Traditions

anna foaBy Anna Foa*

The Pirke de-Rabbi Eliezer (Chapters of Rabbi Eliezer) explained in chapter 25 that the people of Sodom made a proclamation that everyone who strengthened the hand of the poor or the needy with a loaf of bread would be burnt by fire. Peleṭith, daughter of Lot, was moved to compassion by a poor person and she secretly fed him food and water. When they found out, they brought her forth to be executed and her cry ascended before the Throne of Glory. And the Lord descended to see what happened. Are those who talk grandly about the Judeo-Christian tradition and behave like the people of Sodom able to read?

*Anna Foa is a historian.