Vayera 5781

Question: How does סנורים work? If the Sdom townspeople were outside Lot’s house, how did they suddenly lose their sense of direction?


Approach: We seemingly need to be helped in answering this question with the other instance in תנ"ך where סנורים is used. This is the story of אלישע using such a tactic to lead the soldiers of ארם from his house to the palace of the King of Israel. And again, the question seems to apply there as well since the soldiers were virtually outside his house. It therefore seems that the סנורים is less of a physical ailment, and rather an ailment relating to the ability to perceive and understand actions. As such, when both peoples were affected, they lost their understanding of why they were located where they were, and that disoriented them.

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