Torah portion

her mitzvah project, she raised funds for Love Never Ends the Alexa Rose Weiss Foundation, which helps families affected by pediatric brain tumors and childhood cancers.

Callie Nan

Weinbaum, daughter of Karen and Brandon Weinbaum, became a bat mitzvah at Temple Israel in West Bloomfield on Saturday, Oct. 16, 2021. She is the grandchild of Esther and Neal Zalenko, and Sheila Weinbaum and James Prenzlauer.

Callie is a student at Norup International School in Oak Park. She has been volunteering with a dog care facility to learn about working with dogs as part of her mitzvah project.

Rafal 95th

Eleanor Rafal, a resident at Hechtman Apts. II in West Bloomfield, recently celebrated her 95th birthday at a family picnic with her children, stepchildren, grandchildren and greatgrandchildren. Family came from around the country to honor this very special woman.

HOW TO SUBMIT ANNOUNCEMENTS

Mazel Tov! announcements are welcomed for members of the Jewish community. Anniversaries, engagements and weddings with a photo (preferably color) can appear at a cost of $18 each. Births are $10. There is no charge for bar/bat mitzvahs or for special birthdays starting at the 90th.

For information, contact Editorial Assistant Sy Manello at smanello@thejewishnews.com or (248) 351-5147 for information or for a mailed or emailed copy of guidelines.

SPIRIT

TORAH PORTION

Societal Power

One of the central lessons of the past 18 months has been that positive societal outcomes can only be achieved through systemic, collective effort.

While individual efforts may have a direct positive impact on individual lives, achieving a positive outcome for society is only possible when each individual acts in the best interest of society, and not just himself.

In Vayera, we find a story which confirms this lesson: The choices we make as individuals have limited power if not reflected by society.

Among the many moments of Abraham’s life captured in this portion, in the negotiation over and subsequent destruction of Sodom and Gemorah, we find a story which tragically confirms society’s power over the actions of any individual.

After delivering their message about the future arrival of Isaac to Sarah, the two angels leave Abraham’s house and travel to Sodom, where they are greeted at the gates by Abraham’s nephew, Lot. Lot’s eager hospitality to the angels stands in stark contrast to the anticipated wickedness of the city. Because Lot and his family are only four, Sodom will fall short of the 10 righteous people needed to secure its salvation, assuming more righteous citizens are not somehow discovered.

The question of the nature of Sodom’s wickedness permeates this narrative. Could any place truly be so pervasively wicked as to deserve such complete destruction?

In a commentary, Nechama Leibovitch quotes the Midrashic collection of Pirkei D’Rabbi Eliezer, which emphasizes this very question. The Midrash states, “They issued a proclamation in Sodom, saying: Everyone who strengthens the hand of the poor and the needy with a loaf of bread shall be burnt by fire!” Leibovitch explains that Sodom’s wickedness was not just a reflection of the evil deeds committed by each citizen, but of the way that cruelty and indifference were enshrined into the very laws of the city. Sodom systematically limited the ways its citizens could care for each other.

Values of empathy, kindness, altruism and care for the vulnerable can only come to define a society if those values are woven systematically into the very fabric of that society. Lot’s generous actions, however well intentioned, were not nearly enough to save a city intent on stamping out generosity, even after Abraham’s tenacious negotiating. The citizens of Sodom were irredeemable because they allowed their very system to become rotten, and that system had to be destroyed.

We have the power to act together, each day, to embed our highest values and best inclinations into the very fabric of our society. That is what differentiates us from Sodom and makes us worthy of second chances in the face of our mistakes and imperfections.

Rebecca Strobehn Parshat Vayera: Genesis 18:1-22:24; II Kings 4;1-37.

Rebecca Strobehn teaches Jewish Studies at the Frankel Jewish Academy. OCTOBER 21 • 2021 | 41