Why do certain nations thrive, while others disappear? Pundits and historians will tell you about political, economic and military factors.

However, our Torah informs us that ethical factors are far more consequential. Powerful nations fall if they are immoral, while weak ones succeed if they maintain moral excellence.

The Hebrew word tzachak, meaning to laugh, is employed several times in Parashat Vayera, most notably in relation to the birth and naming of our patriarch Yitzchak [Isaac]. The term is also used when Lot tells his sons-in-law that their home city of Sodom is about to be destroyed. They do not believe him, for his words are "like a joke (kimitzacheik) in their eyes."

To a social or political scientist, the possibility that a wealthy superpower like Sodom will disappear, or that an elderly couple will produce the future regional superpower seems ludicrous.

But this strange outcome is precisely what occurs. Abraham and Sarah have a child, through whom they become the ancestors of Klal Yisrael (the people of Israel). Meanwhile, the mighty city of Sodom is destroyed.

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