Perashat Shofetim 5776

Perashat Shofetim 5776

There has been a lot of talk this year during the presidential campaign about secure borders and the responsibility of a leader to protect his home, city or nation from intruders that have the intent to inflict harm upon that territory and its inhabitants.  I believe that everyone agrees that it is important to protect oneself and one's own territory from trespassers and from anyone who is bent upon committing crimes against the citizens and inhabitants of that territory. The question is, to what extent does one have to go to protect their country and its people.  This is where the disagreement lays.

Perashat Shofetim begins with a call by Moshe to the Israelites instructing them, as they enter the Land of Israel, to establish Judges and officers to enforce the law and to protect the inhabitants. Such courts and officers are to be established in every city in the land and for each tribe. The officers would have the responsibility to enforce the law, and would circulate in the markets and in the streets, to make sure that the law is not being violated and summon violators to the courts for adjudication. The reason for such a plan is that, if there were to be a breakdown of respect for the law and its observance, the downfall of the nation could not be far behind; such a breakdown would lead to anarchy. 

The rest of the Perasha deals with laws directed to the leaders of the nation that have the responsibility to lead and protect. 

Interestingly enough, the Perasha ends with the famous paragraph known by the name of Egla Arufa - "The Axed Heifer." 

This paragraph opens with a hypothetical account of a corpse/cadaver which is found lying in a field in between two cities, with no clue as to his murderer.  A whole procedure was to be carried out in order to shed light as to who may be responsible for this action. That responsibility extended not only to the murderer himself, but also to the communal and political leadership for their neglect and indifference in caring for the victim and policing and protecting the local populace, especially  those who are deemed to be most vulnerable.
 
The process begins with the elders and communal leaders measuring the distance between the cadaver and the closest city. Once that was established, the elders and leaders of that city are commanded to take a heifer that has never been worked, down to a valley and put her through a process,  after which they wash their own hands over the heifer and say: "Our hands have not spilled this blood and our eyes did not see... Atone for Your people and do not place innocent blood in the midst of Your people." The Perasha concludes by alluding to G-d's own supposed answer in this matter:  "But you shall remove the innocent blood from your midst when you do what is upright in the eyes of G-d."

This is a public ritual that the elders and the communal leaders perform in which they declare that they were not culpable for the murder and pray for forgiveness and atonement. Why is it that the elders and the communal leaders have to perform such a public ritual, declaring their innocence and asking for forgiveness?

It seems that this declaration is somewhat ludicrous! Did anyone even suspect the elders and the communal leaders of murder? If this is meant to serve as an admission on their part that they did not know how to protect the victim and allowed him to befall such a fate, then they surely would be guilty of such neglect, and would be considered to have blood on their hands - such is the responsibility of leaders, and therefore this declaration would be irrelevant!  One of the commentators, Rabbi Obadiah Seforno of the 15th century Italy, is of the opinion that the elders meant to say that they did not permit a known murderer to roam the land, and therefore, they, literally, wash their hands from the responsibility of the murder. 

The answer, however, is obvious: it is the responsibility of the leadership of the land to protect and police the cities; it is their duty to do so.  It behooves the leadership to accept this responsibility before they declare their innocence. If there was no responsibility and partial culpability, a declaration of innocence would be superfluous and unnecessary. The sage and commentator Rabbi Abraham Ibn Ezra of 11th century Spain, is of the opinion that the elders do indeed carry a degree of responsibility, since it is due to the environment of crime and sinfulness in their town which is created by their own lack of law-enforcement and policing, that permitted such a mishap to occur in the first place.

Clearly, we can conclude from these passages and the various commentaries, that it is the responsibility of the leaders of each community, city and nation to provide protection to their inhabitants, and to educate, police, and enforce the laws among the population, in order to prevent crimes from occurring. A lackadaisical approach coupled with an air of neglect - and hoping against hope that crime will not take place - given the ripe circumstances for a crime to be committed, places the local leadership in a situation of responsibility for the crime. That is a responsibility that ought not to be taken lightly. The verse that the Perasha concludes with, "But you shall remove the innocent blood from your midst when you do what is upright in the eyes of G-d," seems to be an exhortation by G-d or Moshe, that the only way to, 'remove the innocent blood' - meaning the preventing of the shedding of innocent blood - is, 'when you do what is upright in the eyes of G-d.' And, 'the upright in the eyes of G-d,' is the fulfillment of the responsibility of the leadership to police, enforce, provide protection and prevent crimes from being committed. When that is done, there will be no innocent blood shed.

How little and ineffective, or how much and extreme of a policing, protection and prevention is necessary? The answer is obvious; it cannot be so little to be so ineffective! How much then? It depends on the times, the circumstances, the likelihood of a crime and the societal environment. These are the determining factors.