What sealed the fate of Sedom was not the attitude of insensitivity per se, but rather the institutionalization of this attitude as part of the law of the land. The story of Sedom is repeated not only in societies that formally condone corrupt behavior and lend it a stamp of legal approval, but also within the lives of each individual.
In Parashat Vayera the Torah tells of the destruction of Sedom and its surrounding cities. The Torah does not explicitly specify the sin for which Sedom was annihilated, referring in general terms to its iniquitous conduct (13:13, 18:20). However, the story told in this parasha of the angels' visit to Sedom, where the townspeople violently object to the hospitality extended to them by Lot, gives us a more precise indication of the source of their guilt. This impression is corroborated by a comment of the prophet Yechezkel (16:49): "Now this was the iniquity of your sister Sedom: it and its suburbs had pride, satiation with bread, and calm tranquility, but it did not strengthen the hand of the poor and the needy." The people of Sedom enjoyed peace and prosperity, but selfishly kept its resources for themselves. They refused to share their supply of water and food with those in need, and chose instead to isolate themselves in their exclusive communities and bar entry to anybody seeking assistance.
A famous passage in Pirkei De-Rabbi Eliezer (25) reveals an additional element that rendered Sedom worthy of destruction. The Midrash writes, "They issued a proclamation in Sedom stating: Anybody who supports a poor person, a pauper or foreigner with bread will be burned by fire!" The Midrash proceeds to tell the tragic story of Lot's daughter, Plotit, who pitied a certain poor resident of Sedom and secretly brought him provisions each day as she went to draw water from the local well. The townspeople investigated the matter, discovered that Plotit had been feeding the pauper, and had her executed.
Professor Nechama Leibowitz commented on this story as follows:
But the height of their wickedness lay not in the activities of individual transgressors but in the fact that such iniquitous behavior was clothed with a cloak of legality, raised to the level of a social norm…
Their wickedness was not committed in secret, as something to be ashamed of, nor was it the product of a spontaneous outburst of the populace provoked by irresponsible elements. It was rather the law of the land, and whoever violated this savage law, and performed a good deed, prompted by his own instincts of pity, was condemned to be burnt at the stake. There was no remedy for such a society but total destruction.
What sealed the fate of Sedom was not the attitude of insensitivity per se, but rather the institutionalization of this attitude as part of the law of the land. Selfish greed became the formally accepted norm, rather than an innate human instinct that people ought to struggle to overcome. Abandoning hungry peasants and allowing them to die of thirst and starvation transformed from an unfortunate result of indifference, to the society's ideal standard. Such a society, God determined, was beyond moral repair, and had to be eliminated.
The story of Sedom is repeated not only in societies that formally condone corrupt behavior and lend it a stamp of legal approval, but also within the lives of each individual. Acknowledging failure or inadequacy leaves one feeling uneasy and insecure, and we often free ourselves from this discomfort through the retroactive legitimization of our behavior. Rather than endure the duress of a nagging conscience or the insecurity brought on by failure, we prefer to transform the failure into a success, by finding a basis for justifying our mistakes. Many people, like Sedom, clothe their corrupt behavior in a cloak of legality and ethical propriety in order to spare themselves the emotional burden of failure.
This retroactive validation of improper conduct makes it virtually impossible to change. The first step to character refinement is acknowledging that one's character must be refined. The story of Sedom should thus remind us to assess ourselves and our behavior with honest objectivity, and to recognize the need to improve. We will then be able to begin molding our characters in accordance with our values and ideals, rather than molding our values and ideals in accordance with our characters.
(Based in part on Rabbi Natan Slifkin's work Focus, Parashat Vayera)