Don't Turn Back or Confession of a Pillar of Salt

Does the punishment correspond to the crime?

God sends angels to destroy Sodom. And before that they must save Abraham’s nephew, Lot, and his family. Leading them out of the source of destruction, the angel tells them to run away without turning around or stopping in place. The Torah goes on to say: “Lot’s wife turned around and was turned into a pillar of salt.”

We asked ourselves: what exactly was she punished for? Does the punishment of Lot's wife correspond to the elements of her crime?

The Rashi commentator responds: “You did no better than the people of Sodom, and you are saved only because of Abraham’s merit. You shouldn’t see their death and assert yourself at their expense, considering yourself better than them!” That is, according to RASHI, she was not punished only for turning around, but for participating in the same sin as the sodomites.

But, in this case, we still don’t understand why it was turned into a pillar of salt?

What does science say?

Is it possible for a person to turn into a pillar of salt? Thirty years ago, in 1988, an American scientist proved that this is real. Lot's wife was killed by the greenhouse effect. And it happened instantly.

How did it all happen? A very strong stream of hot air came from the fire that destroyed Sodom. And the carbon dioxide content in it simply went off scale. Calcium combines with carbon dioxide. And Lot's wife turned into a pillar of salt. In fact, it is the result of instantaneous crystallization of calcite.

From the Bible we know that fire and brimstone came down on the city. And here, too, it’s a little unclear. How so? Fire came down from the sky... Nowadays, given certain types of weapons, this is still possible. But we are talking about ancient people.

Science provides an explanation for this fact. The fact is that Sodom and Gomorrah were at the junction of tectonic plates. A powerful earthquake occurred and the plates separated. And underneath there were “reserves” of methane. He had the ability to burst out of the ground in pillars. Accordingly, when the crust broke, methane simply “flew up” upward. And it turned out to be a deadly fireworks display. By the way, sulfur balls - its consequences - can still be found to this day in the territory where the lost cities were once located.

The blinding salt of Sodom

Hospitality is a good custom, but Lot's wife hated it, like all sodomites. When Lot asks her to bring some salt for the travelers (angels) to eat, she angrily replies: “Are you starting your own rules?” and goes to the neighbors, loudly asking for salt, so that everyone knows that there are guests in their house - to bring trouble on them. Since her sin lay precisely in this unfriendly attitude, she was punished by being turned into a pillar of salt.

Salt of Sodom really causes burning and stinging, even blindness, if it gets into the eyes, so before reading the prayer of thanks after a meal, it is customary for Jews to wash their fingertips. This is more a spiritual action than a physical one, it expresses the fear of being blinded by the salt of Sodom - namely, of ceasing to see the needs of other people. RASHI leads us to these conclusions.

The fact that Lot's wife turned back meant her adherence to the Sodom past (with its main sin - selfishness). She did not see the needs of other people, and when people died, on the contrary, she wanted to see it! It was necessary to break all connections with the past. She didn't do this and was punished.

Secrets of the Bible. Lot's wife.

Mount Sodom stretches for several kilometers above the lifeless space along the southwestern coast of the Dead Sea. Its name reminds us that, in all likelihood, it was here that the catastrophe described in the Bible occurred four thousand years ago: a fiery rain wiped out the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, mired in debauchery and cruelty.

Of all the inhabitants, only the only righteous man received the opportunity to save himself and his family - the nephew of the Old Testament patriarch Abraham, Lot. Two angels warned him of an imminent disaster, ordering him to go with his household to the mountains and under no circumstances look back. However, Lot's wife disobeyed. The woman interrupted her life-saving path for a few seconds - she stopped to take a farewell look at the burning city, and... She froze, turning into a pillar of salt!

On Mount Sodom today you can see many salt rocks. One of them, with its outline resembling the figure of a woman, is called “Lot’s wife.” This rock cannot literally be the same one described in the Bible, simply because its height reaches twelve meters. However, this natural monument prompts us to think: is it possible in principle to instantly transform a person into a block of salt? In 1988, American chemist Dr. Klotz from Northwestern Illinois University proposed a scientific explanation for this phenomenon. He claims that Lot's wife was killed by the greenhouse effect caused by the fire that consumed Sodom.

