Vayera Mini-Drash

I am Lot’s Wife; call me Marah, “Bitterness.” It is true that I looked back at Sodom while my husband Lot and two daughters were fleeing from the city, and that God turned me into a pillar of salt as punishment. But was I not justified? Sodom and Gomorrah were sinful, at least by the standards of the God of Lot—but for me, it was—had been—my home for most of my life.

When Lot arrived in Sodom years before, heavily laden with sheep, cattle, donkeys, gold and silver, I was very impressed. When he came to my father’s house and asked for my hand in marriage, we took a walk on the Grand Boulevard of Sodom. The sun was setting, and its dying rays illuminated the jeweled rings on his fingers, making them sparkle and shine.

“Master Lot,” I said, “I understand that you follow a faith different from mine. We worship Baal the Conqueror and his female consort, Astarte. Who is this One God of yours?”

“I am not so knowledgeable in my faith as my uncle and teacher Abraham,” he replied, “but I can say with certainty that ours is a faith of compassion, of looking out for the poor, and of worshiping the Invisible God.” Over the years of our marriage, he tried to bring me closer to his faith, but I admit that I remained devoted to Baal and the other gods, mainly because my husband failed to practice what he had preached to me, that first day long ago.

 When the cataclysm struck my home cities and destroyed them, I admit that I looked back one last time, longing for my little statue of Astarte, Goddess of Compassion, and praying for her to spare the lives of my family and friends. It was also my final protest against my husband and his religion, which had failed to protect my erring city. When mortals fail in their duty, we turn to our gods for help; if they abandon us, we are truly lost.

OUR RABBI - David Hartley Mark

WATCH RABBI MARK , To Life, L'Chaim #217 - Rabbi David Mark (You Tube)

Rabbi David Hartley Mark was born in New York City, and grew up on the Lower East Side, that legendary Jewish immigrant neighborhood, attending Hebrew Day School. He was first from his school, the East Side Torah Center, to attend Yeshiva University High School for Boys—Manhattan. David attended Yeshiva University, where he attained a BA in English Literature, a BS in Bible and Jewish Education, and a Hebrew Teacher’s Diploma (HTD). He spent his third year of college at Bar Ilan University in Ramat-Gan, Israel, where he developed a fluency in Hebrew, and toured around the country. He has also attained a Certificate in Advanced Jewish School Administration from the Hebrew College in Brookline, MA.

David attended the City University of New York Graduate Center, where he earned an MA degree from Queens College, as well as an M.Phil. degree, majoring in 17th Century English, specializing in the work of John Milton, as well as the Romantic Poets. A year teaching Hebrew School in a Reform temple in Brooklyn convinced him of his great love of Judaism, and he began attending the Academy for Jewish Religion, Yonkers, NY, where he was ordained a rabbi in 1980.

He met Anbeth, who was hired as temple secretary the same day he was hired to teach. They were married in 1978. They have two grown children, Tyler and Jordan, as well as a grandson, Aidan.

Rabbi Mark served pulpits in Warren, NJ, Fayetteville, NC, and Portsmouth, NH, in which last pulpit he spent 22 years, a record for that state. Seeking warmer climes, as well as closer family members, he and Anbeth took the pulpit of Temple Sholom in 2009. He also fulfilled a lifetime dream of teaching English at Keiser University in Ft. Lauderdale.  

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