Parshas Vayeira: The Salt of Sodom

The Gemara in Maseches Chullin[1] discusses the mitzvah of mayim acharonim (washing the hands after partaking of a bread meal, before reciting bircas hamazon), explaining that it is on account of the salt of Sodom. This salt, which was typically on the table during the meal in Talmudic times, is especially strong and can impair a person’s eyesight if it touches his eyes. Therefore, having finished one’s meal, there is a requirement to clean one’s hands of any traces of this salt.

Interestingly, the Talmud elsewhere also discusses mayim acharonim. In Maseches Berachos,[2] the Gemara adduces the verse “וְהִתְקַדִּשְׁתֶּם וִהְיִיתֶם קְדֹשִׁים – You shall sanctify yourselves and you shall be holy,”[3] commenting as follows:

·      You shall sanctify yourselves – this refers to washing the hands before eating.

·      And you shall be holy – this refers to washing the hands after eating (mayim acharonim).

One cannot help but notice that the background offered in the second Gemara differs drastically from the first. After all, attaining holiness and removing dangerous salt from one’s hands are both worthwhile endeavors, but they are not the same thing! How are we to relate to two such differing approaches to this mitzvah? Indeed, it seems as if one’s approach to mayim acharonim will primarily be a based on when he joined the Daf Yomi cycle!

Rav Kook[4] explains that, in reality, these two Gemara’s are talking about the same idea; with one addressing the cause and the other the result. The idea of salt represents added taste or enjoyment to the staples of life. Indeed, even the austere menu in Pirkei Avos[5] for the one toiling Torah is consists of bread with salt. In reasonable measure, enjoying one’s material assets is a good and positive thing. However, it is possible for this idea to exceed its healthy boundaries, with enjoying one’s resources becoming one’s primary focus in life. At this point, one’s relationship with can undergo a drastic deterioration, for they may be perceived as those who might interfere with or detract from his enjoyment of life.

This pathological course is reflected in the story of the inhabitants of Sodom, who were infamous for their acts of cruelty towards strangers. From where did this abhorrent policy originate? The midrash informs us that the plains of Sodom, which were extremely fertile, led its inhabitants to become obsessively protective of their city’s bounty, ultimately resulting in their institutionalized cruelty toward anyone who would seek to diminish those assets.

Indeed, says Rav Kook, everyone needs some “salt” in life, representing added taste and enjoyment to one’s activities; however, the “Salt of Sodom,” which represents a view to enjoying one’s material assets to the point of fixation, is not healthy at all. In fact, it is so harmful it can “blind the eyes,” leaving one unable to see anyone else and be cognizant of or sensitive to their needs. This is something that is of ongoing concern, expressing itself especially as a person finishes a meal. Having just partaken of one’s material assets, a person needs to assure himself that he will not retain traces of Sodom Salt on his hands, blocking out the needs of others. Yet, how does one do this? With the first Gemara having identified the problem, what is the solution?

The answer is in the second Gemara – “And you will be holy.”

As long as a person has a mundane and limited vision of life, material pleasures may fill his horizon, and his compulsive desire to protect and enjoy his assets may blind him to other people and any needs they may have. Achieving holiness involves attaining a higher vision of life, including a higher vision of his own possessions. With this worldview, enjoying one’s assets is not the highest value, but rather, it takes a healthy and subordinate role within a more elevated vision of those assets – being able to use them to help others. Therefore, says the Gemara, having finished one’s meal, one should wash his hands, removing from them any traces of food. This signifies his insistence that his actions not be hampered or controlled by his involvement in physical matters, but will rather partake of a higher view of those very involvements. In this instance, as the Gemara informs us, the key to maintaining this perspective is at our very fingertips.  

This is a truly illuminating idea, whereby, one of the primary markers of holiness is developing a world-view which enables one to see other people and their needs – and to respond with kindness and graciousness. Here, too, we see how a man and God relationship should ultimately elevate a person’s relationship between himself and his fellow man. And indeed, as we know, the ones who give in life are not always the ones with the most to give, but the ones with the most giving ingrained into their outlook.

In other words, the extent to which one will be inclined to share what he has with others will ultimately be determined, not by the size of the premises in which he lives, but by the quality of the premises upon which he lives.

[1] 105b.

[2] 53b.

[3] Vayikra 20:7.

[4] Commentary Ein Aya to Berachos.

[5] 6:4.