Lot's wife was covered by a powerful stream of hot air with a very high carbon dioxide content. This provoked a series of deadly chemical reactions in the body, the combination of calcium with carbon dioxide, and as a result - the instant crystallization of calcite. The woman turned into a motionless block of calcite,

Statements that the transformation of Lot's wife into a pillar of salt could have actually happened were first made in the nineteenth century, after excavations of the ancient Italian city of Pompeii, which was destroyed by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. It turned out that the volcanic ash that overnight covered the city in the first century after Christ preserved the outlines of the bodies of the dead residents. He enveloped people, capturing the smallest details. The cover hardened, and even when the corpses themselves decayed, their forms remained unchanged. Now these mournful sculptures indicate that the inhabitants of Pompeii were destroyed by the elements suddenly, in one moment - people froze for centuries in the poses in which the disaster overtook them. Contemporary anthropologist Janet Monge from the University of Pennsylvania, USA, drawing an analogy between the tragedies in Pompeii and Sodom, insists that the salt figures on the shores of the Dead Sea may also conceal human remains.

But if the cause of the death of Pompeii is clearly called a volcanic eruption, then what destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah? William Albright, a corresponding member of the British National Academy of Sciences, argued that these cities died as a result of an earthquake, which led to the ignition of the oil and sulfur deposits contained in the area, which could become a means of God's punishment of the corrupt cities.

Later geological studies of the Dead Sea and its surroundings were analyzed by Dr. Clive Amery from the Woodshole Oceanographic Laboratory in the US state of Massachusetts. He also expressed confidence that the earthquake was the starting point for the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. This statement is consistent with the biblical text, which speaks not only of fire and brimstone, but also that all the cities of the plain were “overthrown.”

Sodom and Gomorrah were located in a seismically unstable area at the junction of the earth's tectonic plates. Under the ground there were so-called pockets of flammable gas - methane, which could ignite and burst out in columns of fire, according to the biblical definition, “like smoke from a furnace.” A large geological fault shook and giant cracks opened in the ground. Liquid sulfur from the bowels of the earth soared into the air to a height of a thousand feet and rained fire on the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. Sulfur balls left over from this monstrous fireworks display are still found throughout the region. Laboratory tests showed that the balls were encapsulated in material that had been burned at very high temperatures. There is no natural analogue of this phenomenon, but in its physical parameters it fits into the picture of the catastrophe described in the Bible.

In the light of these researches, the assumption of the American chemist, Dr. Klotz, that the wife of the righteous Lot died, overtaken by a deadly hot cloud, seems quite logical. The fire did not reach her to destroy her along with the other inhabitants of Sodom. But the combustion products made the woman freeze for thousands of years, turning her into a pillar of salt. Who knows, maybe it still towers over the Dead Sea today among other salt sculptures.

Don't dwell on the past

If a person has had traumatic situations in his life, then, as is understandable, they leave deep scars in his psyche. Nevertheless, it’s not worth torturing yourself beyond what was already, as they say, destined by fate! Otherwise you will become a victim of circumstances.

According to Jewish law, mourning for close relatives does not exceed 12 months. The memory of a sad event is also grief in itself, be it the misfortune of one person or an entire nation, and it can become a source of constant suffering if it is not controlled in one’s mind. It can paralyze your actions in real life, causing the passage of time to become numb with grief within you.

But exaggerated attention to the past is precisely the example with Lot’s wife, only examined from a psychological point of view. You cannot grieve more than the law requires. After the Holocaust of European Jewry, many, having moved to America, consciously renounced any Jewish self-identification. They thought that they would take revenge by ceasing to be good Jews.

But who did they take revenge on? After all, Hitler, on the contrary, never dreamed of such success: to tear even subsequent generations of Holocaust victims away from Jewry. People might think that now they will demonstratively not go to the synagogue and keep the commandments, and by this they will prove something to someone.

Not at all! This behavior only plays into the hands of enemies. Thus, the Lubavitcher Rebbe, who saw this great danger, on the contrary, awakened optimism in the hearts and called for respecting the memory of the fallen precisely by observing the commandments, precisely by reviving all spheres of the Jewish full-fledged tradition, by reviving the values of the Jewish Torah!

And this path led to colossal success, to a real Jewish revival in all corners of the Earth. Moreover, the Rebbe claims that everyone will receive the coming Liberation, and not just the chosen ones (a fifth of the people), as was the case during the exit from Egypt.

