Some biblical stories just stick in people’s minds. The story of Lot and his family is one of them, and it’s understandable why. There is such vivid imagery; cities being overturned, Lot escaping in the last minute (and don’t forget the part they gloss over in Hebrew School, Lot’s subsequent incest with his daughters).
But perhaps the most imagination capturing detail is what happened to Lot’s wife: After being warned not to, she looked back and turned into a pillar of salt.
A Hebrew School teacher was relating this detail to her class, “Lot’s wife looked back and she turned into a pillar of salt,” she said. Little Johnny in the back raised his hand and shared, “My mother was driving and she looked back and turned into a lampost.”
As always, the Torah shares much more than stories; it provides relevant guidance in our daily lives.
Often we allow our past to shape us, we allow events that may have happened long ago to continue to influence our decisions today. Of course our upbringing is relevant, it shaped how we developed and grew into adulthood, but as thinking adults, we are not limited by it. We shouldn’t fall back on the comfortable excuse of “that’s how I was raised” to explain why we choose a particular lifestyle.
Instead of looking back, we need to look forward. We need to be open to learning and progressing, looking forward - not backward. After all, if we look back we may just turn into a pillar of salt (or worse, into a lampost).
Many American Jews are raised on a watered down Jewish experience, stripped of meaning and relevance; it’s no wonder that they turn away from it after their Bar/Bat Mitzvah. Years go by and they become adults, raising their own children, and come to appreciate the depth and significance of Jewish teaching and observance. But instead of looking forward and allowing themselves to grow in Jewish learning and observance, they look back. “It’s the way I was raised,” they say. Or, “I never had a real Jewish education. I can’t even read Hebrew.”
The story of Lot’s wife reminds us that it is imperative to constantly look forward.
Don’t turn into a pillar of salt; no longer growing. Look forward and allow yourself to grow!