Parashat Vayera opens with Abraham at the entrance of his tent, welcoming strangers. But soon after, Abraham engages in of the most astonishing acts of his legacy. Told that Sodom and Gomorrah will be destroyed; Abraham refuses to stay silent in his dialogue with Gd: “Will You sweep away the righteous with the wicked?… Shall not the Judge of all the earth deal justly?” (Genesis 18:23–25). Consequently, Abraham negotiates how many righteous citizens could save these cities: 50, 45, 40, 30,10. Ultimately stopping at the number that has defined the minyan (the minimum quorum of 10 Jewish adults required to hold a full communal prayer service).
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Surely, Abraham knew he would not win the argument. And the Torah never says he changed Gd’s mind, nor that Gd changed his. So why argue? Because it wasn’t to find the capital-T Truth, and it certainly wasn’t to prevail. Abraham argued in pursuit of the capital-T Trust: trust in a relationship strong enough to hold disagreement, and trust that wrestling with a hard question would make him wiser. Each question sharpened his grasp of justice, of his own convictions, and of the Gd he trusted. Abraham calls himself “dust and ashes” (18:27) even as he presses Gd to account for the judgement, humility and conviction together. Then Gd moves on, and Abraham returns to his place (18:33). No bridge burned.
Contrast that with where we find ourselves today. Today, disagreement feels like betrayal. Differ with me on politics, a favorite team, a movie rating, or a social media post, and suddenly we are enemies. We flatten complex questions into yes/no, right/wrong, and lose exactly what Abraham gained: growth. Complexity is not the enemy of clarity; it is where our tradition’s sacred wisdom lives. We burn bridges over a single issue, forgetting the many values we share. Our Sages offered another model, machloket l’shem shamayim, argument for the sake of heaven, like our great Talmudic scholars Hillel and Shammai, whose disputes endured because both sought understanding, not victory (Avot 5:17).
As we follow the results of the elections in Israel this week, we can be hopeful or hopeless. President Herzog chooses to be full of Tikvah, hope. With neither major bloc holding a clear majority, Herzog sees a real opportunity to explore the broad common ground the two largest parties share, a center strong enough to hold. A majority made up of the majority and not one built on the extremes. May this moment of necessity become a moment of unity under his watchful eye.
This is the mission of our Jewish Federation. Abraham’s tent was open on every side; ours shelters many people with many different ideas. Our job is not to win arguments but to draw those who have drifted to the periphery on specific issues back toward the central gathering space, built on our common understandings, shared experiences, and countless similarities.
Here is our action item. This week, like Abraham pleading for Sodom, let us ask ourselves: What am I not seeing that my neighbor sees? Where is the line I cannot cross, and where is theirs? The goal is not to live at the peripheries of our convictions, but to move toward one another, so that even in disagreement, we come closer. Because we are Stronger Together.
Shabbat Shalom,
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