay the Angels tells them listen we came to tell you to run away run away so he starts with all the excuses my kids here I have married children I have grandkids I have a business here what are you crazy what am I going to do in in in Israel it sounds like me going to America telling the people run away run you out of your mind run away no my how am I going to make money in Israel for 20 years I I screamed to people especially in North America leave this place now I've been in America for a few months I tell people leave this is Europe of the 30s why don't you get here no my business is here my kids are here my grandkids are here what am I going to do in Israel just the last week's class that I I posted online half the comments you're telling me to come to Israel how am I going to make money in Israel like as if you're a billionaire wherever you are and to say how am I going to make money in Israel what hasm doesn't have jobs there's no jobs in Israel we're all eating from the floor I mean I I don't get that's the excuses you tell people from Europe from North America South Africa you tell them run away Hashem is going to come down like to Dum he had enough and run away that's our land and all you get is excuses my business is here how am I going to make money it's not safe in Israel etc etc etc so the angels are coming to lot and telling himbi Hashem is coming and destroying not run run away when they didn't come here for your Stakes we came to warn you and he starts with excuses but my daughters are here I have a business here I'm a man of the community I'm a are you crazy running away from Dum yeah really Hashem is going to destroy Dum why would he do it to us the fact was that he left two daughters in zum but he takes his wife and his two single daughters and they run away from zum you know the story I'm not going to elaborate on that right we go out right when they go out from zum and of course the angel you know in the debate he was like okay let me collect my let me get my money let me go into the safe no time the angels are telling him no time the nuclear bombs are coming any second no time for you to go into your safe and get all your money you go like that like some lucky people were able to run away from the Holocaust 80 plus years ago they ran away with their underwear and they ran around with a bag the ones who were smart in the early 30s sold their properties and went whether to Israel to Australia to Europe to America it's the same that now in North America the ones who are smart can still sell their property can still bring their money to Israel and go quietly will come the day whether you agree with it or not or whether you want acknowledge it or not that America people are going to run away with their their underwear in their in their hands that's it no time to get your money people are still living in some denial now you can't really H blame them people in the Holocaust in in in World War II were living in denial no they're not going to make it into Poland they're not going to come to Romania they're not going to come to to people till they saw the Nazis with their own eyes still didn't believe and still said oh no they're nice people they're taking us to camps they worry about our welfare it's for your own good so you can you blame the the Jews in North America when you live in b Aton and Beverly Hills and whoever were so same thing with lot he tells the Angels wait wait wait let me go to the safe I just want to get all my money no time for your money you idiot you have seconds somehow a spirit of of of Common Sense falls on lot he grabs his wife he grabs his two single daughters and they run out of stone and they get one warning from the angel don't look back he doesn't say what's going to happen the angel just says do not look back and as they're going out of zum Lot's wife turns around and she becomes a pillar of salt if it matters it doesn't really matter H lot's wife's name was idit it's a com common name in Israel I think also in in America idith right there is a argument maybe her name wasit which is another common name in Israel idit andit are very common names in Israel nevertheless that's lot's wife's name okay so Lot's wife turns around she doesn't listen to the angel and Boop she becomes a pillar of thought now before I ask you a few questions you know that there's a few things that the talud left as let's quote a monument you know according to the tal you can still go around the area of stom and see the pillar of salt now I've I you know some say it's in stom some say it's on the eastern part of the uh Dead Sea but according to the talmud there is a you can actually go and see it and where is the the pillar of salt interestingly there's a lot of things that happened in the past that we don't have any any Mark of them not the grave of mos or not I don't know the pit of ysf that he was thrown into the pit or the well where yob went and went I mean some things happened in history we don't have a mark for the where she Lot's wife became a pillar of assult there is a mark where it is if you drive down to Z now there is a sign there to guiding you where it is now what exactly it is we don't know but just goes to show you how significant this concept is okay so now that we are familiar with the fact that lot has ran away from zom the two single daughters are with him and Lot's wife turns around she becomes a pillar of salt now in order for us to understand the message what the Torah is telling us we have to ask some questions what's the big problem with looking back is I ever heard such a sin to look back nowhere in thean or in any other source it's a sin to look back question number one what's so bad with looking back question number two why salt why didn't she turn into a sugar cane or a pillar of chocolate or anything why salt and interestingly it says there in the verse and his wife looked from behind him why behind him behind lot it's not grammatically correct it has to say she looked behind her why behind him grammatically doesn't make sense okay so we go to Rashi common commentary on the Torah R she says very simple