Vayera 5786 Mob Mentality | Debasement of Ethics

ByRabbi Anita Josefa Barzman MD Founder, micro-mishkan.net

There is an abundance of deeply disturbing material in this week's Torah portion, Parashat Vayera, in addition to the vaunted episodes that have been the subject of praise and admiration over the millenia. In Vayera we find lies, collective punishment, betrayals, mob mentality (including demands for sexual assaults), attempted sexual trafficking by Lot of his daughters, Lot's daughters sexually assaulting him, Abraham acceding to Sarah's desire to send Hagar and Ishmael into the wilderness.

So often, when difficult material in the Torah is encountered, it is glossed over, or mistranslated in a manner that misrepresents or distorts even the pshat (surface) meaning of the verse, diverting non-Hebrew readers from the deeper meanings.

In my commentary on Parashat Vayera last year, I focused on Abraham's inadequate response to God's plan to inflict collective punishment on Sodom: although most often Abraham is praised for having "argued with God", in fact he does not take his arguments to what would seem to have been its logical conclusion:

Vayera 5785 Abraham and Collective Punishment | The Innocent Along With the Guilty | Sefaria

This year, I am drawn to focus on two interconnected elements of this Torah portion: the mob mentality / phenomenon that we encounter in Chapter 19, and the fact that Lot and his family are spared from the destruction of Sodom.

Why is Lot saved, after his morally questionable behavior?

Why is it that we humans succumb so easily to being part of a mob? And given this fact, how can we hold on to our moral compass at times of increasingly homogenizing group think? The following verse from Exodus (from Parashat Mishpatim) rings in my ears as these questions arise:

שמות כ״ג:ב׳

(ב) לֹֽא־תִהְיֶ֥ה אַחֲרֵֽי־רַבִּ֖ים לְרָעֹ֑ת וְלֹא־תַעֲנֶ֣ה עַל־רִ֗ב לִנְטֹ֛ת אַחֲרֵ֥י רַבִּ֖ים לְהַטֹּֽת׃

Exodus 23:2

(2) You shall neither side with the mighty to do wrong... (JPS translation)

or:

You shall not go after a multitude to do evil... (King James translation)

or:

You shall not follow a crowd / a mob / a great number of people to do wrong ... (my translation)

אבן עזרא על שמות כ״ג:ב׳:א׳

(א)לא. אם ראית רבים יעידו על דבר שלא ידעתו לא תאמר בלבבך אלה לא יכזבו. ואמר הגאון כי שתים מצות יש בפסוק הזה הא' מצות לא תעשה והשניה מצות עשה. כי אמר חייב אתה אחרי רבים להטות כי חשב כי מלת להטות כמו לנטות. ואינה כן רק הוא מהבנין הדגוש הכבד. כמו ארור מטה משפט גם נמצאת בלא משפט ומטה גר. וחז"ל פירשו כי מזה נלמוד כי הלכה כרבים. ומה שהעתיקו הוא האמת ואחר שהכתוב אמר לא תהיה אחרי רבים לרעות. מזה נלמוד כי אם יהיו הרבים לטובה שהיא מצוה ללכת אחריהם:

Ibn Ezra on Exodus 23:2:1

(1) THOU SHALT NOT FOLLOW A MULTITUDE TO DO EVIL. If you see many people testifying concerning something that you know nothing of, do not say to yourself all of these people cannot be lying. Saadiah Gaon says that there are two commandments in this verse. One is a negative commandment, the other a positive commandment. The Gaon says that we are obligated to follow the majority, for Saadiah thought that the word le-hattot (to pervert) has the same meaning as li-netot (to turn). However, this is not the case. Le-hattot is a pi’el. It is similar to the word matteh (perverteth) in Cursed be he that perverteth the justice due to the stranger, fatherless, and widow (Deut. 27:19). This form is also found without the word justice following it. See u-mattehger (and pervert the stranger) (Mal. 3:5). Our rabbis of blessed memory derived the law that the halakha follows the majority opinion from this verse. They transmitted the truth to us, for after Scripture states, Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil, we learn that we are commanded to follow a multitude that wants to do good.

