I’m currently in Anchorage at a regional conference of Chabad Lubavitch emissaries. Yes, in the universe of Chabad you can have 75 rabbis in Alaska.
Needless to say, getting to Alaska from throughout the Western USA can be challenging. I am lucky. Thank G-d my connection was smooth and I arrived in time. My friend, however, missed his connection and needed to stay overnight in a hotel and then fly standby. Flying standby is never fun. He did make it here, Baruch Hashem, after another two connections.
In this week’s double parsha of Acharei-Kedoshim we learn about a different type of standby.
The Torah warns us not to be bystanders if we see someone in danger. “You shall not stand by the shedding of your fellow’s blood.”
In America, you are called a Good Samaritan if you help an injured person on the roadway. In the Torah, you are fulfilling your obligation. In fact, you aren’t allowed to continue down the road if you see someone who’s life is in danger and you can assist.
Interestingly, in Israel a law was recently passed forbidding passers-by from ignoring a person that has been critically injured in a motorway. This was the response to an outcry after a video surfaced in which a person was killed in an accident and lay in a busy intersection for over 90 seconds without any of the dozens of vehicles stopping to assist.
So, who has it right? The Torah (and modern Israeli law), or US law? It’s nice to be a hero, but why can’t I just mind my own business if I prefer?
It’s easy to justify this approach. Why should I stop when there are so many others around? Why me? What about the meeting that I need to attend or the children that are home waiting for dinner? Don’t I have other important duties to tend to? And, what difference will I make anyway? I can’t solve all the world’s problems!
My mentor, the Lubavitcher Rebbe once explained this mitzvah/requirement based on the Jewish principle of Divine Providence. Everything that we encounter in life is providential. If I happen to be the person that drives by someone in danger, this is G-d’s message to me that I can and must help. In other words, “What you see is what you get.” If you see something, it’s by Divine design. You have been delivered a mission.
The Baal Shem Tov (founder of the Chassidic movement) taught that G-d speaks to us through Providence. When Hashem gives us an opportunity or challenge, it’s His way of saying I believe in you and expect you to rise to the occasion. If I see it, it has my name marked all over it.
The Jewish way of changing the world, it turns out, is to never fly standby. G-d expects you to change the world – by embracing and taking responsibility for the situations that are right before your eyes.
(With thanks to my colleague Rabbi Shneur Ashkenazi for sharing this inspiration).