explanation you know why she what's the problem with looking back to remind them and I'm quoting why don't look back to remind them that they were saved in the kindness of hasem and they didn't have any Merit that's what Rashi says I'm not satisfied with this answer so what does Rashi say about the salt Rashi says that when lot and his wife hosted the gu the Angels one of them says can you pass me the salt so that's according to Rashia H so lot told his wife give me the soul Shaker and she didn't want to give the soul Shaker and they started a fight that's what hasashi says not me that because lot and his wife fought about the soul Shaker in the meal that they hosted the guests okay and when it says rash says what's the big problem she turned around and lot was behind her why are you making a big deal out of this actually if you go to the book of deim mosenu reveals to us a little hidden piece of this concept when he says that when hasem destroyed esam he destroyed it with goit and Mel with goit is sulfur and was salt obviously according to Moshe raenu the destruction of Z when it came down with I mean git the translation is sulfur but really it's I'm talking about like fire balls of fire according to what mosu explains somehow hasem used salt there which is the explanation how we have the Dead Sea you know the Dead Sea was not there there wasn't there y before Z after the destruction of Z it says that the water somehow came in from the all the oceans and made the Dead Sea so obviously according to mos in the book of Hashem used something with salt to destroy St okay that's all the explanations of Rashi so technically anyone can read the story go through Rashi and say okay no big deal but really when you stop to read the story that doesn't make sense is not satisfying us here with his commentary lot and his wife fought on the soul Shaker I don't I don't get it and I don't accept it something has to be explained here okay why is it so hard to get because why would God punish Lot's wife with salt why salt is considered to us a very valuable substance salt for if you to understand a little bit about a salt let's take a short side note how do you write salt in Hebrew that's the letters it has the same letters of same letters of I'll explain what is is the dot is the punctuation that goes above the letter signifying that it's above the salt is above everything and the letter what is forgiveness and what is compassion so we have signifying that salt is above whatever you put it it makes it go above something that is above something the the malal that's the the Forgiveness compassion that's 60 seconds what salt is if you want to take the cabalistic explanation of salt we just of course too I'll get to that too in a second but if you want to get the cabalistic explanation of salt we just read two weeks ago in parad that hasm separated the waters right the water underneath the firmament and the water above the firmament the water underneath the firmament got very upset saying to Hashem we don't want to be far away from you we want to be close to you that's not fair that you're taking the the part of the water and you're putting it above the firmament to be close to you and we are now punished under the firmament without you what did Hashem do Hashem took salt he put it on the sacrifice and it says every time a sacrifice will be sacrificed for me with the salt it will Elevate the water back to me that's it so the water Cal down that's the explanation of cabala so going back to the salt salt is also you write same letters of which means bread again a little bit of cabala the numerical value of M and is 78 78 is three times the name of right 26 is 3 * 26 is 78 it says about when it comes to bread it says in the Tor person cannot live on nothing he needs to have bread everything that you that needs Enlightenment it comes from aem's speech so when we take for example on Shabbat we take the bread which is the same letters of the salt and and and we dip the bread why do we dip it three times can get three corresponding to the three names of hm three times the mirical value of the of the salt and the and the bread and why to enliven The Godly spark in the food when we dip the bread into the salt we enliven The Godly spark that's in the food that's why we know the Shabbat food always better more sustenance and so forth so either way you're looking at it the salt is a very special holy good positive substance so how does it become in this story the form of death of the wife of lot that's one of the main things that doesn't make sense turn her into I don't know honey turn her into sugar turn her into flour why are you turning her into salt when salt is such a significant positive thing in the Torah why using it in a negative connotation death so the F the fight of lot and his wife that Rashi is talking about it wasn't on a soul Shaker by the way it was was much more than a soul Shaker the fight between Lot's wife and lot was about the fact of giving lot as e evil as he may have been and as wicked and greedy he still grew up in the house of abrah ainu he still grew up with the concept of giving abrah ainu was is everything was giving with ab aino and lot was attached to abrah aino for how many years I mean they left when abrah a was 75 so let's say going down to MIT let's say so he was next to abrah a all his life so lot still had the idea the concept the the the the the the this goodness of giving so he saw the guest he doesn't know their Angels even though it says that lot was so Along by the house of Abraham ainu he he was used to seeing angels whether he knew their Angels or not he already is used to seeing Angels Angels would walk into all day long but lot still has the hospitality the he he brings the the guests in so the mid says the fight was not on the salt shaker the fight between lot and his wife was on the fact of giving the wife of lot was an evil sodomy woman local from Dum she grew up the education she grew up is no guests no giving I don't want any giving I don't want any guests and lot says but there we have guests here I want to bring them in I