19 Nov THE MYSTERIOUS PERSONALITY OF LOT

One of the more enigmatic
personalities in the Torah
is Lot, Avraham’s nephew
and Sarah’s brother. On
the one hand we know that
all the while that Lot was
together with Avraham, the Shechinah didn’t
speak with Avraham. We also know that Lot
made the very poor decision of choosing to
live in the very sinful environment of Sdom
and Amorah, a decision that would cost him
his wife and most of his family. On the other
hand, he was the ancestor, through his daughter,
of Dovid HaMelech and the eventual Melech
HaMoshiach.
I’d like to suggest what was so special about Lot
that he merited to be an ancestor of royalty. In
one of the most perplexing actions cited in the
Torah, when the mad rabble descended upon
Lot’s home and demanded that he deliver to
them his forbidden guests, Lot did something
truly mystifying. He made them a counter
proposal. “Hinei na li shtei vanos asher lo yadu
ish. Otzi’ah na es’hen aleichem, va’asu lahen
katov bei’ei’neichem. Rak la’anashim ha’eil
al ta’asu davar, ki al kein ba’u b’tzeil korasi – I
have two daughters who are pure. Take them
instead and do with them whatever you want.
Just leave these guests alone since they came
under the protection of my roof.” What father,

when approached by a crazed gang, offers his
daughters to save some visiting strangers? The
Ramban writes that this shows ro’ah lei’vav, a
cruelty of heart on behalf of Lot. He maintains
that, while most parents would give their own
lives for their daughters, Lot was willing to
throw them to the mob to save some strangers.
I would like to suggest a different understanding
of Lot’s perplexing behavior. The angels had
revealed themselves to Lot and told him that
they had come to destroy Sdom. Rav Miller,
zt”l, zy”a, used to say that there were three
million people in the five cities of Sdom. Lot
embarked on a desperate mission to try to save
these millions of people. Rashi reveals she’kol
halaila haya meileitz aleihem tovos, the whole
night Lot was interceding on behalf of the
people of Sdom with favorable information.
When the mob wanted to molest the guests,
Lot knew that if they actually succeeded in
attacking them, it would have been curtains
for three million people. Instead, he asked his
daughters if they would be willing to sacrifice
themselves as a last ditch attempt to save three
million others. The daughters agreed and thus
became worthy to be the ancestress’s of royalty.
This is not farfetched for Lot indeed succeeded
where Avraham failed. While Avraham was
not able to save any of Sdom (except for Lot
and his family), Lot saved one full city, the

city of Tzoar.
The name Lot has always troubled
me. What does it stand for? It
sounds similar to the word layit,
which means to curse. That certainly
is not the thrust of the name.
However, Lot read backwards is
tal, and it means to protect, like
the Targum says, b’tzeil korasi, in
the protection of my house, and the
Targum renders b’tzeil as bitlal, a
cloak of protection. Indeed, Lot
tried to be a protector of Sdom.
The Gemara tells us that if one should encounter
the pillar of salt which Lot’s wife turned into,
he should make two blessings: Baruch Dayan
HaEmes, Blessed is the true Judge Who
punished Lot’s wife, and Baruch Zocheir
tzadikim, Blessed is He who remembers the
righteous. The common understanding is that
the righteous refers to Avraham Avinu, in whose
merit Lot was saved. I would like to suggest
that it is in the plural, tzadikim, because it also
refers to Lot and his daughters who valiantly
tried to save Sdom and in the end succeeded in
saving the city of Tzoar. “Kol hamatzil nefesh
achas miYisroel ki’ilu matzel malei – Whoever
saves one soul in Israel is it is as if he saved the
entire world,” and Lot saved (at least for two
years) the entire city of Tzoar.

Finally, it’d like to suggest that Lot was saved in
the merit of yet another tzadik, and that was his
father Haran. Remember, after Nimrod threw
Avraham in to the kivshan ha’eish, the fiery
furnace, Nimrod then asked Haran if he would
bow down to the idol or go into the furnace,
and Haran chose to enter the furnace. Although
Haran died because he only did it after seeing
Avraham come out successfully, he still died
al kiddush Hashem, sanctifying G-d’s name.
I’d like to suggest that since Haran honored
Hashem by going into the fire, his sacrifice
saved his son Lot and his family from the fires
and sulfur of Sdom.
In the merit of judging Lot favorably, may
Hashem bless us with long life, good health,
and everything wonderful.