Pt1 The Absurd and Brutal Practices of Biblical Sodom: A Talmudic Exploration (Sanhedrin 109a-b)

Sodom's absurd laws

This is the first part of a three-part series. This part is about their absurd laws. Pt2 will be about their absurd judgments; Pt3 will be about their depraved attitude towards charity.¹ Outline follows.

Outline

1. Rabbi Yosei taught in Tzippori about Sodom's theft methods involving tunnels

2. Sodom’s illogical and perverse laws

   1. Herding cows; and their distribution

   2. Cost of crossing the river

   3. Stealing bricks and garlic one by one

3. Judgments

   1. Four judges in Sodom; judgments re: 1) causing miscarriage; 2) cutting the ear of donkey; 3) injuring

   2. Story of a visitor in Sodom: ordered to pay his assailant a fee for letting his blood, and to pay double for crossing the river through the water

   3. Story of Eliezer in Sodom

4. The guest beds of Sodom

5. Charity in Sodom

   1. Inviting to Weddings in Sodom; Story of Eliezer at a Sodom Wedding

   2. Story: Punishment for giving to charity - covering with honey, so bees would attack

The Passage

Sanhedrin.109a.16-109b.9

Rabbi Yosei taught in Tzippori about Sodom's theft methods involving tunnels

R' Yosei taught in Tzippori about the theft methods used in biblical Sodom. Following his lecture, 300 tunnels (מחתרתא) were excavated in Tzippori that night to employ those methods, leading homeowners to accuse him of enabling thieves. 

R' Yosei denied any responsibility for the resultant thefts.

The Talmud adds, in passing, that when R' Yosei died, the gutters of Tzippori overflowed with blood as a sign of his death.

דרש ר' יוסי בציפורי 

אחתרין ההיא ליליא תלת מאה מחתרתא בציפורי 

אתו וקא מצערי ליה 

אמרו ליה: יהבית אורחיה לגנבי!

אמר להו: מי הוה ידענא דאתו גנבי?! 

כי קא נח נפשיה דרבי יוסי, שפעי מרזבי דציפורי דמא

R' Yosei taught in Tzippori the methods of theft employed in Sodom. 

That night three hundred tunnels were excavated in Tzippori in order to employ those methods. 

Homeowners came and harassed him; 

they said to him: You have given a way for thieves to steal. 

R' Yosei said to them: Did I know that thieves would come as a result of my lecture?!

The Gemara relates: When R' Yosei died, the gutters of Tzippori miraculously overflowed with blood as a sign of his death.

Sodom’s illogical and perverse laws

Herding cows; and their distribution

The people of Sodom had peculiar and unjust rules: anyone with an ox herded the city's oxen for one day, while those without oxen herded them for two days. 

A clever orphan, tasked with herding oxen, wanted to show the absurdity of this rule. He killed the oxen and distributed their hides according to the same logic. 

אמרי:

1.  דאית ליה חד תורא — מרעי חד יומא 

2. דלית ליה — לירעי תרי יומי 

ההוא יתמא בר ארמלתא, הבו ליה תורי למרעיה 

אזל שקלינהו, וקטלינהו 

אמר להו: 

1. דאית ליה תורא — נשקול חד משכא, 

2. דלית ליה תורא — נשקול תרי משכי 

אמרו ליה: מאי האי?! 

אמר להו: 

סוף דינא כתחילת דינא, 

מה תחילת דינא -- 

1. דאית ליה תורא — מרעי חד יומא 

2. דלית ליה תורי מרעי — תרי יומי 

אף סוף דינא --

1. דאית ליה חד תורא — לשקול חד 

2. דלית ליה תורא — לשקול תרי

The people of Sodom would say: 

1. Anyone who has one ox shall herd the city’s oxen for one day. 

2. Anyone who does not have any oxen shall herd the city’s oxen for two days. 

The Gemara relates: They gave oxen to a certain orphan, son of a widow, to herd. 

He went and took them and killed them. 

The orphan said to the people of Sodom: 

1. Let anyone who has one ox take one hide 

2. and let anyone who does not have an ox take two hides. 

The people of Sodom said to the orphan: What is the reason for this? 

The orphan said to them: 

The ultimate rule is parallel to the initial rule; 

just as the initial rule is that 

1. anyone who has one ox shall herd the city’s animals for one day 

2. and anyone who does not have any oxen shall herd the city’s animals for two days, 

so too, the ultimate rule is: 

1. Let anyone who has one ox take one hide 

2. and let anyone who does not have an ox take two hides.

Cost of crossing the river

Sodom's ferry rule illogically charged one dinar for crossing by boat, and two dinars for wading through the river.

1. דעבר במברא -- ניתיב חד זוזא 

2. דלא עבר במברא -- ניתיב תרי 

Furthermore, they declared in Sodom: 

1. Let one who crosses on a ferry give one dinar as payment; 

2. let one who does not cross on a ferry, but walks in the river, give two dinars. 

Stealing bricks and garlic one by one

In Sodom, if someone had a row of bricks, each resident would steal one, claiming it was insignificant, until none were left.

Similarly, if someone was drying garlic or onions outside, each resident would steal one, until none remained.²

דהוה ליה (תורא) [דרא] דלבני,

אתי כל חד וחד, שקל חדא 

א"ל: אנא חדא דשקלי 

דהוה שדי תומי או שמכי 

אתו כל חד וחד,  שקיל חדא 

א"ל: אנא חדא דשקלי

In addition, when there was anyone who had a row of bricks, 

each and every one of the people of Sodom would come and take one brick 

and say to him: I am taking only one, and you are certainly not particular about so inconsequential an item, and they would do this until none remained. 

And when there was anyone who would cast garlic or onions to dry, 

each and every one of the people of Sodom would come and take one 

and say to him: I took only one garlic or onion, and they would do this until none remained.

1. Compare the discussion in Wikipedia, “Sodom_and_Gomorrah” > “The sin of Sodom”.

See there the quote of the biblical verse in Ezekiel.16.49-50, where it states that pride (גאון) and lack of charity (יד עני ואביון לא החזיקה) were Sodom’s major sins:

הנה־זה היה עון סדם אחותך

גאון

שבעת־לחם ושלות השקט היה לה ולבנותיה

ויד־עני ואביון לא החזיקה

ותגבהינה ותעשינה תועבה לפני

ואסיר אתהן כאשר ראיתי

Only this was the sin of your sister Sodom:

arrogance!

She and her daughters had plenty of bread and untroubled tranquility;

yet she did not support the poor and the needy.

In their haughtiness, they committed abomination before Me;

and so I removed them, as you saw.

See the entry there that in Christian exegesis, Sodom and Gomorrah’s major sin was that of homosexual sex, hence the term “sodomy”.

2. This scenario - where many individuals each take a small amount, where each individual action is relatively insignificant, until the collective impact becomes severe - is reminiscent of a concept now known as the "tragedy of the commons."