want to feed them I want to bathe them the argument the fight that Rashi is talking about is not about the sh Soul Shaker it's about the fact that Lord was willing to give them something now let's go back to what it says in the talmud how I started the class is salt m is money is lacking or or a deficiency giving any type of giving is like salt how salt by itself is disgusting no one will take a bunch of salt and and eat it it's bitter it's disgusting it's not edible but once you add a little bit into any dish in any cuisine it enriches it I'm not talking about not a sacrifice I'm talking your own food you make chicken soup put some salt in this world there's a lot of things that are negative that are not so good if you add something to them suddenly they become good this is what the is trying to explain to us when it says salt and money and the icy saying in other words when you give it's like Sal that's how the act of Charity is when you give the giving itself is bitter like the salt most people don't like giving not my money not my space not my house not my attention that's most people but nevertheless once you give it enriches your life like the salt that you put put on your on your food Lot's wife did not believe that giving is a good thing she grew up in stum where she was brainwashed giving is a bad thing she didn't want to give anything for her giving is not a good thing for her giving is is a curse that's why Hashem has turns her into Sals uh Eternal symbol that giving is a hard thing but it enriches she grew up that she doesn't want to give she fought with lot I don't want to give them anything I don't want to give them a place to say I don't want to give them from our food and bear in mind he's wealthy money coming out of their ears but the education of I don't want to give cuz she believed giving is bad and lot pulled to the other direction no giving is good so hasem used what she used and understood as bad to her to be a Eternal symbol up until today giving is good giving is not bad and giving is one of the hardest tests that we have it's one of the most difficult challenges that we have as human is giving and you know a lot of people relate with giving is Charity giving in h is charity and I'll explain in a second what it means charity but to give is one of the most difficult challenges that most people have and Hashem will challenge you and test you when it's hard to give not when it's easy to give and again giving is not only giving money sometimes it's giving your room your bed your clothes your time we have to understand why giving G gives me really the blessing so first I have to understand that when I give I make AEM my partner any type of giving that I do then I create AEM as a partner of mine now who doesn't want hem to be a partner now interestingly the words in Hebrew mean a total different meaning if you say now everything that I'm telling you now in English what would you call giving charity kindness and many other words right giving in Hebrew which we call Sedaka that's not kindness or being a hospitable it's tot different word in English everything that I'm just talking about you will say charity good-hearted giving spoiling whatever it is you'll find 20 words now for acts of kindness and charity but in Hebrew it's called s Sak is not giving giving is latet and kindness is and anywhere that you'll find in English or any other language the translation in Hebrew won't beaka because Saka in Hebrew comes from the word sedic justice which means in Hebrew when you doed it's not about giving it's Justice it's not it's not kindness It's not charity rather it's doing the right thing when you give which is called in Hebrew teda which the translation to it will be Justice Ted is you just doing the right thing you're not considered now a kind person there's a lot of people who give a lot of Charity they're not kind they're not hospitable they're not merciful they're not anywhere that you'll attach to them they're doing Justice now why is that considered doing Justice why is that considered doing the right thing because hem gives you a minimum of 10% of over what you need to get now in R we all know that you are blessed with how much money you're going to make the entire year you don't know that I'm telling you that quoting all our holy books but whatever Hashem decided to give you he gives you 10% over that why because he wants to see if you will give that over to whoever deserves it it's not yours that's why in Hebrew Sedaka the charity is calleded it's Justice it's not your money so you have to understand that whatever money you make whether it's a million dollars or $10 10% of it is not yours it wasn't yours to start from and when you give it over you're doing Justice Hashem will choose to who you're going to give it over he will put the person in front of you or the organization or the cause or the situation that you roll it over when you do that you're doing Justice you're doing the right thing cuz it's not yours when you don't give it Hashem says why why would I give you more you're using the bonuses so to say you're using extra money that it's not yours it's almost like when I give money now to my child and I give them allowance or whatever then I tell them you know a part of it you have to give over to charity Hashem does the same thing with us and it doesn't matter if you make a $100 million a year or if you if you a beggar and you're asking for people for money the to tells you that even if you are a poor person living off charity of people you are still obligated in giving charity soed is really to give something to somebody else that you received it's not yours to start with you're not that Pious when you giving the 10% don't think that you are such a generous individual idual you're giving something that doesn't belong to you that is the concept of the wife of lot our sages Sayed giving is bitter like salt here and there you have very giving people they love giving and that's uh you know one out of many and even though I know very charitable people I know people who love giving they love giving till a certain point and