Witnessing Suffering

A new interpretation of the story of Lot’s wife: that bearing witness provokes her transformation into the pillar of salt. The question remains: How can we act with compassion and bear witness without becoming paralyzed or fixed?

Authors were asked to offer short teachings on a piece of text that inspires them. To submit a text resource, click here.

וַתַּבֵּ֥ט אִשְׁתּ֖וֹ מֵאַחֲרָ֑יו וַתְּהִ֖י נְצִ֥יב מֶֽלַח׃

And Lot’s wife became a pillar of salt.

Genesis 19:26

We often misread this verse and understand it as though Lot’s wife is actually turned by Divine punishment into a pillar of salt because of her disobedience. But, to the contrary, Lot’s wife—or Idit, as rabbinic tradition names her—becomes a pillar salt as a result of the experience of looking back.

Her name, from the root ’ed, is an allusion to the witness she bore. A rabbinic commentary says that what she saw, was the Shekhinah (the Divine presence), and one cannot see God’s presence and live. A less supernatural interpretation might be that Idit saw not the Shekhinah but shekhenim, her neighbors, and seeing their travail, was consumed in tears, becoming a pillar of salt.

This raises the complicated question of the role of witness, its necessity and its dangers. Lot, indifferent, refuses to bear witness, even ignoring the fact that two of his daughters and sons-in-law remained in the cities. Idit, in her compassion, bears witness and is paralyzed.

Our challenge today is to find the place between Idit and Lot—being able to witness and endure the pain of the present and move into a future of hope.

Sandy Eisenberg Sasso is Rabbi Emerita of Congregation Beth-El Zedeck, Indianapolis, and Director of the Religion, Spirituality, and the Arts Initiative at IUPUI Arts and Humanities Institute. Co-founder of Women4Change, she is an award-winning author. Her latest book is Regina Persisted, An Untold Story.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related Resources

February 27, 2024
Posted in Community, Justice
These are values and teachings central to our Torah and identity: to care and provide for the most vulnerable, to welcome the stranger, to honor our elders and to care for the sick.
November 30, 2023
What did it mean to wrestle with God so that the two brothers could kiss and live in peace?
November 11, 2023
When permission is given to the destructive force to wreak havoc, it does not distinguish between the innocent and guilty. (Mekhilta Bo 12:22)
November 11, 2023
Posted in Gender, Justice
Transgender people, in expressing their true gender identity, do so to be more authentic to themselves and, in many ways, to be closer to the image of the Creator in which they were made.
November 11, 2023
What matters most is being who you feel yourself to be.
October 16, 2023
This is not the time to root for your team. This is the time to stand on the side of humanity.

The Reconstructionist Network

Get the latest from Evolve delivered to your inbox.