The Mysterious Personality Of Lot

One of the more enigmatic personalities in the Torah is Lot, Avraham’s nephew and Sarah’s brother. On the one hand we know that all the while that Lot was together with Avraham, the Shechina didn’t speak with Avraham. We also know that Lot made the very poor decision of choosing to live in the very sinful environment of Sodom and Amorah, a decision that would cost him his wife and most of his family. On the other hand, he was the ancestor, through his daughter, of David HaMelech and the eventual Melech HaMoshiach.

I’d like to suggest what was so special about Lot that he merited to be an ancestor of royalty. In one of the most perplexing actions cited in the Torah, when the mad rabble descended upon Lot’s home and demanded that he deliver to them his forbidden guests, Lot did something truly mystifying. He made them a counter proposal. “Hinei na li shtei vanos asher lo yadu ish. Otzi’ah na es’hen aleichem, va’asu lahen katov bei’eineichem. Rak la’anashim haeil al ta’asu davar, ki al kein bau b’tzeil korasi, I have two daughters who are pure. Take them instead and do with them whatever you want. Just leave these guests alone since they came under the protection of my roof.” What father, when approached by a crazed gang, offers his daughters to save some visiting strangers? The Ramban writes that this shows ro’ah leivav, a cruelty of heart on behalf of Lot. He maintains that, while most parents would give their own lives for their daughters, Lot was willing to throw them to the mob to save some strangers.

I would like to suggest a different understanding of Lot’s perplexing behavior. The angels had revealed themselves to Lot and told him that they had come to destroy Sodom. Rav Miller, zt”l, zy”a, used to say that there were three million people in the five cities of Sodom. Lot embarked on a desperate mission to try to save these millions of people. Rashi reveals she’kol halaila haya meileitz aleihem tovos, the whole night Lot was interceding on behalf of the people of Sodom with favorable information. When the mob wanted to molest the guests, Lot knew that if they actually succeeded in attacking them, it would have been curtains for three million people. Instead, he asked his daughters if they would be willing to sacrifice themselves as a last-ditch attempt to save three million others. The daughters agreed and thus became worthy to be the ancestresses of royalty.

This is not farfetched, as Lot indeed succeeded where Avraham failed. While Avraham was not able to save any of Sodom (except for Lot and his family), Lot saved one full city, the city of Tzoar.

The name Lot has always troubled me. What does it stand for? It sounds similar to the word layit, which means to curse. That certainly is not the thrust of the name. However, Lot read backwards is tal, and it means to protect, like the Targum says, b’tzeil korasi, in the protection of my house, and the Targum renders b’tzeil as bitlal, a cloak of protection. Indeed, Lot tried to be a protector of Sodom.

The Gemara tells us that if one should encounter the pillar of salt which Lot’s wife turned into, he should make two blessings: Baruch Dayan HaEmes, Blessed is the true Judge [Who punished Lot’s wife], and Baruch Zocheir tzaddikim, Blessed is He who remembers the righteous. The common understanding is that the righteous refers to Avraham Avinu, in whose merit Lot was saved. I would like to suggest that it is in the plural, tzaddikim, because it also refers to Lot and his daughters who valiantly tried to save Sodom and in the end succeeded in saving the city of Tzoar. “Kol hamatzil nefesh achas miYisrael ki’ilu matzel malei, Whoever saves one soul in Israel it is as if he saved the entire world,” and Lot saved (at least for two years) the entire city of Tzoar.

Finally, I’d like to suggest that Lot was saved in the merit of yet another tzaddik, and that was his father Haran. Remember, after Nimrod threw Avraham in to the kivshan haeish, the fiery furnace, Nimrod then asked Haran if he would bow down to the idol or go into the furnace, and Haran chose to enter the furnace. Although Haran died because he only did it after seeing Avraham come out successfully, he still died al kiddush Hashem, sanctifying G-d’s name. I’d like to suggest that since Haran honored Hashem by going into the fire, his sacrifice saved his son Lot and his family from the fires and sulfur of Sodom.

In the merit of judging Lot favorably, may Hashem bless us with long life, good health, and everything wonderful.

Transcribed and edited by Shelley Zeitlin.