September 5 • 2019 39
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Taking Responsibility
H
ave you ever heard the
expression, “I wash my hands
of this matter?” Where did
this expression originate?
This week we read about
a seemingly strange com-
mandment called Eglah
Arufah. (Deuteronomy 21.1-
8). If someone is found slain
in an open field near a city,
then the elders and officials
of the city need to go out to
the field where the corpse
had been found. There they
bury the corpse and mea-
sure the distance between it
and the two nearest cities,
identifying the one that is
closer. The elders of the city
closer to the corpse offer a
calf as an atonement for the
spilled blood.
The Torah insists that “all the
elders of the city” attend this cer-
emony, where they all wash their
hands while reciting, “Our hands
did not shed this blood, nor did
our eyes see it done,” inferring, as
Maimonides puts it, that “just as
our hands have been made clean by
this water, so our hands are clean
from the murder of this corpse.”
The Talmud raises the perceptive
question, “Why would we in any
way assume that the elders would
spill blood?” The implication was
not that they literally committed
the murder; but as the Talmud
says, “It’
s not that he came to us for
help and we let him depart the city
without provisions for the road,
nor did we see him and let him
leave without a proper escort.”
Responsibility for murder
does not fall merely upon the
one who literally spills the
blood. Should the deed occur
in the open field, the entire
community, and particularly
its elders, judges and leaders,
bear the responsibility for the
murder.
The Torah teaches us the
level of responsibility that
leadership in each communi-
ty should take, making sure
to care for the well-being of
the public so that they too
could, in clear conscience,
say “our hands are clean.”
The Lubavitcher Rebbe,
of righteous memory, said that the
rule of the Eglah Arufah teaches us
that we need to take responsibility
for every Jew. When we see Jewish
children who are not receiving
any Jewish education, we can’
t just
wash our hands and say, “That’
s
not our problem.” Rather, it is the
responsibility of each of us.
As we are at the beginning of
a new school year, let us find a
Jewish child who is not yet receiv-
ing a Jewish education and help
him connect to our special heri-
tage. ■
Rabbi Schneor Greenberg is rabbi of the
Chabad Jewish Center of Commerce,
rabbi@jewishcommerce.org.
spirit
torah portion
Rabbi Schneor
Greenberg
Parshat
Shoftim:
Deuteronomy
16:18-21:9;
Isaiah
51:12-52:12.
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