창세기 18:23 카발라: Sha'arei Orah

This is the secret of the verse,⁶⁹Genesis 18:23 “Avraham came forward and said, ‘Will you also stamp out the righteous along with the wicked? It would be sacrilege for You to do such a thing.’” However, is it true that in the Upper Court of Law (Beit Din Shel Ma’alah), they kill the righteous along with the wicked? If this is so, it is not straightforward judgment, but the verse states,⁷⁰Deuteronomy 32:4 “A God of faith, without corruption.”

In the same way, it is important to remember another important principle in the matter of the above Torah portion. That is, even though the verses speak in the name of Avraham, as stated,⁷⁷Genesis 18:23 “Avraham came forward and said, ‘Will You also stamp out the righteous along with the wicked?” nevertheless, this also refers to the quality of HaShem’s-יהו"ה Supernal kindness-Chessed, which always approaches the Court (Beit Din) of God-Elohi”m-אלהי״ם whenever it judges the creatures, and turns the matter over to their merit, thus restraining many calamities. Thus, this Torah portion comes to teach us many great secrets about how the quality of kindness-Chessed always turns matters to the merit of the creatures, and is joined by the quality of mercy-Rachamim, thus preventing many calamities from coming to the world.

The titles of E”l-א״ל that are positioned to the right and transform the matter to merit the creatures, are the titles of the quality of kindness-Chessed. This is the quality that our forefather Avraham, peace be upon him, inherited above, namely, the quality of kindness-Chessed, which leans toward the merit of the creatures. This is hinted in the verse,²⁸⁸Genesis 18:23 “Avraham approached and said, ‘Will You even destroy the righteous with the wicked? Perhaps there are fifty righteous people in the city?” That is, in the merit of Avraham, all the titles that are of the quality of Avraham transform matters toward merit, like what our forefather Avraham did when he said,²⁸⁹Genesis 18:27 “Perhaps the fifty righteous people will lack five? Will You destroy the whole city because of the five?” To which HaShem-יהו״ה responded,²⁹⁰Genesis 18:28 “I will not destroy if I find forty-five.” The titles of kindness then continue transforming to merit, stating,²⁹¹Genesis 18:27 “Perhaps forty will be found there?” They continued to derive merit until they reached the end of the quality of kindness-Chessed, which are the ten titles hinted in the verse,²⁹²Genesis 18:32 “Perhaps ten will be found there?” However, if God forbid, there is not enough of an argument – meaning, that there is not at least one argument for each of the ten titles of kindness-Chessed – the matter is then sealed for punishment and the sentence is executed. Just as the sentence was executed on the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, so likewise, all judgments are concluded and all sentences executed, each according to its kind.