The Source Texts
Intratextual Responses
Rabbinic Responses
(י) אַרְבַּע מִדּוֹת בָּאָדָם. הָאוֹמֵר שֶׁלִּי שֶׁלִּי וְשֶׁלְּךָ שֶׁלָּךְ, זוֹ מִדָּה בֵינוֹנִית. וְיֵשׁ אוֹמְרִים, זוֹ מִדַּת סְדוֹם. שֶׁלִּי שֶׁלְּךָ וְשֶׁלְּךָ שֶׁלִּי, עַם הָאָרֶץ. שֶׁלִּי שֶׁלְּךָ וְשֶׁלְּךָ שֶׁלָּךְ, חָסִיד. שֶׁלִּי שֶׁלִּי וְשֶׁלְּךָ שֶׁלִּי, רָשָׁע:
(10) There are four types of character in human beings: One that says: “mine is mine, and yours is yours”: this is a commonplace type; and some say this is a sodom-type of character. [One that says:] “mine is yours and yours is mine”: is an unlearned person (am haaretz); [One that says:] “mine is yours and yours is yours” is a pious person. [One that says:] “mine is mine, and yours is mine” is a wicked person.
(ד) ר' זעירא אומ' עשירי שלוה היו אנשי סדום מן הארץ הטמאה הטובה והשמנה שהיו יושבים עליה, שכל שצריך לעולם היו מוציאין ממנה זהב היו מוציאין ממנו שנאמר ועפרות זהב לו כסף היו מוציאין ממנה שנאמר כי יש לכסף מוצא אבנים טובות היו מוציאין ממנה שנאמר מקום ספיר אבניה לחם היו מוציאין ממנה שנאמר ארץ ממנה יצא לחם ולא בטחו בצל יוצרם אלא על רוב עשרם והעושר דוחה את בעליו מיראת שמים שנאמר הבוטחים על חילם.
(ה) ר' נתנאל אומר אנשי סדום לא חסו על כבוד קונם לשבור אוכל לאורח ולגר אלא סבבו את כל האילנות למעלה מפירותיהם כדי שלא יהיו מסורין אפילו לעוף השמים שנאמר נתיב לא ידעו עיט.
(ו) ר' יהושע בן קרחא אומ' הקימו עליהם שופטים שופטי שקר וכל אורח וגר שהיו נכנסים לסדום היו עושקים אותם בדינים ולוקחים ממנו המעות ומוציאין אותם ערומים שנאמר ואת הגר עשקו בלא משפט.
(ז) והיו יושבין בטח שאנן ושלו בלי פחד מלחמה מכל סביבותם שנאמר בתיהם שלום מפחד. והיו שבעים בכל תבואות הארץ ולא הוחזק ידם בפת לא לעני ולא לאביון שנאמר הנה זה היה חטאת סדום אחותיך גאון שבעתי לחם וכו'.
(ח) ר' יהודה אומר, הכריזו בסדום כל מי שהוא מחזיק בפת לחם עני ואביון ישרף באש פליטת בתו של לוט היתה נשואה לאחד מגדולי העיר וראתה עני אחד מדקדק ברחוב העיר ועגמה נפשה עליו שנאמר עגמה נפשי לאביון מה עשתה בכל יום היתה יוצאה לשאוב היתה נותנת בכד שלה מכל מזון ביתה ומאכלת לאותו עני אמרו אנשי סדום העני הזה מאין הוא חי וכשידעו בדבר הוציאו אותה להשרף אמרה רבון כל העולמים עשה משפטי ודיני מאנשי סדום ועלתה צעקתה לפני כסא הכבוד באותה שעה אמר הב"ה ארדה נא ואראה אם כצעקת הנערה הזאת עשו אנשי סדום אהפוך יסודותיה למעלה ופניה למטה שנאמר ארדה נא ואראה הכצעקתה הבאה אלי עשו כלה הכצעקתם אין כתיב כאן אלא הכצעקתה.
