Transcript

Let's see the Ramban here on יח יח. The pasuk

ואברהם היו יהיה לגוי גדול ועצום ונברכו בו כל גויי הארץ.

Midrash Aggadah, zecher tzadik livracha, kol vehizkiro bercho. U'pshuto. U'pshuto shel mikra וכי ממנו אני מעלים, excuse me, ולא חביב לפני להיות לגוי עצום lashon Rashi. Sometimes the Ramban quotes Rashi and then says lashon Rashi at the end, sometimes he says lashon Rashi and then quotes Rashi. I don't know if there's a... if there's a hakpadah or just the Ramban has two ways of... two ways of... of acknowledging the... the... the quote from Rashi. V'hanachon

כי השם יתברך דיבר בשבח אברהם. הנה הוא עשוי להיות לגוי גדול ועצום ויהיה זכרו בזרעו ובכל גויי הארץ לברכה. ולכן לא אכסה ממנו כי יאמרו הדורות הבאים

eich kisa mimenu o

איך נתאכזר הצדיק על שכניו החונים עליו להוכיחם ולא התפלל עליהם כלל.

So for the Ramban, pasuk yod chet is Hakadosh Baruch Hu explaining pasuk yod zayin. In pasuk yod zayin Hakadosh Baruch Hu says המכסה אני מאברהם אשר אני עושה. Is it... it's unthinkable that I will conceal from Avraham Avinu... what, excuse me, what I'm about to do. And now in pasuk yod chet Hakadosh Baruch Hu is explaining why that's inconceivable. Avraham Avinu is... is someone is an individual who throughout history all the goyei ha'aretz will know of him, will look to him... right, of the avos, only Avraham Avinu is... is amongst the umos ha'olam is revered both by Christianity and... and Islam. That being the case, so the doros habayim will wonder eich kisa mimenu? How could it be, given Avraham Avinu's status, that Hakadosh Baruch Hu concealed it from him? Or alternatively, they'll assume, that's how... this is how you have to read the o here, rabosai, or alternatively, they'll assume that Hakadosh Baruch Hu wasn't mechaseh mimenu, obviously it must be the case that Hakadosh Baruch Hu revealed it to him, in which case, how is it that Avraham Avinu was so apathetic as to not have davened? Right, it's not that they... you can't have both questions. So the Ramban is two different... he's suggesting two different scenarios. Either a scenario of... that... that the doros habayim will have a question, how do you reconcile, how is it that Hakadosh Baruch Hu didn't... didn't disclose it to him? Or obviously he must have disclosed it to him, so how is it that there's no record of Avraham Avinu? והגילוי אליו טוב ויפה. Ramban is now explaining what the hemshech to pasuk yud tes is:

כי ידעתיו בו שהוא מכיר ויודע שאני ה' אוהב צדקה ומשפט. כל מה שאני עושה משפט רק בצדקה. ולכן יצוה את בניו ואת ביתו אחריו לאחז דרכי. והנה אם בדרך צדקה ומשפט יפטרו יתפלל לפני להניחם בטוב הדבר. ואם חייבים הם לגמרי גם הוא יחפץ ממשפטם ולכן ראוי שיבוא בסוד ה'.