Children of Lot: Bible Lesson

One choice, two completely different stories. The uncle shows humility in front of his nephew - unheard of behavior for the harsh Old Testament times. Abraham, in order to avoid disagreement, cedes the best lands to Lot. The name of one of the cities where Lot pitched his tents is Sodom. It has become a household name. Sodom was a prosperous and rich city. Its inhabitants did not need anything. Abraham went in the opposite direction from Sodom. And he became great for centuries. How does this story repeat itself over and over again today? What does a carefree life, spiritual deafness and the desire to get everything from life lead to? Archpriest Oleg Stenyaev discusses the relevance and topicality of the Old Testament episode from the Book of Genesis.

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Escape from Sodom

“And Lot, who walked with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents. And the land was too big for them to live together, for their property was so great that they could not live together. And there was a dispute between the herdmen of Abram's cattle and between the herdmen of Lot's cattle; and the Canaanites and the Perizzites lived then in that land. And Abram said to Lot: Let there be no discord between me and you, and between my shepherds and your shepherds, for we are relatives; Is not the whole earth before you? Separate yourself from me: if you go to the left, then I will go to the right; and if you go to the right, then I go to the left.

Lot lifted up his eyes and saw the entire region of Jordan, that before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, all of it as far as Zoar was watered with water, like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt; and Lot chose for himself all the region around the Jordan; and Lot moved towards the east. And they separated from each other.

Abram began to live in the land of Canaan; and Lot began to live in the cities around and pitched tents as far as Sodom. The inhabitants of Sodom were evil and very sinful before the Lord.”

(Gen. 13:5–13)

It is said that the earth was too big for Abraham's people and Lot's people. There were a lot of them. Abraham's economy and Lot's economy. Abraham's slaves and Lot's slaves. Evidence that God blessed not only the house of Abraham, but also the house of Lot, which was then in unity with the house of Abraham. And later, after Lot separated from Abraham, Lot’s economy became impoverished, and he left Sodom and Gomorrah with only a small family - with him his wife and two daughters, and no one else.

When Lot was choosing the land in which to live, Abraham gave him the right to decide where to go, saying: “Choose which one you want. You go right, I go left. You go left, I’ll go right.” So: Lot chose with carnal eyes. He saw the land of Sodom and Gomorrah. And, as the Bible says, to him it was like the garden of the Lord. Like heaven! This is exactly how he valued these lands. But soon, after some time, heaven turned into hell. This is still happening now.

Many of my friends left, some for America, some for Western Europe. In their first letters they wrote: we live in paradise, we have everything. But after some time, heaven turned into hell. And in the letters there was a cry: “What to do? Everything here is on credit. And if I don’t pay it on time, everything will be taken away from me. Even the water from the pool will be pumped out and taken away. They will roll up the lawn and take it away...” And even: “They could take my children away.”

Heaven turns out to be hell - if we evaluate what heaven is and what hell is based on purely carnal criteria

Very often, heaven turns out to be hell - if you evaluate what heaven is and what hell is based on purely carnal criteria, worldly understanding. And a person must be careful in his assessments of the surrounding reality and reality. Especially nowadays. Because what seems good and favorable to us may not actually be so. It may hide a dark essence behind a bright façade.

Yes, Lot and his household did not learn the “habits” of the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah, did not perform their “exploits.” And they were saved by leaving Sodom. But were you saved? And did they really leave Sodom?

Sodom already lived in their hearts. Lot's wife turned around to gloat that the city was dying and she was alive. For this, God punished her: she also died. And Lot did not escape the fate of Sodom, as he thought. Because it was Sodom that pushed his daughters to make their father drunk with wine and commit the sin of incest by fornicating with him.

Staying in Sodom will not be without consequences

Staying in Sodom will not remain without consequences. You cannot calmly leave him and then live, believing that everything is in order. So you think that you will go to the West - to Europe, to America, earn money there, return to Russia and live happily. No! This will not happen without losses. There will definitely be some losses and difficulties - and first of all, these difficulties will hit our children. And sometimes it hurts a lot. In one family I know, who lived in America for a long time, they simply suffered with their child. He spoke Russian with an accent, all his life interests changed. They took the child to the elder. And the elder said: this child should be sent to be reprimanded!

Let's remember the Bible lessons.

Connection with the theme of Moshiach

Surprisingly, the sparks of Moshiach were lost precisely in... Sodom.

