Is America the new Sodom? What might Jewish texts and
traditions have to say about our society?
The eighth century CE exegetical text "Pirkei d'Rabbi Eliezer" (PR'E) teaches that Sodom (and Gomorrah) were not destroyed by God because of homosexuality. Rather, we learn, it was because of the way the Sodomites treated outsiders and the poor. An interesting idea, as Pride Month comes to a close and a day after the Supreme Court gave the Executive branch license to wreak havoc over the United States.
"'Rabbi Joshua, son of Ḳorchah, said: "(The people of Sodom) appointed over themselves judges who were lying judges, and they oppressed every way farer and stranger who entered Sodom by their perverse judgment, and they sent them forth naked, as it is said, 'They have oppressed the stranger without judgment' (Ezek. 22:29)."' PR'E 25 (Another relevant text: "Your rulers are rogues and cronies of thieves, every one of them avid for bribery and greedy for illicit gifts; they do not give the orphan justice, and the widow's case never reaches them." Isaiah 1:23)
"(The people of Sodom) were dwelling in security without care and at ease, without the fear of war from all their surroundings, as it is said, 'Their houses are safe from fear' (Job 21:9). They were sated with all the produce of the earth, but they did not strengthen with the loaf of bread either the hand of the needy or of the poor, as it is said, 'Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom; pride, fullness of bread, and prosperous ease was in her and in her daughters; neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy' (Ezek. 16:49) PR’E 25
It's almost as if Ezekiel and Isaiah are here with us, right now.
Are we Sodomites?
