33vayelech Adonai ka'asher killah ledaber el Avraham ve'Avraham shav limkomo
Sarah laughed within herself on hearing the news that she would bear a son. The aliyah opens with her denial that she laughed, prompted by fear, and the reply that she did indeed laugh. The men rise from the meal and turn toward Sodom, and Abraham accompanies them. God tells him of the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah and the gravity of their sin, and Abraham steps forward to plead for the place. The man who has just cared for his guests now asks for mercy for an entire city. Between the hospitality and the prayer, the Torah pauses over two questions: why involve Abraham, and what must be examined before passing judgment on Sodom? Genesis 18:15-23
Righteousness and justice begin at home
Before God tells Abraham about Sodom, He mentions the nation that will descend from him and the way Abraham will teach his children and household:
Sforno connects this disclosure to the act Abraham is engaged in at that very moment: accompanying his guests. Abraham is showing kindness, and God reveals these things to him so that he will instruct his children. Sforno sees this as one mitzvah bringing another in its wake. Sforno on Genesis 18:17
We can thus read the transition from the tent to Sodom as an extension of the same responsibility. Abraham saw to the water, rest and food of those who came to him. Now the righteousness and justice he is to teach at home are put to the test in the face of the fate of people in another city.
Even a great outcry calls for inquiry
God describes the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah as great and their sin as very grave. Yet immediately afterward He says:
Rashi interprets the descent as a lesson for judges: in capital cases, they must not pass judgment without seeing for themselves. He refers to his commentary on the descent to see the Tower of Babel. There he explains that God did not need to descend in order to know; rather, the text teaches judges not to convict before they have seen and understood. Rashi on Genesis 18:21; Rashi on Genesis 11:5
In this reading, the outcry demands attention, and even in the face of so grave an account, one must see and understand before convicting. Within the very story of Sodom’s sin, Rashi finds a lesson in the care required of those about to judge others.
Abraham asks for more than the rescue of the righteous
ha’af tispeh tzadik im rasha
Translation: Will You indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked?
Abraham begins with a question about the righteous person: will he too perish with the wicked? In the next verse his request broadens. If there are fifty righteous people in the city, he asks that the whole place be saved for their sake.
Or HaChaim distinguishes the two requests. The first is a demand for justice: far be it from God to put the righteous to death with the wicked. The second is a plea for mercy: even if the righteous can escape the city, Abraham asks that the wicked too be saved for their sake. He does not claim that justice requires this request to be granted. He asks God to have mercy and not carry judgment to its furthest limit. Or HaChaim on Genesis 18:23
This distinction changes the scope of the prayer. Abraham asks that the righteous be distinguished from the wicked, while also asking that the merit of the righteous open a way to mercy for others.
The number falls, but the plea remains far-reaching
Abraham gradually lowers the number from fifty righteous people to ten. In the plain reading Ramban proposes, at every stage he asks to save the whole place. The number grows smaller, but the plea for mercy for everyone remains. Ramban on Genesis 18:24
The conversation ends and Abraham returns to his place. The aliyah brings together the way of righteousness and justice that Abraham will teach his household, the inquiry before punishment that Rashi learns from the descent to Sodom, and one person’s prayer for an entire city. We can read his prayer as a continuation of that way: to distinguish between the righteous and the wicked, and to ask for mercy even beyond what justice requires.