It is said in the Psalms: “I have found my servant David!” Where did you find it? The answer is in Sodom. It was there, among the sparks of holiness hidden in the story of Lot’s daughters, that the germ of the future Liberation lay hidden.

Kabbalist who lived in the 17th century. Shimshon Ostropoler expressed an interesting point of view on this matter. Knowing that in the future the soul of Moshiach would come from Lot, his wife believed herself to be involved in this process - who, if not she, would give birth to a deliverer? That's why she was not afraid to look back (to the roots, to the origins).

But history decreed otherwise! The dubious behavior of Lot's daughter, which led to the birth of Moab, and later - Ruth, the daughter of the Moab people, the great-grandmother of David, meant “something abnormal”, some parallel reality that Lot’s wife could not know about; no one could truly have predicted such a turn of events! Lot's wife did not accept the possibility that she would be punished and deprived of her life, because who then could stand the messianic leader? This thought determined her behavior, making her feel superior and impunity.

A bit of real history

On the coast of the Dead Sea there is a mountain. It extends several kilometers above it. And this mountain is called Sodom. This is a symbol of a city destroyed by God several thousand years ago.

As we remember, Sodom and Gomorrah are two ancient cities. They are mentioned in the Bible. The inhabitants of these cities looked more like cattle than people. Of course, by his behavior, and not by his appearance. They are mired in debauchery and shamelessness. In Sodom and Gomorrah, intimate relationships between men flourished. The degree of depravity was so great that the Lord decided to wipe these cities off the face of the earth.

It is known that now at the bottom of the Dead Sea there are the ruins of these cities. And the mentioned mountain just bears the name of one of them.

There are a lot of salt pillars on the mountain. And one of them resembles a female figure dressed in a cloak. This pillar is called “Lot’s Wife.” Of course, this is not the same woman. If only because the pillar reaches a height of 12 meters. But this phenomenon makes us think about something.

Chain reaction

If we are talking about situations where a person sees something, as if in a prophetic vision, but does not understand the exact meaning in the context of the time frame, to whom exactly and when what was revealed to him and given to see will happen, then there were several more such situations.

For example, Potiphar's wife saw the future: it was revealed to her that Joseph would have offspring from her house. But her selfishness, like a veil, obscured the true meaning of this vision, and she was mistaken. Her interpretation turned out to be incorrect. Joseph was given a wife through her house, but not from her, but through Asnat, who was brought up by her, but was the granddaughter of Yaakov.

We see the same thing with Korach. He saw that the future Shmuel the prophet would emerge from his descendants. And I decided that the end justifies the means. You can overthrow Moses - they won’t do anything to him for it! Korach was mistaken, his egoism introduced inaccuracy into the picture of his perception of the future. Shmuel will indeed be born from the sons of Korach, but they will become worthy of this due to the repentance that they will commit (falling through the earth, already on the way to fiery hell).

Lot, fleeing from Sodom, hesitated a little. The word “tarnished” in the Torah is marked with musical symbols called “chains.” Perhaps Lot did not take the danger seriously because he saw a “chain”, that is, the offspring that would come from him - right up to the righteous Moshiach.

But there is a difference between the vision of a true prophet, who is not in danger of being harmed by the egoistic perception of the vision, and the ordinary person. Let us hear the prophecy with which the Rebbe addresses us.

Lot and his daughters.

The story of Lot and his daughters is described in Genesis 19:30-38. Lot, afraid to live in Zoar, lived in a cave in the mountains with his daughters. Lot's daughters, considering that there were no more men left, got their father drunk and entered into a relationship with him in order to prolong the family line. Both of Lot's daughters became pregnant by their father.

The eldest had a son, Moab (the name means “from the father”). The youngest also had a son, Ben-Ami (translated as “son of my people”). Moab became the progenitor of the Moabites, and Ben-Ami became the progenitor of the Ammonites.

The story of Lot's daughters reflects the idea of Israel's superiority over the Moabites and Ammonites , since these peoples were the result of sinful incest. The tribes of the Moabites and Ammonites became the basis of the ancient Arab people.

The alleged incest between Lot and his daughters still gives rise to many questions, disputes and theories today as to what the daughters' real motives were and who was really to blame for what happened. And was anyone to blame? Incestuous marriages are not uncommon among the biblical patriarchs. Abraham married his half-sister Sarah; Abraham's brother Nahor married his niece Milkah; Isaac married his relative Rebekah and many more examples. On the other hand, the book of Leviticus devotes an entire chapter to this topic (chapter 18), where it says:

No one should approach any relative according to the flesh in order to reveal nakedness.

