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Torah QueeriesWeekly Commentaries on the Hebrew Bible$
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Torah Queeries: Weekly Commentaries on the Hebrew Bible

Gregg Drinkwater, Joshua Lesser, and David Shneer

Print publication date: 2009

Print ISBN-13: 9780814720127

Published to NYU Press Scholarship Online: March 2016

DOI: 10.18574/nyu/9780814720127.001.0001

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Looking Back to Look Forward

Looking Back to Look Forward

Parashat Vayera (Genesis 18:1–22:24)

Chapter:
(p.29) Four Looking Back to Look Forward
Source:
Torah Queeries
Author(s):

Gwynn Kessler

Publisher:
NYU Press
DOI:10.18574/nyu/9780814720127.003.0004

This chapter provides a queerly interpretation of Parashat Vayera, a part in Genesis which connotes the importance of vision. Although vision provides a powerful leitmotif running through the parasha, many people have continued to see the story about God's destruction of Sodom in Genesis 19 as a punishment for its people's “homosexuality.” However, the city is destroyed by God not because of its people's “homosexuality” but because of its people's lack of hospitality. Moreover, the literary context of the story of the destruction of Sodom is far larger and much more formative and foundational story about the relationship between God and Abraham.

Keywords:   Parashat Vayera, homosexuality, Sodom, hospitality, Abraham

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