So again pasuk yud tes continues the explanation, dehainu it could be... משל למה הדבר דומה. It could be that at times you would want to confide in a certain person, that given your relationship with that person you think that it's appropriate that something be shared. But if you know that the person's reaction to it will not be helpful, if you know that the person's reaction to it will be wrong, so then that's gonna sort of override or prevent you from acting on that assessment that really I should share this confidence with so-and-so. I have to go away for a week and I'm going to leave my chavrusah without a week. So the emes is he really deserves to know why I'm not going to be here for the next week. Ella mai I can only act on that if I think that his reaction to my sharing that confidence will be on target, will be appropriate. If I have reason to fear or assume an inappropriate reaction then despite the fact that on one level he's deserving to know but I'm still not going to be able to share that confidence with him. So that's what Hakadosh Baruch Hu says: Am I going to conceal from Avraham what I'm doing? A, he deserves to know, it's warranted that he should know because since zichro will be לדורי דורות ונברכו בו כל גויי הארץ and they're all going to wonder about this event in his lifetime. But maybe you'll say that notwithstanding Avraham Avinu's reaction to the inside information will be misplaced, will be misdirected? No. So that's what Hakadosh Baruch Hu says: That's not an issue. That's not an issue. Okay fine so that's sort of the overall view of the Ramban. Now some of the protim here. It's interesting according to the Ramban the pasuk of ki yadativ means maybe more than this but means at least two different things. Right remember last week we had occasion to jump ahead to the Ramban of pasuk yud tes and we saw how the Ramban said that ki yadativ is ידיעת ה' שהיא השגחתו בעולם. So according to that Ramban the translation the meaning of ki yadativ is I know and again understanding that there's an identification between yedia and hashgacha. So ki yadativ means again there's this... special I know him as a yachid and as such envelop him with a hashgacha pratis which is dveikus tamid, right? Ayen what we discussed last week. But here the Ramban is clearly giving us a different understanding of the pasuk, right? When the Ramban says והגילו אליו טוב ויפה, re-reading that part, rabosai. והגילו אליו טוב ויפה Ki Yedati Bo so clearly the Ki Yedati Bo is not a coincidence. The Ramban is paraphrasing and therefore implying that this is pshat in Ki Yedantiv.

כי ידעתי בו שהוא מכיר ויודע שאני השם אוהב צדקה ומשפט

etcetera. So Ki Yedantiv also means in addition to what the Ramban is going to tell us in pasuk yud-tes, Ki Yedantiv also means that I know that he knows that my derech Hashem of tzedaka umishpat and because he knows that and appreciates that, so his tefillah, his reaction will be on target. So that's two very different levels of meaning, right? Two very different meanings in the Ki Yedantiv. And basically for the Ramban, pasuk yud-tes of Ki Yedantiv both continues the explanation of pasuk yud-zayin as well as providing an explanation for pasuk yud-ches. Dehainu, pasuk yud-zayin says המכסה אני מאברהם אשר אני עושה. Right? Am I going to conceal from Avraham Avinu that which I'm about to do? Why not? What's this obligation to disclose it to him? No, because

אברהם אבינו היה יהיה לגוי גדול ועצום ונברכו בו כל גויי הארץ.

And people will wonder איך איך כיסית ממנו, eich nisachzar. Ai, but maybe אף על פי כן it's not something I can share with Avraham Avinu because his reaction will be wrong? No, so this continues the explanation of pasuk yud-zayin for Ki Yedantiv. Now I know that he knows and that he's yodeia umakir what my middah is and therefore his tefillah will be on target. His reaction will be appropriate. So in that sense pasuk yud-tes continues the ki, which is giving the reason, the explanation is continuing to explain pasuk yud-zayin. But then but then Ki Yedantiv also is explaining pasuk yud-ches to us. How is it that Avraham Avinu, how is it that this one solitary individual amongst I don't know how many people there were in the world at that point? A lot. How is it that this one solitary individual that he's going to be a goy gadol more than anyone else? I mean what are the odds that punkt he should be a goy gadol and maybe others, maybe their progeny won't continue l'dorei doros, or if it does continue l'dorei doros in a very small and restricted sense? No, Ki Yedantiv because Avraham Avinu, we're not talking about what's going to happen naturally. We're talking about Avraham Avinu Ki Yedantiv. No, there's a special hashgacha that envelops him and that special hashgacha is going to that that's how he's going to become l'goy gadol. So the pasuk of Ki Yedantiv is both the extended explanation of pasuk yud-zayin as well as an explanation of pasuk yud-ches. Great. Now let's re-read here again rabosai a little bit.

