Shofetim 5783 ~ August 18, 2023

Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel asks us to consider the difference between moral responsibility and legal guilt. The conceptual difference is found at the end of our Torah reading for this Shabbat in parashat Shofetim. The Torah describes a situation where a body of a murder victim is found on the outskirts of a town. In a most unusual ceremony, known as the eglah arufah, the leaders of the town were required to participate in a ceremony and make the following declaration: “Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it done.”

With this declaration, the leaders of the community were not expressing legal guilt. Everyone knew that they were not involved in the act itself. Yet at the same time, by expressing these words and participating in the ceremony, they were sharing the reality that the town had a moral responsibility to protect its inhabitants. In this instance, the case was that they did not provide adequate protection from being murdered. But, in Heschel’s world, it also meant protecting the innocent from so many other harms that come in their path, from that of hunger and lack of housing, to that of racial and gender inequality.

Heschel’s message speaks loud and clear today, in our world, where we witness homelessness in our society on such a level in major cities. It speaks of the callousness of landlords to care for the properties of their tenants, especially of those who are of lower income and do not have the means to take action. It bemoans the sometime lack of care in some nursing homes and adult living facilities that place elderly and infirmed at risk. Thankfully, here in the New London area, our state representatives not only recognized the unlivable conditions in one lower income housing in Groton, but created legislation holding the landlord responsible to insure that living spaces were free of mold and other harmful toxins, and that the landlord maintained the buildings, as they were morally responsible to.  

In Heschel’s time, he and other rabbis walked together, hand in hand, with Dr. Martin Luther King, in Selma, Alabama. On August 26^th, “The Rabbinical Assembly and USCJ are partnering with the ADL for the 2023 March on Washington. 60 years ago, ADL leaders joined with civil rights leaders to witness Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. deliver his historic “I Have a Dream” speech. This year the ADL is honored to co-chair this momentous event, which is not a commemoration, but a continuation of that landmark moment in the fight against hate and to secure justice and fair treatment for all. The ADL community will lead Jewish communal participation in the March, as we stand arm in arm to Fight Hate for Good with our allies to continue Dr. King’s legacy.”

We are aware that there is only so much that government can do to provide for and protect.  However, in creating this ceremony, known as the eglah arufah, our Torah reading reminds our governmental leaders that they have a responsibility and, when situations arise such as described in the Torah, that they must use their moral compass to guide them to find a solution that best helps those in need. We know it is not a failproof system, but knowing that society is doing as much as it can to provide services that create safety and protection is why the Torah is so specific in creating this ceremony.  As Rashi (rabbinic commentator on the Torah) points out: “Would it enter anyone’s mind that the elders of the court are suspect of blood shedding? But the meaning of the declaration is: We never saw and knowingly let him depart without food or escort.”

Moral responsibility versus legal guilt also plays out in so many other instances in the forefront of so many news making headlines today. As so many legal commentaries have suggested, perhaps some of these most noteworthy cases might not be in our courts today if moral responsibility was at the forefront of some of those who now might have to face the legal consequences presented to them. 

As we have now entered the new month of Elul and we prepare for the High Holidays, we too must reflect upon moments where perhaps we might improve upon our own personal moral responsibilities, at the same time without incurring the guilty feeling that is traditionally associated with such thoughts.  

Shabbat shalom,

Rabbi K