Thursday, November 10, 2011

Why Did Lot's Wife Turn Into Salt?

     I am currently developing my thoughts about salt.  Lot's wife was turned into salt as a middah keneged midda, measure for measure punishment for her having disdain of the custom of putting salt on the table for guests.  My thoughts are like this: Suppose that the salt does protect a person, especially a host from the yetser hara, the evil inclination.  In what circumstances, what does this mean?  Well, how could the yetser hara go after a host? It could tell the host that he has guests over, but really he does not want them over because they are going to eat his food, drink his water (used to be a big chore to get water), so they are costing him time and energy.  One of the worst things a host can do is make his guest(s)feel unwelcome.  So how does one fight his yetser hara.  He goes on the offensive with an action that will counter-act any negative, un-G-dly thinking.  The host puts salt, an item that used to be expensive, on the table to make sure his guests know that they are welcome, that even though the salt is costly, and will probably cause the guests to eat and drink more, he desires this, for his guests to feel completely welcome and taken cared of.  Since Lot's wife was of Sedom and shared its culture of selfishness to the degree that they passed laws against hospitality, she was punished by turning into a pillar of salt, a food item which represents the best of hospitality, of an unencumbered desire to share G-d' gifts with others. (The proper, "what's mine is yours" attitude.)
   Perhaps this is why salt was put on each korban, a sacrifice, that even though a korban costs the mekarev, the bringer, money, putting salt on the korban is a way of showing Hashem that you truly want to bring it, and that you are grateful for Hashem being your guest and accepting your offerring.  This is why Hashem did not accept Kayin's korban.  Kayin had a great notion of bringing an offering to Hashem, but he showed that his heart was not truly in it by the bringing of not the best fruits, like a host who doesn't really want his guests there. Hevel brought of the best, like a host who puts expensive items like salt on the table.  This is why Hashem turned to his host (Hevel) and to his offering.

   In general, bringing a korban, a sacrifice, or putting salt on the table even when hosting only yourself, is an act of faith. A korban, at times, would seem to be bal tashchit, the deliberate wasting of G-d's gifts, because it is not that G-d needs or gets physical pleasure from any korban offered to him.  What is interesting is that when the act of bringing a korban was first invented, Kayin or Hevel did not burn their offerings.  They simply had some sense of duty to say “Thank You” to Hashem for what they had, and their means of saying “Thank You” was to set some of their bounty up as offerings to Hashem.  They probably did not know what was going to happen.  Apparently it was Hashem who decided to use a fire [aish=perhaps some symbolic connection to the shoresh of ish (man) and isha (woman)] to accept korbanot, unless later on He decided that some korbanot should be eaten by the kohanim and/or people themselves. So, it appears to me that Hashem decided to use fire in accepting korbanot and this was a dispensation of sorts with regards to bal tashchit.  Really for Hashem there is no such thing as bal tashchit with regards to food and the like, because Hashem can "create" or cause these things to exist with His sheer will.  For someone who wholeheartedly brings a korban, he accepts and expresses that his possessions come from Hashem, and Hashem will provide him as befits him.  Likewise, the unencumbered host accepts and expresses his faith that his possessions come from Hashem by not worrying about what his guests are costing him, but instead worrying about how best to make them feel welcome and cared for.
Thank you for reading.
Even though this is a draft, please share.