Don’t Look Back
She looked back over her shoulder. It was a rushed, stressful and tense time. She had two married daughters that refused to join. The family had to pick up their belongings and escape.
It was a frantic race against the clock and she couldn’t keep to that one single condition: don’t look back.
Just like that, the wife of Lot became a pillar of salt.
And indeed one of the reasons that we dip the Challah in salt each week on Shabbat is to remember the wife of Lot.
She seems like hardly the martyr to bring to memory each week. She doesn’t even have a name in the Torah – how could she be so important?
Maybe it’s not about her, maybe it’s about the salt?
I once read in a magazine that if you add just the right amount of salt to seltzer it turns sweet. I tried. It tasted like seltzer with a drop of salt. So I added more and more and more. It never worked and the drink was undrinkable in the end.
While that exercise failed, salt has a way of giving delicious flavor IF and ONLY IF it’s used in proper measure. Too much salt becomes the dead sea where life cannot live and a good tour guide can point out the pillar which they say is Lot’s wife.
The salts of life are the difficulties, the challenges, the regrets, the bad choices and so on. The struggle and the hardship adds flavor, appreciation and meaning to the joyous experience. But only a pinch of salt. Just a pinch of hard times is more than enough!
Lot’s wife was stuck in regret, confusion, and indecision. She wanted to go forward but it meant leaving her beautiful and comfortable life behind. The challenge overtook her and she couldn’t conquer it. She was stuck in the salt.
She looked over her shoulder, dwelling and ruminating on the past. She couldn’t proceed in a healthy way. She was stuck in image of the life she thought she would be living and was therefore unable to live her life.
So on that fateful day she turned back and became a pillar of salt.
We dip the Challah in just a pinch of salt each week on Shabbat to remind us that we never need more than a pinch. It’s ok to reflect and even regret but the main purpose is always to proceed to the next adventure.