כי ידעתי בו שהוא מכיר ויודע שאני השם אוהב צדקה ומשפט כלומר שאני עושה משפט רק בצדקה.

So the Ramban clearly learns pshat the Pnei Yehoshua points this out, but the Ramban learns pshat that tzedaka umishpat is not two distinct items. It's not that I, Hakadosh Baruch Hu, that he knows that the derech Hashem is la'asos A tzedaka B mishpat. No, la'asos tzedaka umishpat means How do you know that? What does the Ramban see that in pshuto shel mikra? Maybe it means two things. Maybe it means two two distinct things. What does the Ramban see that in the in the pshuto shel mikra of the pasuk? So the k'homer is as follows: Again, the way the Ramban is is explaining. So pasuk yud tes, the way he's explaining at this point, this level of meaning. Pasuk yud tes is continuing the explanation of pasuk yud ches. Avraham Avinu's reaction to what I will disclose to him will be on target. So whatever Hakadosh Baruch Hu is mentioning is is relevant to to Avraham Avinu's tfila which is his reaction, right? Now lu yehi that Hakadosh Baruch Hu does tzedaka which isn't anchored in mishpat. So then clearly Avraham Avinu would be would be imploring for that. Clearly Avraham Avinu would be petitioning for that. But Avraham Avinu is going to is asking for the maximum which is correct, which is true, which is which is midas Hashem. He he needs the maximum rachamim which which is possible. If tzedaka and mishpat are separate, so then lichora the pasuk should have only mentioned tzedaka here because that's what Avraham Avinu's going to invoke. Right, when you're you know if if you're the defense attorney for for a murderer, you don't invoke the midas hadin. You're invoking the midas harachamim to its maximum. So if tzedaka and mishpat were distinct, so then the Torah should have only mentioned tzedaka here. The fact that the Torah mentions mishpat as well means that tzedaka u'mishpat are not distinct, they're one. Tzedaka u'mishpat is one unit. A a again, a tzedaka that that mitigates din. Lichora that's how the Ramban knows it in the in the pshuto shel mikra. It's interesting that the Rambam apparently also understands the phrase that way. That tzedaka u'mishpat are not two distinct items, but it means rachamim b'din. That the Rambam has at the end of perek aleph in Hilchos De'os. כך למדו בפירוש זו of mitzva of Vehallachta Bidrachav: מה הוא נקרא חנון אף אתה היה חנון. Ma hu... פרק א הלכה ו and then then we'll see also after part of halacha vav, part of halacha zayin,

בלי נדר אם ירצה השם. כך למדו בפירוש מצוה זו: מה הוא נקרא חנון אף אתה היה חנון, מה הוא נקרא רחום אף אתה היה רחום, מה הוא נקרא קדוש אף אתה היה קדוש. ועל דרך זו קראו הנביאים לאל בכל אותן הכינויין.

The reason the nevi'im give us descriptions of Hakadosh Baruch Hu is because every description comes to teach us: ארך אפים ורב חסד, tzaddik v'yashar, tamim, gibbor, v'chazak, v'cheyotzei bahem,

להודיע שאלו דרכים טובים וישרים הם וחייב אדם להנהיג עצמו בהן ולהדמות כפי כחו.

So all the descriptions of Hashem are describing attributes which are part of the mida beinonis that we're supposed to cultivate. Skipping two lines into halacha zayin:

ולפי שהשמות האלו שנקרא בהן היוצר הן הדרך הבינונית שאנו חייבים ללכת בה, נקראת דרך זו דרך השם.

Again, there's an equation, there's an identification between between the derech habeinonus and the Derech Hashem. Derech Hashem is the derech habeinonus. And that's why the derech habeinonus is called Derech Hashem, as in v'holachta bidrachov. והיא שלמדה אברהם אבינו לבניו. And this is what Avraham Avinu taught his sons,

שנאמר כי ידעתיו למען אשר יצוה את בניו ואת ביתו אחריו ושמרו דרך ה' לעשות צדקה ומשפט.

