When a NCSYer called asking for a dvar Torah for campus hillel this past week, a plethora of classics came to mind. But instead, I took a less beaten path.Sticking to the straightforward reading of the text, I thought of a pshat that might actually remain true to its branding.
What significance could there possibly be behind Lot's wife turning into a pillar of salt?
Lot's wife was told not to turn around - not to look back.
A possible insight behind the nature of her sin might best be gleaned by analyzing the means of punishment, working within the logic of mida ke'neged mida. One plausible reason why the punishment was befitting might just be hinted at through the very function of salt. Being that salt is the #1 preservative of produce and meat (especially during the times of the Avos), what the Torah was hinting was that inasmuch as Lot's wife continued to look back on her past instead of focusing on her future she was crystallizing her own continued progress, trapping herself in a mindset of stagnancy. That fixating of self can best be represented by the physical compound whose primary role is to preserve things as they are. What punishment could have been more apropo for refusing to relinquish her sinful identity associated with Sodom?
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