Nobody Left Behind
“It’s like talking to Americans about personal freedom,” Haviv Rettig Gur says when he’s describing Israel’s spirit of solidarity.
More than 90% of Israeli High Schoolers affirmatively answered this question: If the Jews of this or that region of the world were in danger, would you risk your life to fly to a far off country to save Jews you’ve never met? It doesn’t matter if you’re Left-wing, Right-wing. Secular or Religious. The notion that we do not leave our people behind is so foundational.
Such solidarity runs deeper than some of our most menacing disputes. Perhaps because it’s baked into the Torah’s values. Toward the end of this week’s portion, we glimpse one of the laws that champions our communal accountability. If someone is found murdered outside a town, the elders of the nearest town must acknowledge the weight of the loss, saying, “Our hands did not shed this blood” (Deut 21:7). By assuming responsibility, even when they’re not guilty, for a crime that happens around them, they shift their lens from the “I” to the “we.”
With the arrival of the Hebrew month of Elul, we begin what we hope will be a forgiving season. To be clear, forgiveness ought never result from side-stepping accountability. And those with malicious or malignant designs deserve no association with it. But most of our family and friends, our neighbors and acquaintances, just need an gracious offramp that grants them a chance to rise to being at their better selves.
Not leaving our people behind can also have a personal dimension. One way to show you care about a strained friendship is to ask:“I experienced your recent comment as meaning this or that, is that how you intended it?” Chances are high they’ll reply with information neither of you had been thinking about.
On my return flight from Israel yesterday, someone seated nearby asked about the programs and participation at synagogue this Fall. I replied, we’ll do our best and we’ll be okay. It’s the personal work of piecing together dislocated-relationships that will, in the end, determine the season’s sweetness.