Many researchers justify incestuous marriages by the fact that the Levitical laws appeared later, and they were created by the patriarchs of the nation, including the righteous Lot (together with Abraham, Jacob, Judah, Moses, David). The Levitical laws, including those against incest, were created to separate the way of life of Judah from the way of life of the people of Canaan, contrary to all the incestuous behavior that the patriarchs had in the past. Levitical laws are a new step in the development of society, part of the progressive ideas of humanity on the path to modern civilization.

We learn that Abraham’s nephew Lot was a righteous man from the second letter of the Apostle Peter: “But he delivered righteous Lot, who was tired of being treated by violently depraved people, for this righteous man, living among them, was tormented daily in his righteous soul, seeing and hearing works of lawlessness" (2 Peter 2:7) We will not find many such testimonies of righteousness in the pages of the Bible

. However, Lot's righteousness is not so obvious to us. Most often, his personality is mentioned in the context of a dispute between his shepherds and Abraham’s shepherds, when Lot chose the best pastures for himself, and Abraham agreed to any, just to maintain peace. And in the end, Abraham was blessed and Lot lost everything.

(This often happens to those who only in this way become like Lot and strive for earthly well-being.)

However, the Bible

It’s not for nothing that he calls Lot righteous. To see the reason for this, let us reflect on our text. This is an episode of his flight from Sodom, where all his wealth remained. Let's take a closer look at this small group of fugitives. Lot goes ahead of everyone. He is followed by two daughters and his wife.

Lot's wife

Her sons-in-law remained in Sodom, her servants remained.
What remained were herds and numerous shepherds, household utensils and all things. How much effort it took her to set up her home! She got used to him, to her warm bed, to attentive maids, and dreamed of the imminent wedding of her daughters and grandchildren on her lap. Old age is not far off. And instead, she follows her husband somewhere in the middle of the night. She has the hardest time of all. She didn't get enough sleep. She is cold, and in her haste she forgot her warm shawl. Her feet trip over sharp stones, she has difficulty seeing the path, where she can easily trip during the day. She is no longer young, and, like the mistress of the house, she has lost the habit of walking a lot. And the day before this had not been an easy one. Besides the usual worries - these strange guests who had to be fed and accommodated somewhere, this excited crowd at the entrance. She was also worried about her daughters, whom her husband decided to take out to the crowd. She doesn't understand him. She looks at her feet and realizes that this flight is the end, and everything will have to start from the beginning. Does she have enough strength? Or is it better to go back? What does she care about how the Sodomites live? She thinks more and more about it and eventually looks around. No, it was not curiosity - this common female vice was the cause of her death. Most likely, her heart remained in Sodom. (What do you think about, dear friend, in moments of hardship?)

Isn’t it true that we understand her well and sympathize with her in some way? Friends, the Lord is very merciful and long-suffering; this is also abused by our contemporaries, those who live without Him, according to their own laws. But the Lord is also the Protector of all the offended, which means that His patience will one day end and He will judge the world. So it was in the days of Noah and in the days of Lot, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man (Luke 17:28-30). And then the judgments will begin - retribution for the many iniquities and abominations of our and past days. But God does not destroy the righteous along with the wicked (Gen. 18:23-32), and therefore decisively commands us to separate ourselves from sin. “Come out and separate yourself from her, my people!” (Rev. 18:4).

Lot's Daughters

Following Lot were his two daughters. They were young and full of strength. They decided to go, even though they also had something to leave behind. They were in the prime of their youth and each was already preparing for marriage. Who is not familiar with the experiences of the bride and groom before the wedding? And we find no evidence in the Bible
that they were married against their will. No. Therefore, there was sympathy, there was attraction. And so they have to leave everything and save themselves: their suitors did not believe them, they neglected the impending danger. Lose your closest people in one night! And for them this night was fatal, it was a night of choice. The father, who knows and fears God, and the groom are almost one with her... Who should she follow? Who should I follow? Not an easy choice... And yet they followed their father, neglecting their emotional feelings. What an amazing example for today's youth!

(What would be your choice, friends? Who would you follow in such a situation?)