Hashem knows exactly how to test each individual to the point where you don't want to give and it's not always money by the way can be your space can be your time can be your your knowledge your expertise and many other things but our sages explain giving like charity is bitter like salt but nevertheless salt is what makes the food better most people you know when when you want the food to be better you add some salt interestingly if you add a lot of salt to the food it doesn't make it good you need to add a little bit just a little bit that's why our sages say when you give charity give it in small increments don't give one big check at the end of the year every day cut it into small increments why like little salt a little bit put too much of salt is also no not good so to explain to more thoroughly the concept we know the story with ranan yanan B Zak that the T that I just quoted it's it's that's where the story comes from he was tested with a very difficult test yanan B Zak because he was thei the rebe of the nation of Israel at the time of the destruction he wasn't the re the president the leader in a good time time of prosperity he was the time of a destruction so there's a story that one time he goes in yush and most people don't even know the story of the destruction but the tud says it was that yush was under siege for three and a half years they you know they nobody goes in nobody goes out and the city was poor and there was poverty and hunger and starvation like like the war so ghetto you want to understand how it looked in at the time of the destruction look at footage from the GTO in moreo people were dying on the sidewalks people were starving kids were eating from from the garbage same idea if you need to put if you need to put things in perspective we say you know you ask almost any Jew you are familiar with the war so ghetto yeah yeah I heard about it you know what was going on there you do you ever saw pictures you ever saw F footage you know what was going on in the ghetto no most people don't know so go look at The Archives look at the footage that you see babies dead on the sidewalks people are skinny like skeletons you know they have nothing to eat that's how it was at the time of the siege of jush so the story says thatan Yan B Zak was walking in the streets and he sees a young girl Gathering the galim galim is the extent of the animals of the of the Romans and Gathering like that to pick it up and and that's not an honorable job just to get like probably like a penny or two to buy something to eat so he bends down to this girl and he and so excuse me she turns to him and she asks him for some money so she looks a little bit familiar to him so he asks her who are you she tells him I'm the daughter of nakon benon who was one of the most richest people in the land of Israel who had enough money to sustain for three years there were three rich people one of them is benas the father of Rael the wife of RAB AKA and other one was nakon benon he was the I was about to say the Bill Gates of the generation but Bill Gates and he was an a a good person but nevertheless he was so wealthy I don't know how much you know of the story no time now to elaborate but there were enough rich people in yush that could suain and the the evil ones in within the Nations if you remember went and burned all the all the warehouses of all the food and everything they went and burned it there was a group of people like we have now you know in our nation pretending to be Jews pretending to be good and they're going and doing damages that you can't even imagine that's what we have right now here in Israel and everywhere in the world pretending to be Jews nevertheless they had the same thing at the time of The Siege and they went to all the warehouses of benuron and not benuron the the prime minister of Israel another star but nevertheless of benal they went and burned all the food so nobody had any food there nevertheless she was the daughter ofon benon so Zak turns to her and tells her H how are you you you were like the daughter of the wealthiest man in the generation how are you now picking up the extent of the horses and the cows of the the Romans here so she told him she answered him the I mean in Hebrew makes a little bit of sense grammatically but m is isone is you lacking and she told him my father was a big b he gave a lot of Charity but not in the level of what he was worth he was worth let's say hundred million so he gave a million dollars okay big deal you know when you see somebody giving a check a million dollars you're say wow unbelievable yeah but he's worth a 100 billion this million is nothing I met some people I know some people yeah they give here 3 million here 4 million you thinking wow yeah but the guy's work 4 billion the three million is like me giving $2 and she says the same thing my father yeah he used to give big amounts of Charity but not in the in the level of what he was worth now let's conclude with what I started with mishna in in Tred of the the ethics of the father so we said there are four types of people when it comes to giving we explained the first one what mine is yours and what yours is mine well that's First Mid or how we call it soci socialism then we have the next mid what's mine is mine what's yours is yours this as I explained this is capitalism what mine Belongs to Me Yours belongs to you and as I quoted the mishna it says it is not Pious and not evil it's and some say it's like the mid the attribute of okay now we have another two types the third type is what's mine is yours and what's yours is yours the mishna calls it a Pious individual what's mine is yours what's yours is yours everything I give out I don't want anything for myself everything belongs to the other person okay the mishna calls himed the fourth option is sh what's mine is mine what's yours is mine the mishna calls him rash Wicked now comes a big big question because the entire M A or as people know it is the ethics of the father it's all what's called it's all it's all attributes that teaches you to be Aid the entire tracted is just teaching