Under the topic of Ethics and Society in the Britannica Encyclopedia about Judaism it reads, “Jewish affirmations about God and humans intersect in the concept of Torah as the ordering of human existence in the direction of the divine. Humans are ethically responsible creatures who are responsive to the presence of God in nature and in history.” This idea in particular of being responsible for others in human history is central to Moses’ teaching. Last week in Parashat Re'eh Moses touched on issues of social concerns with the laws of Peah, whereas this week in Parashat Shoftim the issue will be social consciousness, or a community ethic of being. On this fourth Shabbat before Rosh Hashanah, marked by the new month of Elul the day before, we therefore read this week an all to familiar verse that says, “Justice, justice shall you pursue, that you may thrive and occupy the land that your God is giving you.” What does this type of Justice look like?
In the very last part of this Torah parasha (Deuteronomy 21:1-9) we find a strange ritual that has its fair share of commentary. Here, If a corpse is found lying in an open area - the elders from the closest town to where the body was discovered - shall take a heifer to a particular location and break its neck. After that while the elders of the town wash their hands over the heifer the Kohanim come and say the following blessing; “Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it done. Absolve, O lord, Your people Israel whom You redeemed, and do not let guilt for the blood of the innocent remain among Your people Israel.” This was done so they, the town, would be absolved of blood guilt, removing from their midst any guilt regarding this life-lost in order to do the right thing before God.
Of course the Rabbis asked why was this needed if the people who found the body did not commit this crime? The Talmud (Keritot 23b) teaches that the heifer’s neck only had to be broken if the perpetrator was not found making this “a situation of uncertainty” that absolved the people. For Rashi (on Dt. 21: 7) it was a declaration of intention, “We never saw him and knowingly let him depart without food or escort (if we had seen him we would not have let him depart …).” Rashi says the intention would be to catch the suspect, whereas Maimonides in his Guide for the Perplexed took another view (Part 3, Chapter 40). In this case the ritual of the heifer and the fanfare involved had the intent to raise the awareness of what happened in order to weed out the murderer more so than it was a declaration of innocence ala Rashi. Here, “It is well known that it is considered great wickedness and guilt on the part of a person who knows the murderer, and is silent about him whilst the elders call upon God as witness that they know nothing about the murderer.” Still the Sefer Yesodei HaTorah (32:1) teaches that for one, “they cannot bring him to justice [so] the heifer is broken instead,” and two, “that they not come to kill an innocent man suspected of that murder without incontestable proof and clear testimony.” In the Sefer Yesodei HaTorah the two stated reasons have to do with community justice for the person killed and community justice for the person who did the killing.
Without getting into the details of each there is a common theme amongst them; a community consciousness of responsibility. Certainly this was the very premise of what Moses wrote to the whole nation in all their endeavors, tzedek, tzedek tirdof, “Justice, justice shall you pursue,” albeit a justice to stand against social ills, equality regarding the law, innocence and guilt, treatment of the environment, fair magistrates or the right to stand for good, the Torah’s sense of justice is broad as it underscores the ethic of the community in general. But Torah's sense of justice is never about the individual alone, hence the ritual of the eglah arufah, or breaking the heifers neck above. This Shabbat we read in the Prophet Isaiah, “Awake, awake, O Zion! Clothe yourself in splendor; Put on your robes of majesty, Jerusalem, holy city! For the uncircumcised and the impure Shall never enter you again.” This is about the collective efforts and success of Israel, this is about Israel’s unified social consciousness as the prophet would go on to say “Indeed, My servant shall prosper, Be exalted and raised to great heights.”
Here, servant should be understood as caretaker, yet the word is a singular verb that refers to the nation, or the people as a whole. Regarding the eglah arufah, the collective town, or people, proclaimed their innocence while affirming their moral responsibility to avenge a death ( as opposed to turning their back and saying not our problem). Again the prophet proclaimed, “GOD will bare a holy arm In the sight of all the nations, And the very of earth shall see The victory of our God,” the “holy arm” being the people who in their collective consciousness would stand up for justice and injustices in their world as opposed to turning its back. While we of course no longer carry out the ritual the eglah arufah, our need as a community to stand for justice and injustice as caretakers of the ways of Torah has not changed as we are “ethically responsible creatures who are responsive to the presence of God in nature and in history.” Our social consciousness as a community, as Jews, and people of God is the foundation of helping to create a better world as part of the solution. In this month of Elul, this final journey to Rosh Hashanah, we end this week with the words of Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel that say, “The life of a Jew requires focus and direction, and cannot be carried out offhandedly,” meaning that we should not dismiss our joint personal and collective role as insignificant or unimportant when it comes to the ethical role of our community. More words to ponder for this new year before us.
Shabbat Shalom, Rabbi Adam
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