Thank God they walked according to the Spirit. And their prudence for many centuries to come was reflected in the fate of their descendants, who received inheritance in the promised land, and God forbade Moses to destroy them. “Then the Lord spoke to me, saying, “You are now passing by the borders of Moab, past Ar, and are approaching the Ammonites; Do not make enmity with them, and do not make war with them, for I will not give you anything from the land of the children of Ammon to possess, for I gave it to the sons of Lot to possess” (Deut. 2:17-19).

Lot

Lot walked ahead of the fugitives.
He knew where to go, he spoke to the angel and showed the way, as he had done so many times for his sheep. He hears the rapid breathing of his daughters behind him, hears their hurried steps, he also distinguishes the heavy breathing and moans of his faithful wife. Oh, he would have distinguished her steps among many sounds. But he cannot turn around and help her, and the path is narrow. He lingers a little, he knows how hard it is for her. Maybe he encourages her with words, but the angels urge him: save your life. And he resolutely moves forward. Who knows, maybe because of her weak legs he begged the angel to escape not to the mountain, but to Zoar? He thinks about his past and his future. Apparently, he now repents of his frivolous choice of Sodom for residence. Meanwhile, he stopped hearing his wife’s steps. What with her? She is tired? She fell and there was no one to pick her up? He stands, he listens. Wife, where are you? Oh, how he wished his eyes were on his back at this time! Let us imagine the depth of the ordeal that befell him. God, who commands to go forward, and a part of himself, a part of his flesh. “She fell behind. Yes, she’s a little behind,” he consoles himself, “we’ll wait for her in Zoar.” But here, on the street of the town, he becomes convinced that she is not there. Perhaps his daughters, who were behind him, told him about the pillar of salt; perhaps he learned about her fate in the afternoon, when everything was over with Sodom and Gomorrah. But he did not immediately turn to her and become the second pillar of salt. He chose the fear of God and obedience, and saved his life. He loved God just as the law given through Moses said many centuries later.

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The story of righteous Lot teaches us a lot.

Lot endured the test like Abraham did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar. This story shows us an example of proper relationships with our relatives.

Jesus said, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind: this is the first and greatest commandment; the second is similar to it: love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:37-39). The story of righteous Lot shows by example how this should be. And this is the only possible form of correct relationships. God comes first.

Bible

She also speaks about the holiness of the marriage bond, but she does not elevate it above all else. In the Gospel of Matthew we read the words of Christ: “Whoever has left houses, or brothers, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for My name’s sake will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life.” (Matt. 19:29). The apostles were an example of this.

Perhaps this is strange to hear for modern Christians, who, following charismatic leaders and under their influence, are leaning towards the gospel of prosperity, including prosperity at the family hearth. Perhaps, without thoroughly studying the Scriptures, they consider not the original text of the New Testament, but its synodal translation, to be inspired by God, and as a result, they sometimes do the opposite. For example, the famous synodal text from 1 Cor. 7:16: “... the Lord has called us to peace. Why do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband? Or do you, husband, why do you know if you won’t save your wife?” In fact, it should be translated as follows: “The Lord has called us to peace.” Why do you know, wife, that you will save your husband? Or, husband, why do you know that you will save your wife?” It is precisely this emphasis that is consistent with the word “to the world,” and with the story of righteous Lot, and with the first commandment.

Dear friend, are you tormented by the proximity of “furiously depraved” people? Or has he long since come to terms with their way of life for the sake of “fat pastures”? Do you love God as Jesus commanded? What do relatives mean to you?

May God help you in times of trial to make the right choice!

Amen

Jewish World

She looked - and, constrained by mortal pain, her eyes could no longer look; And the body became transparent salt, And the fast legs grew to the ground.

Anna Akhmatova

There is a long queue at the ticket office. A Jew approaches.

— Is this box office for Heroes of the Soviet Union?

- Please, please, come through quickly, what kind of ticket do you need?.. I bought it. Another Jew from the line turns to him: “Say, are you a Hero?”

- No, why can’t I ask?

Why did I remember this joke? In the USSR, a monument was erected to Heroes twice during their lifetime. In the Torah there is also one heroine who made a monument out of herself, turning into a pillar of salt.

In one of her best poems, Anna Akhmatova, justifying Lot’s wife, writes that “her heart will never forget the woman who gave her life for a single look.” Very beautiful, you must agree. But I won't write it like that.