So why does the Rambam have those those last three words la'asos tzedakah umishpat? Avraham Avinu taught them the Derech Hashem, v'shamru Derech Hashem. So Rabbi Einstadter, he's the Talmid Chochom who comes twice a year before Yamim Noraim and before Purim to collect tzedakah for aniyei Eretz Yisrael. So he has a sefer on Chumash, at least on Bereishis and Shemos, I'm not sure if he has on more than that, I forget what the title of the sefer is. But anyway, so he has on Parshas Vayeira, he comments on this pasuk, and he says it's klar that the Rambam learned tzedakah umishpat meaning a blending of tzedakah and mishpat. In which case, tzedakah umishpat is v'shamru Derech Hashem. What's Derech Hashem? The derech habeinonus. La'asos the blending of tzedakah and mishpat, because the blending of tzedakah and mishpat is the derech beinonus, because the derech beinonus again is that that blending, that fusion, that coexistence of the of the two extremes. So you see in the Rambam that he also learned pshat like the Ramban that la'asos tzedakah umishpat means not la'asos a tzedakah b mishpat, but rather la'asos the the blending of of tzedakah and mishpat. Can Rabbi explain it again how he got that from the Rambam? Yeah, again, there is one one question in this but sort of leaving that question aside. The question is why does the Rambam again either why does the Rambam quote the last three words? Why doesn't he just say I've proven to you that Avraham Avinu that that the Derech Hashem is the derech habeinonus? Or maybe he hasn't proven it and and he's looking to prove it from this pasuk. That what the Rambam is saying is I think I think the way Rabbi Einstadter puts it is that this is the Rambam's proof that Derech Hashem is derech habeinonus. Right, the pasuk says v'holachta bidrachov, follow darkei Hashem. The Rambam all of Perek Aleph Hilchos Deios is devoted to the fact that that's the derech habeinonus. But how do you know that that Derech Hashem is the derech habeinonus? The pasuk just says v'holachta bidrachov, go in the ways of Hakadosh Baruch Hu. I don't know, maybe the ways of Hakadosh Baruch Hu are not the derech habeinonus. How do you know? So this pasuk says v'shamru Derech Hashem and it tells you Derech Hashem is la'asos tzedakah umishpat. So the if you learn pshat that tzedakah umishpat again so tzedakah and mishpat if you take them separately so represent maybe extremes. Mishpat is pure harsh unadulterated din and tzedakah is charity, compassion. But if tzedakah umishpat means together, not that not that sort of you know he goes back and forth between but the the fusion the blending of tzedakah and mishpat, the way the Ramban takes it also, not as two distinct items but as the the two combined, the two blended, so then you see the Derech Hashem is the derech habeinonus. In Chazal so on the one hand... Not not in relation to this pasuk, but you do find the Gemara in סנהדרין ו' עמוד ב' . The Gemara says רבי יהושע בן קרחה אומר and this is how we pasken that when ba'alei devarim come to Beis Din, the mitzvah, the mitzvah I guess for Beis Din, for the ba'alei devarim as well, but I guess primarily for Beis Din, is mitzvah livtzo’ah. Beis Din should urge them to agree to submit not to din but to submit to pshar. That the adjudication should not be an adjudication of din, it should be one of pshar. How do you know that? Shene'emar

אמת ומשפט שלום שפטו בשעריכם והלא במקום שיש משפט אין שלום ובמקום שיש שלום אין משפט אלא איזהו משפט שיש בו שלום הוי אומר זה ביצוע.

Okay, but now here comes the what's relevant to us.

וכן בדוד הוא אומר ויהי דוד עושה משפט וצדקה לכל עמו.

So here too the construct is, again, it's not our pasuk, right? It's not our pasuk, but it's the same two words, albeit in the opposite order. It's mishpat u'tzedaka, right?

