When silence is not golden

I was reading some commentaries on Sh'lah Lakah (B'Midbar/Numbers 13-15) - we have several in the house and I don't recall which one I had open at the time - and I came upon a comment that addressed the newly freed slaves preference to believe 10 negative reports versus 2 (Caleb's and Joshua's) positive reports.

The commentator was trying to make the point that even those who didn't rally 'round the reluctant-to-enter Canaan reporters were at least as guilty of supporting them as those who vocally stood with them.

The point was well made, albeit not on line with what the Torah reports - that all the people (save for Caleb, Joshua, and Moses) agreed with the reports.

Too often we see something that is wrong.

It might be something small, like a person littering (and currently there's a great tv commercial on that topic) or something major - I'm thinking of the Kitty Genovese murder (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kitty_Genovese) .

We don't "want to make waves."

I'm a red, white, and blue American from the midwest. I do "make waves."

I taught my children to "make waves." They do.

When they see a perceived injustice, they try to do something about it. One's a cop so he has the power of the law in his hands. The other two take "appropriate action," sometimes confronting the offender, sometimes calling someone "in authority."

We, Jews, are taught that we must do everything we can, including forfeiting our own life, to protect the life of another. Most of us never will be in that position but consider for a moment Ms. Genovese.

According to reports in the NY Times (Ms. Genovese was murdered in the Kew Gardens section of Queens NY), the 28-year-old woman was stabbed while 38 people looked on.

Although the Wikipedia article calls the NYT report less than 100% accurate, the bottom line is that different people at different times were aware that something was seriously wrong and did nothing - not even call police.

If one person had acted, could Ms. Genovese have been saved? Probably.

But no one did.

Not my job.

Out of sight, out of mind.

What do you do if you see a small child in an unattended vehicle? It doesn't have to be summer and the engine doesn't have to be running.

What do you do?

Wait a while to see if an adult returns - and if not, what? Go looking for the missing adult? Call the cops?

Or would you keep silent and walk on?

If the child was a dog and you were a PETA volunteer, you'd call the cops in a heartbeat.

If you're Jewish, there is no option: you MUST act.

Silence may be golden in the library, but when a person is in danger, silence makes us a contributor to the danger as surely as if we were the threat ourselves.

Think about it.

Yohanon
Yohanon.Glenn @ gmail.com