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What was the philosophical basis behind Sedom's cruel treatment of guests? The shiur reveals that Sedom viewed themselves as the ultimate practitioners of chesed (חסד) through strict justice - forcing independence rather than creating dependency. Their mistake was not understanding that true tzedakah can be given as mishpat rather than matanah.
This shiur analyzes the Midrashic account of Sedom's law that any guest (achsanya) who comes to town should be violated and have his money taken. Rather than viewing Sedom as simply evil, Rabbi Zweig presents a sophisticated understanding of their underlying philosophy. Sedom's ideology was based on the principle that doing favors for people actually harms them by creating dependency and destroying their drive for independence. They believed that giving someone something unearned takes away their incentive to work and be self-sufficient. In their view, they were practicing the ultimate chesed (חסד) by enforcing strict justice (midas hadin) - ensuring that people only received what they earned.
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Parshas Vayera - Sedom narrative
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