A few months ago we heard the sad story that Jerry Sandusky, a former assistant football coach at Penn State, was discovered to be a sexual predator of young boys, and, as a consequence, long time head coach Joe Paterno saw his legendary career end in a troubling way. Coach Paterno was not convicted of a crime, but he remains guilty nonetheless for failing to properly address the evil deeds of his assistant and friend.

I spoke about this story in shul on the Shabbat when we read Parashat Vayera, and I was immediately reminded of why it was traditional to have young children begin their study of Torah with the book of Leviticus.

Leviticus contains numerous references to the killing of animals for sacrifice, and to unpleasant bodily discharges and skin afflictions. But Leviticus also is the book that teaches us to “love your neighbor as yourself,” and does not contain the horror stories found in Genesis.

In Parashat Vayera alone, comprising five of the 50 chapters in Genesis, Abraham risks the lives of both his sons — banishing Ishmael (and his mother, Hagar) from home, and nearly killing Isaac upon the altar. Abraham risks the life of Sarah, by telling a foreign king that Sarah is his sister, not his wife. In many instances, the biblical story frightens us, and all the more so frightens the children.

But two episodes in Parashat Vayera point us in a positive moral direction.

In the first story, God comes to tell Abraham that Sarah, now 89 years old, will soon become the mother of a child. Sarah, listening in on the conversation, laughs to herself — ignoring the fact that she is 89, she thinks humorously, how will my 99 year old husband succeed in impregnating me?

Abraham asks God why Sarah is laughing (why he didn’t ask Sarah directly, we’ll never know.) God tells Abraham, she’s laughing because she thinks she’s too old to conceive a child.

God doesn’t tell the truth, thereby avoiding an unnecessary hurt to Abraham, and consequently a wound to his marriage.

Yes, God changed the story, even buried the truth, to protect feelings. We do this too, and sometimes it works, but be careful. This is an important message of the parashah — the truth, even when it hurts, is generally going to be the most important value in our world.

Jerry Sandusky is a villain. But coaches and administrators who hid the truth, for some 10 years, are also guilty.

We also learn from the story which is Abraham’s most heroic moment. When told that the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah are to be destroyed, Abraham speaks out. There might be innocent people who will be wrongly hurt. He cannot sit back and watch, when there is something that needs to be said, something that needs to be done.

With courage, Abraham challenges the God he knows is all powerful, asking: Will you destroy the wicked at the expense of the innocent? We are the children of Abraham. We need to do as well and better. Like Abraham, it is our job to speak the truth, remove evil, and to protect the innocent.