What was the sin of the men of Sodom ?
While Abraham came to teach us to be kind to one another, the inhabitants of Sodom practiced the exact opposite. This can be seen in their attitude to the angels who came in human guise to visit Abraham’s nephew Lot : the inhabitants wanted to sexually rape them (Genesis 19:5). Nothing could be further from the hospitality to strangers practiced by Abraham as part of his kindness, as described in the preceding chapter, with which our portion opens (Genesis 18:1-16). The people of Sodom were blessed with exceptional natural advantages yet refused to share them with anyone else. They strictly forbade and ruthlessly avenged any act of charity of kindness. The Torah sages told of one young girl who took pity on a starving wayfarer and fed him, for which she was punished by being coated with honey and left on a roof to the mercy of the wasps (Rashi on Genesis 18:21). In Sodom there was one legendary bed for all visitors: one who was too short was stretched to fit the bed while one who was t