What distinguishes me from Anna Akhmatova? First of all, she is a genius and I am not. In addition, I deliberately limit the “search zone”; for me, G-d is always right, and if the Torah writes that a person is punished, then this is the ultimate truth. My task is to expand the time interval and understand that the look was the last straw in the chain of sins of this woman. As in a well-known case in psychology: a man’s shoelaces broke, he could not stand it and hanged himself; True, before that he lost his job, his child, and his wife cheated on him.

What happened to Lot's wife, Irit? As a native resident of Sodom, the daughter of a local nobleman, her husband’s principles, inherited in the house of Abraham, were alien to her, and she rightly considered hospitality to be treason to the Motherland. This is how the Constitution was adopted in Sodom. The husband was respected, noble, rich, and besides, a real “macho” man, so she only did minor nasty things, giving the guests unsalted food. Lot endured this for a long time, but that night especially respected guests came, or she finally “gotten it” with him - and Lot finally demanded that the food be salted! And then the woman committed a terrible sin - she went to the neighbors to speak evil of her husband. He allegedly brought guests on her head in the middle of the night, and what’s more, he drove the unfortunate woman out of the house to ask the neighbors for salt. The neighbors took pity on her, and suddenly remembered that hospitality carries the death penalty - and soon the whole city came to the defense of the patriot. A crowd of people came out for the first ever Pride Parade to solemnly rape Lot's guests. It’s not that everyone was immediately overwhelmed by lust, they were just going to fulfill their civic duty. Well, just like we are going to the polls tomorrow.

“Evil tongues are worse than a pistol.” And it’s especially scary when it’s a wife’s evil tongue against her husband. The punishment for such a sin of “karet” is the destruction of the soul. Angels save Lot, his wife and righteous daughters, in whom the spark of Abraham has not been extinguished. He is saved due to the fact that he is Abraham’s nephew and has not lost everything he learned in his uncle’s house. The wife is saved simply because she is her husband’s wife, there are no other merits.

Just imagine to what “heights” the people in Sodom reached! When Abraham begs the Creator not to punish the Sodomites, he concludes by saying that “if there are ten (Sdomite!) righteous people in Sodom,” G-d will spare the entire city because of them. The Midrash says that only eight were found: Lot, his wife, two unmarried daughters and two married daughters with their husbands. Another daughter of Lot had previously been put to death with a terrible execution for a terrible crime - she fed a visiting beggar. Otherwise, the score would almost be equal and, perhaps, Sodom itself would appear on the map of Israel today. There is no need for any HaYarkon embankment. So, with all this, the sons-in-law laughed at Lot, who was trying to save them, and died along with their families in the sulfur rain. Probably, they were among “all the inhabitants of Sodom” who came with the Pride Parade to punish and “re-educate” Lot’s guests! And Irit is counted among the “righteous men of Sodom” for the sole reason that she did not first report her husband to the local KGB. I’m not even sure that today we have outdone them...

They are warned not to turn around - but the woman violates the order, and not out of curiosity, but simply out of compassion for her property. Do you know what prompted her to do this? Irit thought: now Lot will die and I will remain a beggar! This is what his hospitality brought us to!..

When a woman is saved, one of millions, but she does not understand anything and behaves as if nothing had happened, the Almighty’s cup of patience is overflowing. Lot's wife had to sanctify the name of the Most High with her life - like one who miraculously escaped from Sodom. She chose the old path, the path of the villain, and now the pillar of salt will teach people. By the way, you can go to Mount Sodom and admire the large gray-brown pillar of salt, which is called “Lot’s Wife.” Its shape resembles a woman in a headscarf.

I'll tell you a modern story about the heiress of Lot's wife. Although, at first glance, this story is completely opposite. But only at first glance. The couple came from the Caucasus, so hospitality was in the wife’s blood no less than in the husband. He became interested in painting and spent money on it, albeit minimally. The family didn’t need it, but the wife felt offended that the guests weren’t there. She complained to her best friend and she, sincerely loving her, wanted peace in her family. The friend couldn’t think of anything better than going to the store and agreeing not to sell him paints. Naturally, the matter was found out, the road to hell is paved with the best intentions, the husband did not forgive his wife for his betrayal, and in the end they divorced.

“We forgave our friends for their mistakes, But we couldn’t forgive them for betrayal.”