you ethics to become a good person how did you enter now a fourth version and you call him a wicked person I thought the entire Mion here is to teach me how to be good and how to have ethics and how to have morals and how to refine myself where did the wicked one came in what's mine is mine it's what's yours is mine and by the way if you're looking at the option the third one ofid also looks weird what's mine is yours what's yours is yours what kind of attitude is that how are you going to support yourself how you going to support your family you're a fool you're not Aid I mean it doesn't make sense to me what's mine is yours what's yours is yours so what will be left for me doesn't even make sense here so we have to be very particular with how the mishna is teaching us because the mishna is using the word the one who says it says when a person says what's mine is mine and what's yours is mine is a a wicked person but really it's referring to a regular person like me and you what is why is that a regular person what's mine is mine what's yours is mine too that's a regular person that's what you're telling me when a person gives charity in any type of form deep down inside the feeling that he has that you took something of his when I give you something and as Pious as I might be deep down inside I feel that you tuck something that belongs to me whether it's my money whether it's my time whether it's my space I give it I don't complain I smile but there deep down inside make your own introspection most people feel that you took something of theirs a lot of people who give a lot of Charity think that you owe something oh I I built the building I did when I give when most people give they feel that what I gave was mine I gave you something of mine that's why the mishna calls him a Rasha a wicked person he didn't give anything of yours it's not yours to start with therefore the mishna is calling him but the mishna says when you say saying in other words that the reason why the mishna first of all with the it says when you say you don't really do that it's the concept of I will give what's yours is mine sorry what's mine is yours that's theid it's not a fool but with the the wicked person it's when you're thinking that saying in other words when you give something to somebody don't think it was yours you didn't you that person doesn't owe you anything you gave something that didn't belong to you anyways don't think that you're that generous that you're so great if you had something to give obviously Hashem gave it to you to start with it's not yours so now we clarified one issue now I want to clarify and finalize what is so bad with looking back okay we understood the concept of the SS but what's so bad with looking back what's so significant that hasem says only because you looked back I'm going to kill you when she looked back she looked back atom where she came from she looked where she's going out from and as it says she went out of stum but stum didn't go out of her she regretted going out of zom that was the problem and that's why the verse says not behind him not behind her because in her mind she regretted going out as dumb now look what we have we don't have anything we left the property behind that's why it says behind him we left everything behind we have nothing now instead of being grateful that she was saved be by kindness she didn't have any Merit by being married to lot she was she had the the the the no merits by kindness she was taken out when she looked back it signified that she regretted believing stum what we left behind you know when I deal with people that come to doah I noticed something in the last 15 years the ones who come because they believe it's the right thing to do and they have trust in AEM but they believe it's the right thing to do then they they it works out for them they find where to live they find jobs they settle down the ones who come to his is and they look back they regret coming it doesn't work out for them in Israel they don't find good jobs they don't find how where live they don't settle down and a year or two or five years later they make a U-turn and go back to where they came from because they look back and they regret coming Lot's wife regretted going out of out of Dum that was the problem she was materialistic she had possessive and she represented capitalism what was what is left to us we ran what good did it do to us that was the approach of Lot's wife she stayed in stone she didn't go out she went physically out of zom but her mind was still in zom I still want to be there so hasem says oh so you go with zom you don't want to go out of zum then you'll go withum now what's the idea behind it why is it so powerful and significant when you change a place you don't change when you want to change you need to change in your mind not where you are now we all trying to be right whether you born Jew secular whether you were born Jew religious but somehow drifted away or whether you were born not Jewish and became Jewish converted we all desire to do chat to repent to come to go to a a a different place and when you look back that's the problem you know how many converts and Bal chuvas I know that they look back ah I used to be famous ah I used to have money ah I used to live is so good you're looking back Lot's wife is like doing chuva she represents the repentance of each and every one of us to do chuva is not to leave your parents' home or your city or where you were born is to leave your old thoughts to leave your habits to leave leave what you believed in to leave what you stood for to leave what you your entire life that's what it means to do chuva that's what it means when you convert is you leave everything behind and you have no regrets on what you did and Lot's wife regretted leaving stom she wanted to stay in stone so hasem says no problem you want to stay in STO so you'll stay in STO what is the mo moral behind the story what is the powerful message that lot's wife's story that Hashem changed her into a pillar of salt don't look back [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music]