Promoting Delinquency in Sodom

What key feature of society reflects its future prognosis? The education received by its children.

Before Yaakov took his family to sojourn in Egypt, before he even took his 1st step on foreign soil, he made sure to dispatch Yehuda his son to set up at the destination Yeshivos (cheders) before their children's arrival. (Rashi Beraishis 46:28)

For this community, Torah is the real home they wanted to settle into.

Here's an example of the contrary, when contrary policy governs a child's education, happens today in Gentile-occupied territory of Israel, where from kindergarten hatred is already well ingrained in the child's psyche.

Such was the educational system in Sodom. Sodom taught their children to shun human rights. In fact, children who dared demonstrate their precocious hateful initiative came away rewarded and followed!

Where does Torah tell us this? In the story of Lot's rescue. When his guest Angels struck the mob with blindness, the blindness struck "from the small" [and only thereafter] "to the old" (Beraishis 19:11).

Says Rashi, "Because the kids started the confrontation, they were the first to absorb punishment".

We know the kids started it, from here: Berashis 19:4.

טרם ישכבו ואנשי העיר אנשי סדם נסבו על הבית מנער ועד זקן כל העם  מקצה

Even though Lot and family gladly hosted THEIR guests, in their own private residence, Lot had to plead with the mob to understand the freedom principle, by logic, "They came into the shade of my beam!" (19:8)

Children decided to usurp this man's private rights of a homesteader, trivialize perceived visions of terror, just to start some personal "fun". The children foresaw an orgy of fun. That God watches their good behavior from "above" they never learned.

The Sodom government promoted terror upon strangers. They sacrificed children to be used as pawns for their perverted desires. Whether it's for greed or lust that drives a society to savage strangers, or whether for the sake of "alla" it's honorable to blow themselves up to kill innocent people, it all starts with the integrity of a child's education.