In Chapter 19 of Genesis, the angels who had visited Abraham in the previous chapter, and promised that Abraham and Sarah would have a child within a year, move on to Sodom, where Lot pressures them to stay in his home, rather than in the public square as they say they had planned. With God's emissaries in his home, a mob of Sodomites storms Lot's home, demanding access to the visitors in order to sexually assault them. This is explicit in the text:

בראשית י״ט:ה׳

(ה) וַיִּקְרְא֤וּ אֶל־לוֹט֙ וַיֹּ֣אמְרוּ ל֔וֹ אַיֵּ֧ה הָאֲנָשִׁ֛ים אֲשֶׁר־בָּ֥אוּ אֵלֶ֖יךָ הַלָּ֑יְלָה הוֹצִיאֵ֣ם אֵלֵ֔ינוּ וְנֵדְעָ֖ה אֹתָֽם׃

Genesis 19:5

(5) And they shouted to Lot and said to him, “Where are the ones who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us, that we may be intimate with them.” (JPS translation - which on my read obscures the meaning which more accurately would be represented: "Bring them out to us, to that we can 'know them' - ie have sex with them."

Clearly this would be a situation of violation, with the added element that it would be a violation against guests, thus transgressing the "laws of hospitality".

אבן עזרא על בראשית י״ט:ה׳:א׳

(א)ונדעה אותם. כנוי לשכיבה:

Ibn Ezra on Genesis 19:5:1

(1) THAT WE MAY KNOW THEM. A euphemism for sexual intercourse.

חזקוני, בראשית י״ט:ה׳:א׳

(א)ונדעה אתם למשכב זכר. כמו והאדם ידע את חוה אשתו, ועוד מתשובתו של לוט שאמר הנה נא לי שתי בנות יש להבין שלדבר עבירה היו תובעים אותם להתעלל בהן.

Chizkuni, Genesis 19:5:1

(1) ונדעה אותם, “so that we may engage in homosexual relations with them;” the word ידע is familiar to us from Genesis 4,1 where it described Adam in engaging in carnal relations with Chavah. Besides, it is clear from Lot’s offer of his two virgin daughters as an alternative to satisfy the carnal desires of the men of Sodom (19,8), that these men were planning a criminal activity.

Yes: even more shocking: in response, Lot offers the mob his two "virgin" daughters instead.

בראשית י״ט:ח׳

(ח) הִנֵּה־נָ֨א לִ֜י שְׁתֵּ֣י בָנ֗וֹת אֲשֶׁ֤ר לֹֽא־יָדְעוּ֙ אִ֔ישׁ אוֹצִֽיאָה־נָּ֤א אֶתְהֶן֙ אֲלֵיכֶ֔ם וַעֲשׂ֣וּ לָהֶ֔ן כַּטּ֖וֹב בְּעֵינֵיכֶ֑ם רַ֠ק לָֽאֲנָשִׁ֤ים הָאֵל֙ אַל־תַּעֲשׂ֣וּ דָבָ֔ר כִּֽי־עַל־כֵּ֥ן בָּ֖אוּ בְּצֵ֥ל קֹרָתִֽי׃

Genesis 19:8

(8) Look, I have two daughters who have not known a man. Let me bring them out to you, and you may do to them as you please; but do not do anything to the others, since they have come under the shelter of my roof.”

Lot is attempting to bargain with a mob, and his "bargaining chip" is his daughters' very bodies. He is prepared to sexually traffic his daughters.

This is entirely shocking, and on my read, repulsive. Commentators throughout the centuries have tried as they might to recast this action on Lot's part as some sort of generosity toward his guests, prioritizing the "laws of hospitality" over the very well-being of his children. On my read, this action of Lot's is deeply disturbing and cannot be mitigated or explained away.

Somehow, this action on Lot's part does not deter the angels from coming to his aid: the angels intercede, protecting Lot and his family, quelling the mob by causing them to be temporarily blind, and then from warning Lot that God will soon destroy Sodom, giving Lot and his family a chance to escape the destruction.

What is going on?

First I note: Lot's insistence that the "visitors" stay with him, inside. Is this some sort of self-aggrandizement? Competition with Abraham? Perhaps Lot wants to make himself more important by close association with these visitors who had previously visited with Abraham.

Secondly:
The mob mentality. Why does this mob initially intend to sexually assault Lot's visitors?

בראשית י״ט:ד׳-ה׳

(ד) טֶ֘רֶם֮ יִשְׁכָּ֒בוּ֒ וְאַנְשֵׁ֨י הָעִ֜יר אַנְשֵׁ֤י סְדֹם֙ נָסַ֣בּוּ עַל־הַבַּ֔יִת מִנַּ֖עַר וְעַד־זָקֵ֑ן כׇּל־הָעָ֖ם מִקָּצֶֽה׃ (ה) וַיִּקְרְא֤וּ אֶל־לוֹט֙ וַיֹּ֣אמְרוּ ל֔וֹ אַיֵּ֧ה הָאֲנָשִׁ֛ים אֲשֶׁר־בָּ֥אוּ אֵלֶ֖יךָ הַלָּ֑יְלָה הוֹצִיאֵ֣ם אֵלֵ֔ינוּ וְנֵדְעָ֖ה אֹתָֽם׃

Genesis 19:4-5

(4) They [the visitors] had not yet lain down, when the town council [and] the militia of Sodom —insignificant and influential alike, the whole assembly without exception—gathered about the house. (5) And they shouted to Lot and said to him, “Where are the ones who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us, that we may be intimate with them.”

