Parashat Vayera

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Parashat Vayera

• Genesis 181-2224

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• Parashat Vayera begins with the visit of 3
  geezers to Abraham. He Welcomes them with
  generous hospitality, and they promise that Sarah
  will soon pop out a son. When the men depart for
  the city of Sodom, God appears to A to the Braham
  and informs our favourite beardy weirdy that the
  cities of sodom and gomorrah are about to be
  destroyed.
• Abraham says no G you cant destroy
  innocents alongside the guilty let me 50 nice
  sodomites and gomorrhites. A little bit of
  haggling takes place and Abe manages to argue his
  way down to finding 10 innocents in SG. He cant
  find them! Meanwhile 2 gentleman angels visit
  Sodom. They are in some serious danger but are
  offered hospitality by Lot (Abes nephew) before
  the Sodomites get their hands on them. The
  gentleman angels tell Lot to leave he does but
  his wife looks back whilst its being destroyed
  and she is turned into a pillar of salt.
• Abe travels to the Negev where the king of
  Gerar wants Sarah for his wife. Abe tells kingy
  she is his sister but God comes to kingy and
  reveals her true marital status Kingy returns
  Sarah to Abe with a big bounty. As Abes visitors
  said Sarah bore a child and called him Isaac.
  After a few years Sarah gets Abe to send away
  Ishmael and Hagar (Abrahams son and Sarahs Maid)
  away saying that only Isaac should inherit stuff.
  Abe agrees because God says he will make a great
  nation from him which would become the Arab one.
• Skip on a few years and G asks A to
  sacrifice I on mount Moriah in order to test his
  Faith. I is saved at the last minute when G tells
  A he was only joking. G praises As loyalty and
  tells him to sacrifice a ram in his place.

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ooooooooooooooooohhhhhh!!!!What a parashah

• Today we are going to look at two themes
• The importance of hospitals/ity
• The consequences of social injustice
• Lets have a wee look at them.

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The importance of hospitality

• Twice in this parashah guests are welcomed
  into homes. They were the travellers visiting
  Abraham and the gentlemen angels who were helped
  by Lot. These are perfect examples to highlight
  the importance of and the different types of
  hospitality.
• It is written that although Lot saved the
  angels from the Sodomites he did not offer them
  food or drink or the opportunity to remove their
  shoes but they were in grave danger and he put
  himself in danger by helping them. Abraham
  offers them great service but they were not in
  danger and neither was he.
• So who does the better deed, whats better
  bending over backwards to help people regardless
  or helping those in danger but not making them
  feel welcome. I think there are two answers. In
  the short term it obviously better to help those
  in immediate danger, however long term Abes
  example of constant kindness to strangers has
  more impact on people.

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The consequences of social injustice

• The people of Lot were known to be mean. Not
  only were they mean it was law to be a mean.
• They said Since gold and silver flow from
  our land, why should we allow strangers to visit
  in our borders, eat our food, use our resources
  and share what is ours? They will only take what
  we have, and there will be less for us. Lets
  keep them from entering, and lets drive out
  those who get in as soon as possible- especially
  the poor or the sick ones
• This is why God wanted to kick ass. God
  doesnt seem to have as much of an inclination to
  kick ass against social injustice these days so
  what are the consequences of social injustice.
  Are there consequences these days? Who is there
  to quash injustice?
• These are both difficult questions to
  answer on the eve of the 5th annual Jerusalem
  pride march and a week in which there have been
  anti-gay riots protesting the march. For more
  information look at www.haaretz.com