Jewish World Review Nov. 14, 2008 / 16 Mar-Cheshvan 5769

The Power of Spiritual Inertia

By Rabbi A. Henach Leibowitz

A lesson from Sodom about a psychological factor that affects our thinking and must be reckoned with when we try to make honest assessments and decisions

“He seemed like a jester in the eyes of his sons-in-law.”

                        —   Genesis 19:14

The angels, chronicles the Torah, warned Lot that Sodom would be destroyed and that he should escape to the hills with his family. When Lot told his sons-in-law the news and begged them to flee with him, they did not take him seriously, according to the Midrash (Bereishis Rabbah 50:9).

"The city is filled with laughter, song and happiness; how can you say that it will be overturned?", is how they replied.

The sons-in-law's retort to Lot is bizarre, not so much for what they said, but for what they did not.

They did not mock Lot for believing that an all powerful G-d could utterly destroy their city in an instant. It seems from the Midrash that they did believe in the Almighty and they understood that it was within His power to overturn Sodom. They merely could not believe that such a merry city, its streets filled with the sounds of laughter and music, could ever be silenced.

But what difference did the merry atmosphere in the city make? Why did laughter in the air convince Lot's sons-in-law that the Divine would not destroy Sodom?

The Midrash is exposing a weakness inherent in all humans; we find it hard to believe that our status quo will ever change. Even though the sons-in-law believed that their destruction was theoretically possible — and even though their very lives were at stake — they rejected his life-saving advice because they could not believe that their wonderful situation would ever change.

This is an amazingly strong psychological factor that affects our thinking and must be reckoned with when we try to make honest assessments and decisions.

Too often we also trap ourselves in the cage of our present situation — both for good and for bad. When life is going well for us, when our families are healthy and we can pay our bills, we sometimes forget that the next minute we could receive a phone call from our doctor or a message from our employer that could suddenly turn our world upside-down. We sometimes forget that nothing is guaranteed to us. We must appreciate the Source of our success and realize that He is granting us these blessings anew, every second of the day.

Conversely, when things are not so rosy, we must constantly strengthen ourselves to turn to Him in prayer, firm in our belief that G-d can instantaneously change things for the better.

Every morning in their prayers Jews quote King David (Psalms 30:6), "In the evening one lies down weeping, but with the dawn — a cry of joy!" If we fail to focus on the fact that life can improve for us, we will drown in the quagmire of depression and despair — the lifeline just within reach, yet never seized.

Let us not allow the "static" of our situation to interfere with our reception of any messages broadcast to us from Above. Lot's sons-in-law were too absorbed in their merry status quo and could not tune in to receive the heavenly warning that would have saved their lives. We can learn from their fatal mistake: in good times, to be grateful and appreciative to the Divine for all He bestows upon us; in dark times, to be optimistic for a better future, hopeful for the Almighty's salvation that comes "in the blink of an eye."