It’s one of the most poignant moments in the Torah’s earliest narratives. Abram’s nephew, Lot, is now dwelling in the town of Sodom. He is prosperous and busy, and one imagines him thinking that he is a prominent member of the community. Out of the blue, he receives visitors who turn out to be angels sent to announce the impending destruction of Sodom because of the wickedness of the town’s inhabitants. But before the angels even have a chance to inform their host of the heavenly intention, the local townsmen, intent on dragging out Lot’s guests and causing them severe bodily harm, besiege his home. It appears that hospitality is a serious infraction in Sodom.
In desperation, Lot pleads with his fellow townsmen to refrain from harming his guests. He reminds them what a serious violation of morality such an assault would be, and he tries to offer them a desperate distraction, all with an eye to getting them to leave his visitors in peace.
What is most striking, and most revealing, is the nature of the Sodomites’ response. They reject Lot’s plea, and in doing so, they declare, "This one came here as a sojourner, and already he acts the ruler!" Not only do they reject his solicitude for his guests, not only do the local residents reject Lot’s commitment to hakhnasat orhim, the mitzvah of hospitality, but they also reject his claim to be part of their community. After all, he isn’t a real citizen; he is merely an alien, a sojourner! As such, his attempt to give them any advice whatsoever amounts to sheer effrontery. How dare this stranger tell them what to do!
There are so many levels to unpack in this troubling moment. Rashi understands their exclamation as a rejection of outsiders, a xenophobic response to difference: "You are alien, alone, and among us. You came to sojourn and now you become the one to rule us!?!" As Rashi portrays the scene, the Sodomites will only listen to their own, and they see any attempt by Lot to share his opinion as an unpardonable intrusion into their own local affairs. Stay invisible or get out – that’s the only way that outsiders are tolerated at all.
The Midrash Bereshit Rabbah sees the locals’ words not as questioning Lot’s right to participate, but as rejecting his right to change their local custom in any way, "You wish to destroy the judgments of your predecessors." In other words, the real Sodomites, those who were born their, uphold the local custom of torturing guests. No outsider, however prosperous, however long he’s lived in town, has the right to try to modify their social norms. Take it or leave it, that’s the basis for living in Sodom.
Finally, Sforno takes the words of the Sodomites as an expression of shock – "would anyone dare do such a thing?" – would someone from the outside risk making himself visible as an outsider? Would he not only make his identity visible but also speak out against injustice, even when hallowed by custom?
Apparently Lot would. In refusing to be invisible as the price of acceptance, Lot crossed a line that enraged the local men. Yet he went even further than publicly affirming his identity as a Hebrew, as one with a distinct identity from that of Sodom. He also affirmed that part of his identity is a calling to make the world a better place, to bring an element of welcome, of haven, to those who wander without a home of their own. What really made Lot’s action intolerable was its implication that those in need of shelter have a claim on all of us; that every human being is a sojourner on this earth, all in need of each other’s care and protection.
Who would dare do such a thing? Good question – would you?
Shabbat Shalom.