Vaierá 5776 - English

Rabino Darío Feiguin

Congregación B´nei Israel, Costa Rica

“Statues of Salt”

One of the great themes in this week’s Parashah has to do with the past that petrifies and the fear of the future that paralyzes.  

In the Torah, we read about the destruction of Sodom and Gomorra, the corrupt cities punished for their immoral conduct.  In a dramatic paragraph, the biblical poet describes how Abraham’s nephew, Lot, his wife and two daughters escape.  And there is something curious, rescued by artists from all times: according to the story, G-d orders Lot and his family to not look back.  But Lot’s wife cannot resist the temptation; she turns and is transformed into a statue of salt.  

Scientists and anthropologists have argued many times that they have found the statue of Lot’s wife.  I, sincerely, do not think this is what we should be looking for.  We will not find the statue of Lot’s wife.  Actually, I think it is a metaphor that has to do not only with Lot’s wife but also with many of us.  The Torah speaks metaphorically about an existential problem that affects us all in every time and every place.

Torah speaks to us about how many times we want to cling to the past.   How sometimes that past immobilizes us, turning us into something like a vegetative statue.  How often we fall into the pathology of turning back, like a covert instinct to not want to live.   

The relationship with the past should be like a coming and going to and from our historical roots.  It should nurture our identity, without becoming false chauvinisms or ghettoizations.  It should strengthen our wisdom without it implying we know everything.  It should serve as a reference, and thereby as the foundation for the life we build every day.

Unfortunately, many of us go back to the myth.  Many of us intend to turn back, when it is simply impossible.  And that is why we are turned into statues of salt.

Our Judaism becomes irrelevant.  Our relationships become obvious and part of the routine.  Our jobs become unbearable, especially at this time of the year.  Creativity is then non-existent.  We do not create, we just copy, because like Kohelet, we do not believe there can be anything new under the Sun. 

The myth of the eternal return, like Mircea Eliade called it, is to go back to the stage of dependency.  The stage where we would be breastfed if we cried.  The stage where we still could not walk on our own.  The myth of returning to the fascism of the generals that set up order once and for all.  The myth of the charismatic leader that would save us from this premature spiritual death.  

What I mean is that it is not possible to turn back, unless one has given up like Lot’s wife and has turned into a living statue.       

“Haolam hazeh gesher tzar meod, vehaikar lo lefajed klal”

Rabbi Najman of Bratzlav said this World is a narrow bridge and the fundamental thing is to not be scared.  

Although sometimes it is impossible to not be afraid, it is possible to overcome fear, to live with it, to be encouraged to break down the walls that tie us to the past and keep us from being who we are.  It is possible, if we want to avoid becoming statues of salt, to face our lives with courage, hope and faith.  

Shabbat Shalom!

Rabbi Darío Feiguin