Sparks from Within the Darkness

Conceived in Sedom

For the past 2,000 years the Jewish nation has been awaiting the arrival of the משיח. This character will be the Savior of the Jewish people and will bring the world to its ultimate תיקון process. The Jewish people will be taken out of their bitter exile and will be brought to their final גאולה and will be allowed to build their third and final בית המקדש. The conception of this character is planted within the depths of this week’s Parasha right in the middle of the destruction of the most evil society known to man, called סדום. According to one Midrash, this is the society that would have a special bed for any guests sleeping in the city. If the guest was too short for the bed, they would stretch out his bones until they broke; if he was too tall for the bed they would literally cut down his body. According to another Midrash, when a woman was caught giving food to the poor, the city smeared her body in honey and released a swarm of bees to consume her body. Furthermore, the birth of the משיח’s genes is formed from a relationship of לוט and his daughters; an act that one would consider being one of the most abominable sins against humankind. As the Midrash in בראשית רבה (50:10) says "מצאתי דוד עבדי, היכן מצאתי אותו- בסדום".

Why Lot?

Chazal reveal to us in this Midrash that all of the Divine Providence that surrounded לוט in order for him to be saved from סדום was not because of his own merit, but rather because of the משיח that will be born from his seed. But why should a unique character like the משיח be born from a person like לוט and not from the pure holy seed of אברהם? The Maharal provides an understanding how come the משיח had to come from specifically the seeds of a nation outside of ישראל; King דוד essentially comes from the nation of מואב, the relationship of לוט and his oldest daughter and King שלמה comes from the seed of עמון, the relationship of לוט and his second daughter. Hashem’s plan was to bring into existence a totally new entity that was not in any way connected or related to the previous seed. If this new existence was somehow related to the previous seed, then it would not be considered new at all. Therefore this new existence must come from the other nations of the world and it is the nations of עמון and מואב which are considered the furthest away from the Jewish nation and therefore it can be considered completely as a new entity. The only two nations which are never allowed to enter into the Jewish nation for all the generations are עמון and מואב, which the verse says (Devarim 23:4) "לא יבוא להם בקהל ה' עד עולם". Therefore, these are the nations which are a new existence from ישראל עם, because they are polar opposites, from which the משיח will be born.

Out of the Hidden

The development of the birth of the משיח must take place within strange events that deviate from the normal order of the world, because this must be a totally new entity, a creation of something from nothing, a bringing out of something completely hidden into a physical existence. That’s why the משיח comes from the story of לוט and his two daughters, the story of יהודה ותמר, and ends off with the relationship of בועז ורות. This is why the Midrash quotes the verse in Tehilim that says (89:21) “I found David, my servant.” The word מציאה comes from the word יצא, something that comes from the hidden and the dark into the revealed and the light.

Light and Darkness

These polar opposite nations; Abraham the father of ישראל עם and לוט the father of עמון and מואב, will represent 2 opposing concepts in the world. אברהם is known as והיה ברכה, he is the source of light, blessing and enlightenment in the world. (See essay on Parashat Toledot, Part II). On the other hand there is לוט, which literally means in the Hebrew language to cover, to enclose, to veil, to hide and to darken. (See רות 3:7, מלכים א' 19:13, שמואל א' 21:10). Furthermore, the word ליט in Aramaic means to curse as אונקולוס translates the verse "ומקללך אאור-ומלטטך אילוט". אברהם, the character who brings light into the world, essentially brings forward existence, because he is the reason Hashem created the world, as the Midrash (ב"ר 12:9) on the verse 2:4 in בראשית says "אלה תולדות השמים והארץ בהבראם –באברהם, בזכות של אברהם". Parallel to him is the life of לוט, the character that brings darkness to the world, a void of existence; one who is the furthest away from the purpose of creation.

The Pillar of Chessed

The trait that enabled אברהם to become the reason of all existence was his natural tendency towards Chessed. Chessed is the foundational pillar that all existence rests upon as the verse states “עולם חסד יבנה”. As the Ramchal writes כי מחוק הטוב להטיב, (דעת תבונות 18) that the nature of good is to give good onto others and this was the purpose Hashem created the world. The one that emulates Hashem’s ways and continues to give good and kindness onto others upholds the existence of the world and this person is אברהם אבינו. On the other hand, עמון and מואב are the nations that are never allowed to convert to Judaism because they did not do kindness by giving bread and water to the Jews when coming out of Egypt. (Devarim 23:4). These nations are the complete opposite of everything that Abraham represents and all the positive traits the Jews emulate and because of their cruelty Hashem decreed that they should never be part of ישראל עם, so they aren’t influenced from their evil ways. The numerical value of מואב is 49, representing the 49 levels of טומאה, while ישראל represent the 49 levels of טהרה.

Lot Breaks Away

לוט decided to break away from אברהם and go his own way; this was viewed as an act of rebelling against אברהם’s ideology and it was this moment when they became entirely separated and polar opposites. סדום was known at the time for their cruel behavior and it can be suggested that לוט chose his path in order to separate himself from Abraham’s ways of Chessed and to latch onto the traits of cruelty. It wasn’t coincidental the very day לוט was sitting at the front gates of the city the מלאכים came to save him. The מלאכים were coming to save לוט only for his seed to continue to exist and Chazal teach us the reason he was sitting at the front gates was because on that very day he was appointed to be the leader of the most evil society ever to exist and it is from here that the משיח is born.

From the Lowest Place

The Maharal explains the purpose of the משיח is to bring the world from one extreme to another, to raise up ישראל from a very low place to become an exalted nation. Before the משיח is revealed, ישראל will be on a very low level, Torah will be almost forgotten and there will not be greatness amongst the people of ישראל, a level of עקב, meaning heel, the lowest part of the body. This time period is known as עקבא דמשיחא, also coming from the name יעקב. Within this time period, when ישראל are on a low, משיח will raise up the whole nation and in order for this potential to take place the birth of the משיח must also be in a way of converting over complete evilness and cruelty to levels of קדושה.

Lot’s First Step

לוט begins this process of separating himself from the evilness of the city of סדום, the moment the מלאכים show up on his doorstep. He cuts himself off from the behavior of his neighbors when he takes care of his guests and risks his life when he opens his house to them and feeds them a meal. לוט takes it to the next step and even protects them when the people come to knock on his door asking questions about these guests. The מלאכים then save his life together with his family because of the Chessed that he showed towards them.

Ruth and David

Similarly רות behaved in a way that she totally cut herself off from her cruel family and attached herself to the nation of ישראל. Her conversion was literally a way of separating herself from her evil past and bringing herself into a totally new realm of being part of ישראל. Her descendant was King David who became the personification of מלכות. David was known as the בעל תשובה, because he spent his whole life fixing the mistakes and the grave sin he made in his past. תשובה is a very difficult process when one changes his nature from one extreme to another and this was accomplished by King David.

No One Is Too Low to Return

From these lessons it is evident there is no level where one is so bad that they cannot repent and change their evil ways. No matter how low one falls, there is always an opportunity for one to pick themselves back up and to change their situation to completely good. It is within this very repentance that one can change their circumstances from a level of סדום to become the מלך המשיח.