Now…is the time for courage

We all know the saying, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing,” attributed to Edmund Burke. But as Dennis Prager points out, this means that for good to prevail, good people must also be courageous. It’s not enough to be good; we must have the courage to stand up, to confront evil, and to strengthen the good we do.

The idea of holiness as quiet or withdrawn is foreign to Judaism.
Moses split the sea.
David took on Goliath.
The daughters of Tzelofchad boldly argued their case.
Jewish history is a story of courage — and when courage has been absent, the results have been tragic.
This week’s parsha tells us that Noah walked with God. That was enough to make him worthy of survival and to become the father of humanity. Yet Rashi immediately notes that Abraham is described differently — he walked before God.
Rav Elya Lopian explained that Noah was passive; he did what he was told. Abraham, on the other hand, was proactive — he reached out to others and even argued with God.
Immediately after this description of Abraham, God offers him a covenant — not a command, but a partnership. God was looking for a partner in perfecting the world, not a servant.
When God gave us the Aseret HaDibrot — the Ten Commandments — most were phrased in the negative: Do not murder, do not steal, and so on. Rav Gedaliah Shore explains that this was deliberate. God left space for us to take initiative — to transform the “don’ts” into “do’s”: to nurture life, to respect others’ possessions, to find the wellspring of goodness within and live it actively.

If ever a time called for courage, it’s now — the courage to stand up to evil, to call out lies, and to shine the light we are meant to shine, without fear of what the neighbors might say.

We are the children of Abraham. He wasn’t passive — and neither should we be.