Embracing Change: Lessons from Lot's Sons-in-Law - A Reflection on Belief, Stability, and the Unexpected
By: Rabbi Dovid Lieberman
יד) וַיֵּצֵ֨א ל֜וֹט וַיְדַבֵּ֣ר׀ אֶל־חֲתָנָ֣יו׀ לֹקְחֵ֣י בְנֹתָ֗יו וַיֹּ֙אמֶר֙ ק֤וּמוּ צְּאוּ֙ מִן־הַמָּק֣וֹם הַזֶּ֔ה כִּֽי־מַשְׁחִ֥ית יְהֹוָ֖ה אֶת־הָעִ֑יר וַיְהִ֥י כִמְצַחֵ֖ק בְּעֵינֵ֥י חֲתָנָֽיו׃
And Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who had married his daughters, and said, “Get up, leave this place, for Hashem is about to destroy the city.” But he seemed like a jester in the eyes of his sons- in-law.
The angels warned Lot that the city of Sedom would be destroyed and that Lot should escape to the hills with his family. When Lot told his sons-in-law of the news and begged them to flee with him, they did not take him seriously. The Midrash (Bereishit Rabbah 50:9) explains that they replied to Lot, “The city is filled with laughter, song, and happiness; how can you say that it will be overturned?”
The sons-in-law’s response to Lot is bizarre, not so much for what they said, but for what they did not say. They did not mock Lot for believing that an all powerful God could utterly destroy their city in an instant. It seems from the Midrash that they did believe in God and they understood that it is within his power to overturn a city like Sodom. They merely could not believe that such a merry city, its streets filled with sounds of music and laughter could ever be silenced. But what difference did the merry atmosphere in the city make? Why did laughter in the air convince Lot’s sons-in-law that Hashem would not destroy Sodom?
Rabbi A. Henoch Lebowitz in his Sefer Chiddushei HaLev explains that this Midrash is exposing a weakness inherent in all humans; we find it hard to believe that our status quo will ever change. Even though the sons-in-law of Lot believed that their destruction was theoretically possible, and even though their very lives were at stake, they rejected his life-saving advice because they could not believe that their wonderful situation would ever change. This is an amazingly strong psychological factor that affects our thinking and must be reckoned with when we try to make honest assessments and decisions.
Too often we also trap ourselves in the cage of our present situation- both for good and for bad. When life is going well for us, we sometimes forget that the next day we could find ourselves, God-forbid, in a tragic situation with our world turned upside down. We sometimes forget that nothing is guaranteed to us. We must appreciate the source of our success and realize that He is granting us these blessings anew every second of the day.
Conversely, when things are not so rosy, we must realize that just because things are where they are today does not mean that it will be like that tomorrow. We have to believe and know that God can instantaneously change things for the better. As the Seforno in Parshat Miketz (41:14) tells us “The divine salvation always comes hastily and unexpectedly.”
Let us pray that God quickly takes us out of this exile that we are in and rebuild the 3rd Beit Hamikdash speedily in our days.
Shabbat Shalom!