After Hashem informs Avraham that the cities of Sodom and Amora are to be destroyed we are told:
"Avraham came forward and said, 'will you destroy the righteous with the wicked?'" (18: 23).
Rashi is concerned about the way in which Onkelos translates this verse. Onkelos had rendered it: "will you angrily (birgaz) destroy the…". Rashi explains that Onkelos took the word as the Hebrew af to mean anger.
Rashi points out that according to Onkelos the translation of the verse would be: "Will anger lead You to destroy the righteous with the wicked?"
The two interpretations are very different. According to the first (Rashi), Avraham stands in wonder at the thought that Hashem might destroy the good with the bad. He is actually saying that this is impossible and that there must be some other explanation. The assessment of the situation must be a mistake and Avraham asks Hashem for a clarification.
However, according to Onkelos, Avraham has made a judgment about the situation. Hashem is acting out of anger. Therefore, it is entirely possible that the good will be destroyed with the bad. The second interpretation is almost an accusation. The first interpretation presents Avraham as asking a question. The second finds Avraham stating a judgment about Divine justice.
In fact, Rashi is directing us to see two different motives in the question that Avraham poses to Hashem.
The first question has to do with justice and charity. In verse 19 (above) Hashem has already made clear why Avraham is considered superior to the rest of humanity and is chosen to represent Hashem in this world: "...he [Avraham] commands his children… …after him that they keep the way of Hashem, doing charity and justice…". Being just is central to the personality of Avraham. He is the first person in the world committed to justice and to explaining that the world created by Hashem is a world of justice.
The first question, as Rashi presents it, is certainly in place. How is it possible that the justice that exists in heaven is not seen in the punishment meted out to Sodom and Amora? I know, Avraham asks, that there is justice in Heaven and that the punishment is deserved, but I have to understand it in order to explain it to the peoples of the world. How is it possible that it seems Hashem has decided to punish the righteous with the wicked?
The second interpretation is different. Avraham knew clearly what was happening and why. Hashem has decided to act out of anger and to destroy the righteous alongside the wicked. This then is the act of anger that Avraham perceives and asks (according to Onkelos, adopted by Rashi), "why is Hashem acting with anger in this case?
In the Medrash the question of Divine anger is addressed in the verse that we are focusing on. (Bresheit Rabba 49:8)
"R. Huna in the name of R Acha: 'the verse means, haaf tispe, put an end to anger'. R. Yehoshua b. Nehemia: 'the anger which you bring into the world will destroy the righteous with the wicked.' Rabi says: 'the human being is overwhelmed by anger, but Hashem controls anger.'
In this context, I recall a gemara [Baba Kama 60a].
"R Yosef learned: 'None of you shall go out of the door of his house until the morning…' (Shemot, 12:22). Permission was given to the destroyer to destroy and he doesn't distinguish between the wicked and the righteous. Further the destruction begins with the righteous! '[I] will cut of , the righteous and the wicked!'" (Yehezkeel, 21:8).
Perhaps the righteous are judged for the fact that they had little or no influence on the city as a whole (this is the story of Lot). They deserve punishment because they are part of a wicked zibbur community and in heaven it was decided that they were not properly influential. This is the lesson that Avraham learned, according to the translation in Onkelos, which was (partially) adopted by Rashi.
Gut Shabbos, Chaim Brovender
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