(4) Rabbi Ẓe'era said: The men of Sodom were the wealthy men of prosperity, on account of the good and fruitful land whereon they dwelt. For every need which the world requires, they obtained therefrom. They procured gold therefrom, as it is said, "And it had dust of gold" (Job 28:6). What is the meaning (of the text), "And it had dust of gold"? At the hour when one of them wished to buy a vegetable, he would say to his servant, Go and purchase for me (for the value of) an assar. He went and bought (it), and found beneath it heaps of gold; thus it is written, "And it had dust of gold" (ibid.). They obtained silver therefrom, as it is said, "Surely there is a mine for silver" (Job 28:1). They procured precious stones and pearls thence, as it is said, || "The stones thereof are the place of sapphires" (Job 28:6). They obtained bread therefrom, as it is said, "As for the earth, out of it cometh bread" (Job 28:5). But they did not trust in the shadow of their Creator, but (they trusted) in the multitude of their wealth, for wealth thrusts aside its owners from the fear of Heaven, as it is said, "They that trust in their wealth" (Ps. 49:6).
(5) Rabbi Nathaniel said: The men of Sodom had no consideration for the honour of their Owner by (not) distributing food to the wayfarer and the stranger, but they (even) fenced in all the trees on top above their fruit so that they should not be seized; (not) even by the bird of heaven, as it is said, "That path no bird of prey knoweth" (Job 28:7).
(6) Rabbi Joshua, son of Ḳorchah, said: They appointed over themselves judges who were lying judges, and they oppressed every wayfarer and stranger who entered Sodom by their perverse judgment, and they sent them forth naked, as it is said, "They have oppressed the stranger without judgment" (Ezek. 22:29).
(7) They were dwelling in security without care and at ease, without the fear of war from all their surroundings, as it is said, "Their houses are safe from fear" (Job 21:9). They were sated with all the produce of the earth, but they did not strengthen with the loaf of bread either the hand of the needy or of the poor, as it is said, "Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom; pride, fulness of bread, and prosperous ease was in her and in her daughters; neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy" (Ezek. 16:49). ||
(8) Rabbi Jehudah said: They made a proclamation in Sodom (saying): Everyone who strengthens the hand of the poor or the needy with a loaf of bread shall be burnt by fire. Peleṭith, daughter of Lot, was wedded to one of the magnates of Sodom. She saw a certain very poor man in the street of the city, and her soul was grieved on his account, as it is said, "Was not my soul grieved for the needy?" (Job 30:25). What did she do? Every day when she went out to draw water she put in her bucket all sorts of provisions from her home, and she fed that poor man. The men of Sodom said: How does this poor man live? When they ascertained the facts, they brought her forth to be burnt with fire. She said: Sovereign of all worlds ! Maintain my right and my cause (at the hands of) the men of Sodom. And her cry ascended before the Throne of Glory. In that hour the Holy One, blessed be He, said: "I will now descend, and I will see" (Gen. 18:21) whether the men of Sodom have done according to the cry of this young woman, I will turn her foundations upwards, and the surface thereof shall be turned downwards, as it is said, "I will now descend, and I will see whether they have done altogether according to her cry, which is come unto me" (ibid.). "According to their cry" is not written here (in the text), only "According to her cry."
Modern Thoughts
From Chabad.org:
The sins of the Sodomites stemmed from their intense selfishness, their unwillingness to part with anything they possessed.
The sages of the Misnah teach:
One who says, “What is mine is mine, and what is yours is yours"—this is a median characteristic; others say that this is the character of Sodom.
The every-man-for-himself attitude may seem harmless, but as these stories reveal, it will ultimately lead to true evil.
While the cities of Sodom have long receded into the past, the mentality they epitomized is alive and well. Our job is to uproot and destroy this mindset wherever we can, replacing it with love and goodwill.
https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/2017931/jewish/Sodom-and-Gomorrah-Cities-Destroyed-by-G-d.htm
Bishop Eugene Robinson (Episcopal Church)
This is a really important story because it’s where we get the word “sodomite” used to describe homosexuals, and nothing could be further from the truth. This story is about a very wealthy city. Perhaps it was the prototype of the gated community. Because they wanted to protect their wealth they canceled a very important tradition throughout the Middle East: welcoming the stranger. That kind of hospitality makes life possible in a desert culture. Travel was very difficult, and you would offer hospitality to anyone because not to do so might mean death.