ויהי דוד עושה משפט וצדקה. והלא כל מקום שיש משפט אין צדקה וצדקה אין משפט אלא איזהו משפט שיש בו צדקה הוי אומר זה ביצוע.

So you do find in Chazal the precedent for taking the phrase again of in our pasuk it's tzedaka u'mishpat. The pasuk in Navi that the Gemara in Sanhedrin is talking about is mishpat u'tzedaka, but either way Chazal take it to mean משפט שיש בו צדקה as opposed to a mishpat b'tzedaka. So in that sense this Chazal sort of you know somewhat anticipates what we're seeing here in the Ramban. Me'idach gisa, when a different Gemara which is misyaches explicitly to our pasuk clearly understands the pasuk differently. If you take a look in later in Sanhedrin on נ"ז עמוד ב', so the Gemara has a drasha that by Ben Noach the mitzvah of dinim is incumbent upon anashim and not nashim.

ואך את דמכם לנפשתיכם אדרש מיד כל חיה אדרשנו ומיד האדם מיד איש אחיו אדרש את נפש האדם מיד האדם מיד איש אחיו.

The Gemara darshens מיד איש ולא מיד אשה. Okay. Then the Gemara says masif Rav Hamnuna v'isha lo mifkida? Is that really true that in the mitzvah of dinim for Bnei Noach nashim are not metzuvas? Is that really true? V'ha ksiv

כי ידעתיו למען אשר יצוה את בניו ואת ביתו אחריו ושמרו דרך ה' לעשות צדקה ומשפט.

So beiso clearly includes the women members of the household, whether it's like the midrash that Avraham Avinu וה' ברך את אברהם בכל that Avraham Avinu had a daughter or whether it's household members but not necessarily children, whatever it means. But either way beiso includes women as well, right? beiso zo ishto by Yom Kippur. So

כי ידעתיו למען אשר יצוה את בניו ואת ביתו אחריו ושמרו דרך ה' לעשות צדקה ומשפט.

So isn't it clear that there's a tzivuy being given to the nashim to practice mishpat? So how can you say that the nashim are not metzuvas in dinim? So the Gemara answers

הוא מותיב לה והוא מפרק לה בניו לדין ביתו לצדקה. בניו לדין ביתו לצדקה.

So what does that mean? It means it's two separate things. A, there's tzedaka. B, there's mishpat. Banav I commanded in mishpat, only banav in mishpat, whereas beiso, the tzivui for tzedaka, that, that's expanded, that includes beiso as well. So Chazal didn't, didn't read the pasuk this way. Okay, not a kasha, just, just a mareh makom. Let's, let's see something else here in the Ramban on our parsha. Again, re-reading here in our Ramban, והנה אם בדרך, the, the last three, four lines or so,

והנה אם בדרך צדקה ומשפט יפטרו יתפלל לפני להתנחם וטוב הדבר ואם חייבים הם לגמרי גם הוא יחפוץ במשפטם.

