“He said: Please, let my Lord not be incensed, and I will speak only this time. Perhaps ten will be found there. He said: I will not destroy for the ten” (Genesis 18:32). “He said: Please, let my Lord not be incensed…perhaps ten will be found there” – why ten?72Why did Abraham not continue to lower the number beyond ten?
That would constitute an assembly for all of them together.73If ten righteous people were to be found among the five cities, that would be enough to convene an assembly if they all came together. A group of people is called an assembly only if it consists of ten individuals. Another explanation: Why ten? In the generation of the Flood, eight people remained,74Noah, his three sons, and their four wives. and it [judgment] was not deferred for the [rest of the] world due to their merit.
Another explanation: Why ten? It is because he believed that there were ten there: Lot, his wife, his four daughters, and his four sons-in-law. Rabbi Yehuda ben Rabbi Simon and Rabbi Ḥanin in the name of Rabbi Yoḥanan: Here [regarding Sodom] ten [righteous people were needed to save it], but regarding Jerusalem, it was even one. That is what it is written: “Wander through the streets of Jerusalem…[if you will find [timtze’u] a man, if there is a performer of justice, a seeker of faithfulness, I will forgive it]” (Jeremiah 5:1), and likewise it says: “One for one to find a tally” (Ecclesiastes 7:27).
Rabbi Yitzḥak said: How much is the minimum [mitzui] amount for one city?75Jerusalem. It is even one.76That is what is meant by “one for one.” If even one is found in the entire city, justice would be deferred in his merit.