Some men in Sodom didn’t want strangers coming into city because they feared they would see the wealth and return with an army. Lot, the central figure in the story, welcomes two men into his home who turn out to be angels of God. The men want Lot to send the men out to them so that they can rape them. And Lot refuses to do so.
When the Bible talks about the sin of Sodom, people have mistakenly thought that the sin was men having sex with men. The story goes on to say that Lot would not turn over his guests but was happy to send his virgin daughter out to them so they could rape her instead. This is not a story about two men who fall in love and pledge themselves to a monogamous, faithful, lifelong intentioned relationship. This is about homosexual rape. No one is arguing for homosexual rape—or any kind of rape—because it is an act of violence.
With Sodom and Gomorrah, we have internal commentary on the story elsewhere in scripture. Ezekiel has virtually the same story, and the prophets talk about the sin of Sodom as being that of greed and lack of care for the poor. Cancellation of the law of hospitality was a sin against the poorest and most vulnerable. That is the same conclusion that Jesus himself draws in citing Sodom when he talks about the disciples going into a town and not being received. He says, “Shake the dust off your feet and go on into the next town. It will be worse for those folks who did not receive you, welcome you, offer you hospitality than for the people of Sodom.”
Within the scriptures themselves, homosexual rape is not the right interpretation of Sodom and Gomorrah—yet those who argue against homosexuality keep using it.
I would say one more probably outrageous thing, which is if the sin of Sodom is greed and not taking care of the poor, then it would seem like the sodomites in our culture are those who do things to keep the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer. If we want to talk about sodomites, let’s talk about that.
https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/religion/news/2010/12/08/8822/what-are-religious-texts-really-saying-about-gay-and-transgender-rights/
Rabbi Gail Laibowitz, PHD:
So what was/were the sin/s of Sodom and Gomorrah, their leaders and their people? According the biblical account (Gen. 19), we see that Sodom was a place in which outsiders – even in the guise of wayfarers passing through – were not welcome, were not safe, and nor were those who did seek to extend hospitality. It was a place in which residents became unable to distinguish evil from good, but could only see perceived greater or lesser evil, such that it "made sense" to avert one act of violence (an attack on the guests in Lot's home) with another (the offer of his daughters for rape or other abuse in their stead).
...
Sodom appears to be a place with laws, but the laws are based on perverted logic that penalizes the vulnerable (those who do not have resources; the injured wife; the owner of the injured donkey) and abets greed and violence. As the tone of the passage builds and shifts, it is oppression of the poor and the outsider in particular – and those who take the risk of helping them – that comes to the fore as the especially egregious sin of Sodom.
At least one of the lessons of this time of year and this haftarah, therefore is (or could be), paradoxically, not to look to the end, to punishment and destruction, but to the here and now. Do we share any of the characteristics of the "chieftains of Sodom…the folk of Gomorrah"? Do we horde our wealth and resources, fear strangers, oppress the less fortunate under a guise of "fairness"? Could we do what our ancestors apparently could not, examine and change our ways when they fall short, even without a threat of punishment hanging over us, but only because it is the right thing to do? So may it be not just God's will, but ours.
https://www.aju.edu/ziegler-school-rabbinic-studies/our-torah/back-issues/chieftains-sodom-folk-gomorrah
Rabbi Steve Greenberg (Keshet), 2006
[this is the final paragraph of an article responding to riots in the Haredi sections of Jerusalem in protest of the Gay Pride March]
Without a doubt, Jerusalem is in danger of becoming Sodom. But it will not be made so by gay pride marchers — at least not according to the prophet Ezekiel or the rabbis. What bought down the wrath of God upon Sodom was not homosexuality, but inhospitality and cruelty, arrogance and greed, callousness, fear of loss, and ultimately, violence against the stranger. Indeed, we cannot let Jerusalem become like Sodom — a city where humiliation and even violence against people who are different is judged to be the epitome of moral decency and religious integrity.
https://www.myjewishlearning.com/2012/10/29/the-real-sin-of-sodom/