Their motivation emerges a few verses later: it seems that the original inhabitants of Sodom harbor negative feelings towards Lot, who has settled there, and whom they regard as an interloper:

בראשית י״ט:ט׳

(ט) וַיֹּאמְר֣וּ ׀ גֶּשׁ־הָ֗לְאָה וַיֹּֽאמְרוּ֙ הָאֶחָ֤ד בָּֽא־לָגוּר֙ וַיִּשְׁפֹּ֣ט שָׁפ֔וֹט עַתָּ֕ה נָרַ֥ע לְךָ֖ מֵהֶ֑ם וַיִּפְצְר֨וּ בָאִ֤ישׁ בְּלוֹט֙ מְאֹ֔ד וַֽיִּגְּשׁ֖וּ לִשְׁבֹּ֥ר הַדָּֽלֶת׃

Genesis 19:9

(9) But they said, “Stand back! The fellow,” they said, “came here as an alien, and already he acts the ruler! Now we will deal worse with you than with them.” And they pressed hard against that householder —against Lot—and moved forward to break the door.

Regarding mob mentality: here is an excerpt from an article in The Atlantic Monthly by Boris Sidis in 1895 (!) on this phenomenon:
"What particularly characterizes the man of the mob is the entire loss of his personal self. In a dense crowd, not only is our body squeezed and pressed upon, but also our spirit. The individual self sinks sensibly in the crowd; it seems to get submerged in the fermenting spirit of the possible mob. The mob has a self of its own, and this self is the stronger the more it consumes of the individual self. It is true that this mob self is extremely changeable; but is not this so with the individual self, though in a lesser degree? This mysterious fact that the individual self sinks in the crowd needs explanation; and should such an explanation he found, it would throw strong light on the dark nature of the mob." A Study of the Mob, Boris Sidis

(Regarding Boris Sidis: 1867 – 1923); American physician, psychiatrist, and philosopher of education; born to a Jewish family in Berdichev / Russian Empire. "A pioneering figure in early 20th-century psychology, Sidis founded the New York State Psychopathic Institute and the Journal of Abnormal Psychology, making significant contributions to the understanding of mental dissociation, suggestion, and abnormal psychology."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boris_Sidis

Thirdly (of course, and so difficult to discuss):
Lot's evident easy willingness to offer his daughters as a price for protecting the important visitors. I will say, that this is repulsive.

Why is Lot spared?

Today as I write this - 8 November 2025, 17 Cheshvan 5786 - when there is so much violence and heinous behavior in this country and around the world... I find myself wondering if Lot is spared, with all of his flaws and morally reprehensible behavior, to teach us that there is a potential in each of us to act like Lot. As I think about this... of course this is troubling: could I possibly act like Lot?

And could I possibly find myself being drawn into a mob, losing my own individual capacity for thinking? Based on what I know about human beings, I need to say: absolutely.

Perhaps part of the reason that these details about Lot are present in our narrative has to do with the basic fact, which many of us will eventually be challenged to confront: that each of us contains the seeds of evil and destruction within us. Within each of us is something that could turn into Lot, or the mob. Each of us could be one of the three thousand who somehow press Aaron into making the Golden Calf. Any one of us could be one of those people. Any one of us could be part of the mob in Vayera.

So today, this week, this year, at this moment, this part of Vayera is teaching me: Let us work to discover ways to immunize ourselves from falling into a mob mentality. Let us work to remain connected with our ethical core. Let us connect with the loving kindness that suffuses all things.

תהילים ל״ג:ה׳

(ה) אֹ֭הֵב צְדָקָ֣ה וּמִשְׁפָּ֑ט חֶ֥סֶד יהוה מָלְאָ֥ה הָאָֽרֶץ׃

Psalms 33:5

(5) He loves what is right and just; the earth is full of the LORD’s faithful care. (JPS translation)

The divine source of all loves righteousness and justice. The loving kindness of the Source suffuses all the earth. (my translation)