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Why was Sodom destroyed for lack of charity when non-Jews aren't commanded in tzedakah? Giving tzedakah as tzedek—because the recipient has a right to exist—is itself a proclamation of God's existence, since rights can only derive from a Creator. Sodom's philosophy of "sheli sheli v'shelach shelach" denied human rights entirely, making the city a negative existence subject to divine af (fury) rather than mishpat (judgment).
The shiur opens with a fundamental question: Yechezkel says Sodom was destroyed because "yad ani v'evyon lo hecheziku"—they did not give charity. The Ran derives from this that charity must be one of the seven Noahide laws, yet the Rambam (רמב"ם) does not list it as such. If non-Jews are not obligated in tzedakah, why was Sodom destroyed for failing to give it? Furthermore, the Mishna identifies Sodom's philosophy as "sheli sheli v'shelach shelach" (what's mine is mine and what's yours is yours), which one opinion calls midas Sodom while another calls it midas beinunis—a perfectly acceptable middle path. How can the same philosophy be both utterly wicked and morally acceptable? Rabbi Zweig explains that there are two fundamentally different forms of divine justice. Mishpat (judgment) presumes a person has a right to exist, and that right must be adjudicated before it can be taken away. Af (fury/wrath), by contrast, applies when a person or community has forfeited any claim to existence because they represent a purely negative reality—they do not reveal God's presence in any way. The Rambam in Hilchos Teshuva (תשובה) states that an individual or city whose sins outweigh merits is immediately destroyed. This is not judgment—it is af. Such an entity self-destructs because it has no justification for existence.
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Vayeira 18:23-33
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