Adina Roth – Head of Jewish Life

One beautiful summer afternoon, I sat with a group of Jewish women leaders from around the world on the grassy slopes in Jerusalem and we studied women in the Bible who were not always given a voice. One of these women was a nameless woman, known in the Torah as ‘Lot’s wife.’

Lot’s wife makes her only debut in the Bible in this week’s Parsha, Vayeira. God has decreed that the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah should be destroyed of their unspeakable evil. It is determined that Avraham’s nephew Lot and his wife and children will be saved from the city. This is the Bible after all, so a group of angels are dispatched to Sodom to save Lot’s family. A group of angry Sodomites hear that Lot has ‘visitors’ and they surround the house demanding that the guests be surrendered. The people of Sodom were infamous for torturing foreigners. Using their power, the angels cloud the vision of the angry mob and advise Lot and family that it is time to skedaddle. The angels warn Lot’s family, ‘As we destroy the city…don’t look back’.

As God rains sulfurous fire on the town and Lot’s family flees, the wife of Lot looks back. Immediately she meets her demise. In Genesis 19, 26 we read,  ‘She was turned into a pillar of salt.’ In our tradition, Lot’s wife is not seen as a very savoury character (excuse the salty pun). The Bereshit Rabba suggests that she had endangered her guests by alerting the mob to their presence by asking her neighbours for salt, explaining she was catering for ‘visitors’. This is why, explains the Midrash, she was turned into a pillar of salt. This interpretation has always located Lot’s wife’s demise squarely with herself, salt for salt. But, is this fair?

As I sat with a group of women in Jerusalem on that summer’s day, we wondered what it would be like for Lot’s wife to leave her family and friends behind knowing that her town would be destroyed. We imagined into her grief. Suddenly, it became clearer why she may be associated with salt. As she looked back and saw her home destroyed, she was enveloped in salty tears. She literally became her grief. We all felt a lot more empathy with her as we considered her an archetype of anyone who is forced to leave the world they once knew behind and mourn that loss.

As I walk around the Jewish community in Sydney these weeks, many Jewish people look a little dazed. A comment I have heard repeatedly is, ‘what world are we in?’ Others say, ‘I want to reverse the clock, to go back to how things were on Friday 6 October’ In a way, we are all feeling a little like Lot’s wife, looking with horror at our world, wishing for things to go back to the way they were before and feeling frozen, like a pillar of salty tears.

It’s a bitter pill to swallow that once events unfurl, there is no going back to the way they were before. However, it seems to be a principle of life, that often from the midst of tragedy, newness is born. Many people are saying to me, ‘I feel I see things more clearly now. I want to develop my Jewish identity. I want to express my humanity more.’ In the face of a lot of hatred and evil, people have responded with kindness and courage, lighting candles, silent vigils, dignified defiance among despair.

At her hardest moment, what Lot’s wife did not know is this: Her daughter would one day give birth to the nation Mo’av. From this nation would come Ruth the Moabite. Ruth would convert to Judaism and marry an Israelite, Boaz and she would become the great-grandmother of our great King David. It is said, in our tradition, that Mashiach, the great bringer of redemption and peace to the world will come from King David. Lot’s wife, the infamous pillar of salt, is the ancient ancestress of our Mashiach. As goodness, kindness and love turn in the gyre, we pray that from this time of horror and trauma, a world can eventually be born that is characterised by peace and human dignity. It feels a long way away – but Lot’s wife reminds us that sometimes at our hardest hour, we don’t yet know that a new world is waiting to be born.  

Shabbat Shalom