The Language of Torah

G-d approaches Abraham after his bris and presents the pending destruction of Sodom and Gemorah to him. “And the Lord said, “Shall I conceal from Abraham what I am doing?” After all, I am going to make him into a great nation and this land I will give to his inheritors. How can I destroy it without letting him know.

 

(Indeed, a fascinating defense motion is put into place by Abraham who argues for salvation for the people of Sodom and Gemorah with the hope that there are some righteous people in the city. Only when it is clear that there is no righteous people worthy of being saved or for the cities to be saved on their behalf does Abraham cease his motion.)

 

Where was Abraham that G-d approached him?

 

Abraham was escorting the angels who had come to visit him after his bris, each with a unique mission (to heal him, to inform of the blessing of a child and to destroy sodom). Our tradition teaches, that escorting a guest is a great Mitzvah, and so Abraham was doing just that.

 

It is then that the Torah introduces G-d’s words, “shall I hide from Abraham…”. Then the Torah says and the men (the angels) turned towards Sodom. “And Abraham was still standing before Hashem”.

 

The language is not consistent. If G-d approached Abraham then technically, G-d was still standing in front of Abraham. It seems like the Torah is switching the main character of our story.

 

Indeed, Rashi comments and says that this is a Tikun Sofrim, which means a correction of Scribes.

 

There are occasions in the Torah, where Hashem intentionally wrote something in a different sequence or put the emphasis on a different character than what might have been obvious to ensure a respectful reading.

 

It would not be appropriate to say that G-d was still standing in front of Abraham. Regardless of how great Abraham is, G-d doesn’t wait around for Abraham.

 

The change of text is there to teach us, albeit passively, respectful language.

 

***

 

We live in wonderful times, times where old barriers of judgement, hatred, racism, inequality are being broken down.

 

While change in all of those institutions is long overdue, there are certain traditional hierarchy’s and respectful chain of commands that are necessary for a moral society. A teacher is still a teacher and a parent is still a parent and they are still deserving of respect for their position. Elderly people have still earned common courtesy towards them and without a doubt G-d still deserves to be spoken of with awe.

 

Perhaps this is one of the lessons of this seemingly minor correction of the text.

 

Have a good Shabbos.