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When
To Take
Responsibility
Parshat Shoftim:
Deuteronomy 16:18-21:9;
Isaiah 51:12-52:12.
I
remember reading a story a
few years back about a woman
who walked out onto the back
porch with her 6-year-old son to
survey damage that had been done
by a hurricane the night
before. The backyard
was in shambles, trees
uprooted, roof shingles
everywhere and the
garage almost completely
torn down.
She turned to look at
her son and suddenly the
boy said: "I didn't do it."
Perhaps this is an apoc-
ryphal story but it is so
beautiful and so impor-
tant for us to consider as
we approach the month of Elul, the
month of teshuvah, of repentance.
We need to learn to say: "I didn't
do it." We need to learn to accept
the fact that some things that hap-
pen are not our fault. We need to
remember that our tradition asks us
to judge others with the benefit of
the doubt and, where appropriate,
we need to give ourselves the same
respect.
But let's also be careful about how
often we deny responsibility.
At the end of Parshat Shoftim, we
read of a ritual that was conducted
when a corpse was found between
two towns, and it was unclear who
was responsible for the individual's
death. According to the Torah, the
elders and sages of the town nearest
the location in which the body was
found would formally deny respon-
sibility for the death by saying: "Our
hands did not shed this blood nor
did our eyes see it done."
One commentary asks why the
elders would have needed to say
this. Would anyone suspect the
judges and leaders of a community
for having committed murder? The
commentary states that by say-
ing these words, the elders are also
absolving themselves of indirect
responsibility. They are saying that
the person had not entered their
town hungry or lonely and had been
allowed to leave without
food or a proper escort.
Only if the elders were
sure that they did not,
in any way, contribute to
the tragedy that befell
this individual could they
truly say: "Our hands did
not spill this blood."
The philosopher
Abraham Joshua Heschel
wrote about injustice:
"Few are guilty, all are
responsible." When we
stand by and watch a wrong without
taking a stand or doing what we can
to stop it, we are responsible and —
according to our tradition — cannot
say: "We didn't do it."
As we approach the New Year, let
us commit ourselves to recognizing
the issues in our personal lives that
are beyond our control and find a
way to absolve ourselves of respon-
sibility for that which is beyond us.
But let us resolve as well to recog-
nize that we all bear responsibility
for events in our world that need
to be changed. Let us recognize our
responsibility to help complete the
work of redeeming the world. I
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Robert Dobrusin is rabbi of Beth Israel
How can we teach our children
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for events that they see take
place in their world?
What can we teach them to do
to express this responsibility?
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September 1 . 2011
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