Hakadosh Baruch Hu is saying Avraham Avinu's again, his reaction will be correct. He's only going to ask me if they can be forgiven with mishpat betzedaka, that's what he's going to ask for, which is appropriate because that's my midah. But if they're chayavim legamrei, and even based on mishpat betzedaka there's no room to forgive them, so he's not going to ask for that. Adaraba, yachpotz bemishpatam. So be-emes the Ramban here highlights, it's, it's not a question in this Ramban more than anywhere else, but, but this Ramban just really hones in on and highlights the question: so what's the role of tefillah? Because essentially what the Ramban is describing is, if based on mishpat betzedaka which Hakadosh Baruch Hu is saying is my midah anyway, there's room to forgive them, so that's what Avraham Avinu's going to ask for, but it's Hakadosh Baruch Hu's midah anyway. And if, and if it's yachpotz bemishpatam and, and if it's chayavim legamrei where my midah is that they have to be destroyed, which is what's going to happen, so he won't ask for it. So tefillah is, is only appropriate when a person's asking for what Hakadosh Baruch Hu's midah dictates is right for the occasion anyway. So what do you need tefillah for? Now again, it's not a question on this Ramban more than it is understanding tefillah in general. What, what, what's the role of tefillah? And yet we clearly know that tefillah, ד' דברים מקרעין גזר דינו של אדם, tze'aka, tefillah is one of the things which is, which is מקרע גזר דינו של אדם. So, so what's the role of tefillah? Tefillah when to ask for something which goes against the middos Hashem, so such a tefillah is, again, a person should, shouldn't davven the tefillah in the first place, and if he davvens, it won't be, it won't be answered. A tefillah that Hakadosh Baruch Hu should do mishpat b'tzedaka, that's what Hakadosh Baruch Hu's midah is, so what, what's tefillah about? So, so there's more than one answer to, to that question. One answer lichora is the following. Apparently, again, Hakadosh Baruch Hu's midah is mishpat rak b'tzedaka, din which is attenuated by, which is mitigated by rachamim, by tzedaka. A middas harachamim, at least sometimes, the hanhaga is, a middas harachamim has to be requested. The middas harachamim comes in response to tefillah. המשל למה הדבר דומה. המשל למה הדבר דומה. Let's say parents have, have a treat for, for their children. So the parents bought the treat already, they bought Shabbos, Shabbos party treats before Shabbos, and, and they, they want to give, they want to, that's their midah, that's what they intend on doing, but ella mai, they're only going to give it after the child says please, and then there needs To be a follow-up thank you. So on the one hand, the please is not, it's not getting the parents to do something that it isn't their middah to do. But me'idach gisa, the please is necessary. Middas harachamim, at least sometimes the pshat, the hagdarah in a middas harachamim is that middas harachamim requires tefillah. And that's what the role of tefillah is. I think, I think Rav Pinkus in one of his shmuessen, one of those red books that they published posthumously with the transcription of his shmuessen, so I think he gives a moshal somewhere. If you imagine a pipeline and you have shefa, you have bracha flowing through the pipeline. And but the, you need to open in order for the pipeline to empty into into your house, into the world, it needs to be opened. It's there. It's there, but it needs to be opened. Tefillah opens it. I don't know, I'm not sure if he means the same thing we just said, but but maybe yes. Sometimes again, the pshat, the hagdarah is that middas harachamim is in response, has to come, it's Hakadosh Baruch Hu's middah, but the middah is that the middas harachamim comes in response to tefillah. It's also true, not in this context, and about the question in general, not in this context. In this context it's the first pshat we said. But let's say by the tefillas yachid, it's also true that another perspective and understanding of tefillah, again, we don't persuade Hakadosh Baruch Hu, Hakadosh Baruch Hu doesn't change His mind because of tefillah. Hakadosh Baruch Hu knows what's right and it's not as if we need to change His mind and we're not pulling at His heartstrings to make Him emotional rather than logical, all those categories are human categories and irrelevant. But another perspective on tefillah, again, the tefillas yachid where a yachid is being mispallel for himself or maybe where the rabbim are being mispallel for themselves, is that the tefillah changes the person. Tefillah is humbling, or it should be. And another perspective, another vantage point on tefillah is the reason or the way tefillah can be effective, the way the result can be affected by tefillah is because the metzius changes. Not that we change Hakadosh Baruch Hu's mind, but the metzius changes. That if I approach Hakadosh Baruch Hu arrogant and full of cheit and tefillah is humbling and I leave the tefillah humbled and and hopefully at least to a degree purged of cheit, so then tefillah has changed the metzius and then mimailla the tefillah is going to be efficacious. I think they say from the בעל שם טוב הקדוש that the Ba'al Shem said that if a person after davening is the same as he was before davening, so the davening was nisht kein davening. A person should be a different person after davening than he was before. One more he'arah here in the Ramban, rabbosai. Let's re-read again.

והנה אם בדרך צדקה ומשפט יפטרו יתפלל לפני להניחם וטוב הדבר.

