Immediately after learning of God's plan to destroy the cities of Sodom and Amorah, Abraham begins to plead for their mercy. Yet the difference between his ethos and that of Sodom could not have been starker. While Abraham embodied the essence of chesed through acts of loving-kindness towards others, the citizens of Sodom exemplified precisely the opposite traits with their culture of ruthless, institutionalised brutality against outsiders.

Logically, Abraham should have been delighted to hear of Sodom's imminent demise. Yet he confronted God over the decision. Why did Abraham argue with God, in whom he had shown such profound faith, to spare the lives of those who stood opposed to his principles?

To compound the question, King David writes "Yitamu chataim min ha'aretz", normally translated as "Let the sinners be removed from the earth" (Psalms 104:35). However, within this verse lies the answer to our question. The Gemara (Berachot 10a) records that Beruria, the wife of Rabbi Meir notes that the verse uses the term chataim, meaning sin, not chotim, meaning sinners.

Abraham pleaded with God to help destroy the sin of Sodom, not the sinners themselves. He begged that God should help bring about their repentance and save them from destruction, reflecting his character of loving-kindness and compassion for human life.

The distinction is important; righteousness does not give man the license to be insensitive to the demise of evildoers. On the contrary, Abraham teaches us that a genuine love for mankind should initially elicit a hatred of evil, not of evil people. God, however, teaches Abraham that there will sadly be some who are beyond forgiveness and must be eliminated to purge the world of iniquity.