The Guilt of Turning Away
Shoftim, 5784
At the end of this week’s parsha, the Torah details the ritual procedure for when a slain person is found outside of town, with the murderer being unknown. The nearest town to the corpse is identified, and the elders of that town procure a heifer that has never been yoked, bring it to a wadi that has never been tilled, and there break the heifer’s neck. The elders, supervised by the priests, then wash their hands over the heifer’s neck, and declare “יָדֵינוּ לֹא [שָׁפְכוּ] אֶת־הַדָּם הַזֶּה וְעֵינֵינוּ לֹא רָאוּ” “Our hands did not shed this blood and our eyes did not see.” What is the meaning for the strange ritual? As Rashi points out, quoting the Talmud, no one expects the elders to have committed the murder. But the key part of the phrase, to the Talmud, is “our eyes did not see.” “If we had seen this man, the Talmud imagines the elders implying, we would have taken care of him, made sure that he was safe and provided with an escort. But we did not see him, and so his blood is not on our hands, since we did not even know to take care of him.
But the elders go on to ask for God’s forgiveness. They say immediately afterward “כַּפֵּר לְעַמְּךָ יִשְׂרָאֵל אֲשֶׁר־פָּדִיתָ ה וְאַל־תִּתֵּן דָּם נָקִי בְּקֶרֶב עַמְּךָ יִשְׂרָאֵל”
“Absolve, Hashem, Israel, the nation that you redeemed, and do not place the guilt of the blood of the innocent amidst your people Israel.”
And so, still using the Talmud’s reading, this declaration can be seen not as a denial of guilt but an admission of it. The prefix “ve,” “and” can also mean “but.” Read this way, the declaration becomes “Our hands did not shed this blood, but our eyes did not see.” We are guilty, because we should have seen this man, should have taken care of his needs, should have seen him home safely. But we did not. We did not see, and now he is dead. Absolve our guilt, Hashem, for not seeing him, for not caring for him, for only acting when it was too late.
It is sad and striking to me that before I talk about the hostages who were murdered last week, I need to mention the 2 teachers and 2 students who were just murdered right here in Georgia. If this hadn’t been such a terrible week, this sermon would be entirely about them. Instead, I will say their names: Math Teacher and Football Coach Richard Aspinwall, 39; Math Teacher Christina Irimie, 53; Mason Schermerhorn, 14, and Christian Angulo, 14. May their memory be a blessing. May God forgive our guilt, and the guilt of our country, for not seeing, for not acting, until it was too late.
Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23. Ora Danino, 25. Alexander Lobanov, 32. Almog Sarusi, 27. Eden Yerushalmi, 24. Carmel Gat, 40. Murdered by Hamas, and discovered dead last Saturday in a Gaza tunnel. Autopsies determined they were alive at least a day or two before they were discovered. הם היו בחיים! They were alive! They were alive, and now they are not. May their memory be a blessing. May God forgive our guilt, and the guilt of our Jewish community, for not seeing, for not acting, until it was too late.
And yes, I speak of our guilt. It is why hundreds of thousands, estimated from 300,000-500,000, gathered in Tel Aviv to protest over the past week. That is 5% or more of all Jews in Israel, the equivalent of having a protest with millions of people turning out in America. Why, some people have asked, are they protesting their own government? Why do they not protest Hamas? Did not Hamas murder those hostages? Of course they did! And the elders of the town did not murder the stranger who was found dead! They did not bear the entire guilt of that murder! But they did bear a portion. For not doing enough to prevent the murder. And the Israeli government, and the institutions of the Jewish community, ourselves, bear a portion of the blame for not doing enough to rescue the hostages.
It has become clear that there is no military solution to rescuing the hostages. Far more hostages have died in rescue attempts than have been rescued. And Hamas, starting with last week, has now it made it perfectly clear they will execute in cold blood any hostages they have if they get any sense that a rescue team is on its way. There are only two choices: continue a military campaign and abandon the rest of the hostages to their death, or seek an imperfect diplomatic solution. And yes, of course the solution will be imperfect. And of course it will mean willingly entering into ceasefire negotiations with a sworn enemy. But you don’t make ceasefires with friends. That’s the nature of a ceasefire.
I understand there are people who would choose option 1, to continue a military campaign and abandon the hostages. I understand the logic behind it, feeling that negotiations would lead to future October 7ths, not wanting to rest until Hamas is destroyed. As I’ve made clear before, I bitterly oppose the continuation of the war, but I understand the logic. But what we cannot do any longer is pretend that the war will free the hostages. If we continue to support the war, we lose the right to be shocked when hostages turn up dead. They all become as good as dead. We know what we are facing, we know that Hamas will continue to execute hostages. We can mourn now for all the remaining hostages, bear the portion of guilt for their deaths for not doing everything to save them, and hope that Hashem will forgive us.
Or we can support the families of the hostages, or the many Israelis marching right now to bring them home now. We can urge our institutions and communities to press the government of Israel to conclude a diplomatic solution, to save the hostages. We can speak up, not remain silent. We can make a difference. We can refuse to look away.
You’ll notice I haven’t mentioned any of the other reasons I have in the past for ending the war: the terrible toll it has taken on innocent Palestinians, the awful radicalizing effect it has had on Israeli and Palestinian society, and so on. I believe the truth to be that you can disagree with me on all of that, and still want a diplomatic solution for the sake of the hostages. It is their only chance. We can either do all we can to save them, or look away from them, give them up for dead, and bear a portion of that guilt. That might be a price you are willing to pay to prosecute a war against Hamas. But it is not one I am willing to.
כַּפֵּר לְעַמְּךָ יִשְׂרָאֵל אֲשֶׁר־פָּדִיתָ ה וְאַל־תִּתֵּן דָּם נָקִי בְּקֶרֶב עַמְּךָ יִשְׂרָאֵל
Absolve, Hashem, Israel, the nation that you redeemed, and do not place the guilt of the blood of the innocent amidst your people Israel.
Bring them home now.