This middah that we spoke about before, that middas harachamim, Hakadosh Baruch Hu middas harachamim, the pshat is that it comes in response to tefillah, so Chazal darshan on the pasuk in Ki Sisa after the egel, so Hakadosh Baruch Hu says to Moshe Rabbeinu

ועתה הניחה לי ויחר אפי בהם ואכלם ואעשה אותך לגוי גדול.

So what do you mean hanicha li, like leave me alone, let go of me? Moshe, Chazal say Moshe Rabbeinu says וכי הייתי תופס בך? I wasn't, I wasn't in a position to obstruct you Ribbono Shel Olam. What do you mean hanicha li? Hakadosh Baruch Hu is meramez to them that there's a makom tefillah. So Hakadosh Baruch Hu, I mean Hakadosh Baruch Hu wants to forgive, Hakadosh Baruch Hu kavyachol, Hakadosh Baruch Hu doesn't want to destroy. Fine, so מי מונע על ידו? So forgive and don't destroy. Teretz is no, the middas harachamim comes about in response to tefillah. That's what Hakadosh Baruch Hu is telling Moshe Rabbeinu, the middas harachamim is good to go, it's ready to go, but middas harachamim comes in response to tefillah, and that's why Hakadosh Baruch Hu is hinting to Moshe Rabbeinu now's time to davven. Okay just to reread here.

והנה אם בדרך צדקה ומשפט יפטרו יתפלל לפני להניחם וטוב הדבר. המחוייבים הם לגמרי גם הוא יחפוץ במשפטם.

But what's that word legamrei? You know if a person talks a lot, he's very garrulous, so lav davka the significance to any particular word he says. Hopefully there's a little bit of significance to everything he says. But if a person talks with a middas hatzimtzum, if a person writes bemiddas hatzimtzum as the Ramban masterfully did, Ramban was very, very, very metzamtzem, so then obviously every word is very much thought out and laden with meaning. What's that word legamrei? Now, v'im chayavim, you're either zakai or chayav. You're either zakai or chayav. What does it mean ואם חייבים הם לגמרי? So the teretz is what is Avraham Avinu davvening here for anshei Sdom? He's davvening that anshei Sdom should have the highest, they should be ma'arich yamim, יאריך השם ימיהם ושנותיהם בנעימים. And then after the mea v'esrim they should have the highest במעלות קדושים וטהורים כזוהר הרקיע מזהירים. That's what he's davvening for. אנשי סדום רעים וחטאים להשם מאוד. But what's he davvening for? So clearly all Avraham Avinu can davven for is temporarily they should be spared. You can't ask for more than that by anshei Sdom. Hakadosh Baruch Hu is not a vattran, anshei Sdom are not doing, and bechelal, when one person davvens for another person you can't ask for outright forgiveness, because outright forgiveness can only happen if there's teshuva. Anshei Sdom were not busy doing teshuva what Avraham Avinu was davvening. So the maximum Avraham Avinu can ask, hein mitzad rishusom, hein mitzad the fact that they're not doing teshuva, is that Hakadosh Baruch Hu should temporarily spare them. There should be a stay of execution, and there should be a stay of execution, they should continue to exist. Avada they were chayavim. The question wasn't whether they were zakai or chayav. The question was were they so totally, pure, unadulterated evil, chayavim legamrei that there isn't even makom for a tefillah of let there be a middah of erech apayim, let there be a middah of that of kiyom habriah. That's what hung in the balance. That's what kiviyachol the Adon Shamayim v'Eretz, that's kiviyachol what the deliberation was. There was no tzad. There was no tzad that they were innocent. The tzad is what should the onesh be? Does the onesh have to be complete destruction now or can it at least chotch be held in abeyance? So that's what the Ramban is saying that the אם חייבים הם לגמרי, so then who yachbotz b'mishpatam? Okay, well we'll stop here rabosai. A gut Shabbos.