Chutzpah: Our Birthright as Jews
Written on November 3, 2009 from the desk of Rabbi David Komerofskyחָלִלָה לְּךָ מֵעֲשֹׂת כַּדָּבָר הַזֶּה, לְהָמִית צַדִּיק עִם-רָשָׁע, וְהָיָה כַצַּדִּיק, כָּרָשָׁע; חָלִלָה לָּךְ–הֲשֹׁפֵט כָּל-הָאָרֶץ, לֹא יַעֲשֶׂה מִשְׁפָּט.
Far be it from You to do such a thing, to wipe away the righteous with the wicked so that the righteous be just like the wicked. Far be it from you. Should not the judge of the whole earth do justice? (Genesis 18:25)
In his pleading for the welfare of the hypothetical good guys in Sodom and Gomorrah, Abraham challenged God in a way that Noah never did. Noah did not ask if the earth should be saved before the flood, he did as he was commanded and built the ark and saved his family. Lacking chutzpah, we know that Noah could not have been a good pioneer for the Jewish people. Abraham, however, could not stand by and say nothing if there were innocent people being destroyed because of their proximity to the wicked. In Genesis 18:25 Abraham asks if that’s justice, that the good and the bad should be judged as one.
What nerve. Abraham thinks he knows better than God? As if. But God engaged Abraham in the discussion and agreed to save the city for the sake of the few righteous who might be found in it (not to give away the ending, but there weren’t any. Bye bye Sodom). And from their debate we learn something valuable – we are supposed to stand up when we see injustice and speak truth to power. There is no greater authority than God, so why be afraid to speak up to any person when you see wrong being done? Abraham had chutzpah and guts. A fitting ancestor for a perpetually dissatisfied people who look at the world and ask “why not?” Chutzpah is a Jewish birthright… we’ve had the nerve to survive and thrive for thousands of years against great odds and overcoming enormous obstacles. We survive because we are here for a reason – to be a light unto the nations and leave the world better than we found it – and often that means conforming to conscience instead of convenience. If it means that we are misunderstood and despised, so be it. The judge of the whole earth does justice, and so should we.
A final thought on Abraham’s debate. Abraham pushed God to consider the justice of punishing the righteous just because they are near the wicked. We know that it is easy to be bad when others around us are setting the bar low. We should distance ourselves from people who bring out the worst in us, and strive to do good by surrounding ourselves with people who help us kindle our divine sparks.
Discussion Questions:
- What principles are worth being unpopular to protect?
- Is Jewish chutzpah good, or too pushy?
- Why should Abraham care about these strangers in Sodom?
- Why were there no righteous people to be found amongst the wicked in this case?
- What lesson does this parasha (Vayera) teach about collective punishment?