A Bima-Ready D’var Torah Every Week
16 Sivan 5779
Parashat B'ha-alot'cha
Sounding the Alarm
Torah Portion: Numbers 8:1-12:16
Haftarah Portion: Zechariah 2:14-4:7
Shalom!
"Most people do not really want freedom, because freedom involves
responsibility, and most people are frightened of responsibility."
-Bryan Magee[i]
Arguably, ABC's What Would You Do? is one of the most effective shows on television. The entire premise of the program is seeing if average, everyday people will take a moral stand when they are unknowingly exposed to actors who engage in an act that is rude, criminal, or unethical. These scenarios range from observing someone at a bar putting a roofie in their date's drink, to witnessing a cashier refuse to serve someone because of their religion or race, or overhearing homophobic and xenophobic jokes at a public venue. It is fascinating to see who intervenes, who calls out these actors for their disgraceful behavior, and who does nothing.
In this week's parashah of B'ha-alot'cha, we are reminded that we must always be vigilant, as a mitzvah (commandment) in the Book of Numbers tells us, "If you go to war in your land against an adversary that oppresses you, you shall blow a t'ruah with the trumpets and be remembered before Adonai your God, and thus be saved from your enemies" (Numbers 10:9). From this statement, the Sefer HaChinuch (Book of Education) teaches us that we must always sound the alarm in times of trouble.[ii]
Albert Einstein said, "The World will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything;" the Israeli historian Yehuda Bauer exclaimed, "Thou shall not be a perpetrator, thou shall not be a victim, and thou shall never, but never, be a bystander;" and Nobel Peace Prize winner and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel told the world, "What hurts the victim most is not the cruelty of the oppressor, but the silence of the bystander."[iii]
The vast majority of us, Baruch HaShem (praise God), will never have to run into a burning building, tackle a gunman, or have to perform CPR on car crash victims. We are far more likely to encounter a co-worker who thinks it is ok to tell lewd jokes at meetings, or to have a friend who does not see a problem with getting behind the wheel with a "light buzz". Some of us, for whatever reason, have no compunction in calling these people out. However, most of us are afraid to intervene. Why? We don't want to get involved-plain and simple. And perhaps we have good reason not to...
"What will they do to me?" "How will calling them out affect our friendship or our working relationship?" "You know, I have to deal with this person every day. "This isn't my fight." These are the thoughts that race through our mind. This is why so many of us don't get involved.
It's understandable--it's ok--to have these reservations, they're normal. However, to be Jewish means that we must intervene. So often in life, trouble finds us even when we do our best to avoid it. Our sacred texts, our beloved teachers, and our history demand that we do not ignore or flee when confronted with tumult and disquiet. As awkward, as uncomfortable, and as frightening as it may be, confronting distress is everyone's responsibility. Biz'rat HaShem, with God's help, may we all be endowed with the courage to sound the alarm in times of trouble.
Shabbat Shalom!
Rabbi Aaron Rozovsky
Director of Rabbinical Services
[i] Magee, Bryan. Popper. London: Frank Cass. 1973. 87.
[ii] Sefer HaChinukh (positive commandment 59).
[iii] Corredor, Josep Maria. Conversations with Casals. London: Hutchinson. 1957. 11; Skog, Jason. The Legacy of the Holocaust. North Mankato, MN: Compass Point Books. 2011. 57; Krisof, Nicholas D. "The Silence of Bystanders". The New York Times. March 19, 2006. https://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/19/opinion/the-silence-of-bystanders.html
© 2019 Goldring/Woldenberg Institute of Southern Jewish Life
"Most people do not really want freedom, because freedom involves
responsibility, and most people are frightened of responsibility."
-Bryan Magee[i]
Arguably, ABC's What Would You Do? is one of the most effective shows on television. The entire premise of the program is seeing if average, everyday people will take a moral stand when they are unknowingly exposed to actors who engage in an act that is rude, criminal, or unethical. These scenarios range from observing someone at a bar putting a roofie in their date's drink, to witnessing a cashier refuse to serve someone because of their religion or race, or overhearing homophobic and xenophobic jokes at a public venue. It is fascinating to see who intervenes, who calls out these actors for their disgraceful behavior, and who does nothing.
In this week's parashah of B'ha-alot'cha, we are reminded that we must always be vigilant, as a mitzvah (commandment) in the Book of Numbers tells us, "If you go to war in your land against an adversary that oppresses you, you shall blow a t'ruah with the trumpets and be remembered before Adonai your God, and thus be saved from your enemies" (Numbers 10:9). From this statement, the Sefer HaChinuch (Book of Education) teaches us that we must always sound the alarm in times of trouble.[ii]
Albert Einstein said, "The World will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything;" the Israeli historian Yehuda Bauer exclaimed, "Thou shall not be a perpetrator, thou shall not be a victim, and thou shall never, but never, be a bystander;" and Nobel Peace Prize winner and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel told the world, "What hurts the victim most is not the cruelty of the oppressor, but the silence of the bystander."[iii]
The vast majority of us, Baruch HaShem (praise God), will never have to run into a burning building, tackle a gunman, or have to perform CPR on car crash victims. We are far more likely to encounter a co-worker who thinks it is ok to tell lewd jokes at meetings, or to have a friend who does not see a problem with getting behind the wheel with a "light buzz". Some of us, for whatever reason, have no compunction in calling these people out. However, most of us are afraid to intervene. Why? We don't want to get involved-plain and simple. And perhaps we have good reason not to...
"What will they do to me?" "How will calling them out affect our friendship or our working relationship?" "You know, I have to deal with this person every day. "This isn't my fight." These are the thoughts that race through our mind. This is why so many of us don't get involved.
It's understandable--it's ok--to have these reservations, they're normal. However, to be Jewish means that we must intervene. So often in life, trouble finds us even when we do our best to avoid it. Our sacred texts, our beloved teachers, and our history demand that we do not ignore or flee when confronted with tumult and disquiet. As awkward, as uncomfortable, and as frightening as it may be, confronting distress is everyone's responsibility. Biz'rat HaShem, with God's help, may we all be endowed with the courage to sound the alarm in times of trouble.
Shabbat Shalom!
Rabbi Aaron Rozovsky
Director of Rabbinical Services
[i] Magee, Bryan. Popper. London: Frank Cass. 1973. 87.
[ii] Sefer HaChinukh (positive commandment 59).
[iii] Corredor, Josep Maria. Conversations with Casals. London: Hutchinson. 1957. 11; Skog, Jason. The Legacy of the Holocaust. North Mankato, MN: Compass Point Books. 2011. 57; Krisof, Nicholas D. "The Silence of Bystanders". The New York Times. March 19, 2006. https://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/19/opinion/the-silence-of-bystanders.html
© 2019 Goldring/Woldenberg Institute of Southern Jewish Life
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