The Jewish Obligation to Prevent Genocide in Darfur
A. The Moral Duty to Rescue
Exodus 2:11-15
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| Some time after that, when Moses had grown up, he went to his kinsfolk and witnessed their labors. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his kinsmen. He turned this way and that and, seeing no one about, he struck down the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. When he went out the next day, he found two Hebrews fighting; so he said to the offender, "Why do you strike your fellow?" He retorted, "Who made you chief and ruler over us? Do you mean to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?" Moses was frightened, and thought: Then the matter is known! When Pharoah learned of the matter, he sought to kill Moses; but Moses fled from Pharoah. He arrived in the land of Midian, and sat down beside a well. [JPS] |
(יא) וַיְהִי בַּיָּמִים הָהֵם וַיִּגְדַּל מֹשֶׁה וַיֵּצֵא אֶל אֶחָיו וַיַּרְא בְּסִבְלֹתָם וַיַּרְא אִישׁ מִצְרִי מַכֶּה אִישׁ עִבְרִי מֵאֶחָיו: (יב) וַיִּפֶן כֹּה וָכֹה וַיַּרְא כִּי אֵין אִישׁ וַיַּךְ אֶת הַמִּצְרִי וַיִּטְמְנֵהוּ בַּחוֹל: (יג) וַיֵּצֵא בַּיּוֹם הַשֵּׁנִי וְהִנֵּה שְׁנֵי אֲנָשִׁים עִבְרִים נִצִּים וַיֹּאמֶר לָרָשָׁע לָמָּה תַכֶּה רֵעֶךָ: (יד) וַיֹּאמֶר מִי שָׂמְךָ לְאִישׁ שַׂר וְשֹׁפֵט עָלֵינוּ הַלְהָרְגֵנִי אַתָּה אֹמֵר כַּאֲשֶׁר הָרַגְתָּ אֶת הַמִּצְרִי וַיִּירָא מֹשֶׁה וַיֹּאמַר אָכֵן נוֹדַע הַדָּבָר: (טו) וַיִּשְׁמַע פַּרְעֹה אֶת הַדָּבָר הַזֶּה וַיְבַקֵּשׁ לַהֲרֹג אֶת מֹשֶׁה וַיִּבְרַח מֹשֶׁה מִפְּנֵי פַרְעֹה וַיֵּשֶׁב בְּאֶרֶץ מִדְיָן וַיֵּשֶׁב עַל הַבְּאֵר:
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Exodus 2:16-17
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| Now the priest of Midian [Yitro] had seven daughters. They came to draw water, and filled the troughs to water their father’s flock; but shepherds came and drove them off. Moses rose to their defense, and he watered their flock. [JPS translation] |
וּלְכֹהֵן מִדְיָן שֶׁבַע בָּנוֹת וַתָּבֹאנָה וַתִּדְלֶנָה וַתְּמַלֶּאנָה אֶת הָרְהָטִים לְהַשְׁקוֹת צֹאן אֲבִיהֶן: וַיָּבֹאוּ הָרֹעִים וַיְגָרְשׁוּם וַיָּקָם מֹשֶׁה וַיּוֹשִׁעָן וַיַּשְׁקְ אֶת צֹאנָם:
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Questions and comments for Study and Thought
1. Moses strikes the Egyptian only when he recognizes that the Hebrews are his brothers. His championing of Jethro's daughters, by contrast, has nothing to do with kinship. Do you think his obligation was the same in both cases? Which do you think he handled better?
Note that according to rabbinic tradition Jethro's daughters were udner threat of rape.
Responsa Sh'eilat Yaavetz 2:51, Rabbi Jacob Emden
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| A Jew with political responsibility (adam chashuv) has the obligation to rescue the oppressed from the hands of the oppressor by all means available to him, whether by direct action or through political effort, regardless of whether the oppressed is Jewish. So Job praised himself by saying, "I have broken the teeth of evil," and the Torah says of Moses that, "He arose and championed them," referring to the daughters of Jethro, even though they were the daughters of an idolatrous priest (EDAH). |
משא"כ באדם חשוב. שמוטל עליו להציל עשוק מיד עשקו בכל אופן שיוכל, אם בגופו או בהשתדלותו, יהי' העשוק מי שהי'. כענין שאמר איוב, ואשברה מתלעות עול, וכתוב במרע"ה ויקם ויושיען, אע"פ שבנות כומר היו, הילכך אדם חשוב לא מצי משתמיט
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Suggested Discussion Questions
Rabbi Emden, who lived at the beginning of the movement for Jewish Emancipation in Europe, drew a distinction between the Jew who is an adam chashuv and ordinary Jews. In a democracy which gives Jews full suffrage, is every Jew an adam chashuv?
Leviticus 19:16
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| You shall not be a tale-bearer among your people; you shall not stand idly by the blood of your neighbor; I am Adonai. [translation by AJWS] |
לֹא־תֵלֵךְ רָכִיל בְּעַמֶּיךָ לֹא תַעֲמֹד עַל־דַּם רֵעֶךָ אֲנִי ה':
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Suggested Discussion Questions
What is the difference between a fellow (amit) and a peer (re'ah)? Why are the obligations in these verses grouped together?
Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 73a
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| How do we know that if a person sees another person drowning, mauled by beasts, or attacked by robbers, s/he is bound to save him? From the verse, “You shall not stand idly by the blood of your neighbor!” (Leviticus 19:16). [AJWS translation] |
מניין לרואה את חבירו שהוא טובע בנהר, או חיה גוררתו, או לסטין באין עליו, שהוא חייב להצילו - תלמוד לומר לא תעמד על דם רעך (ויקרא י"ט).
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Suggested Discussion Questions
How much time or money can one be required to expand for the sake of rescuing others? Is there a qualitative difference between the obligation to rescue individuals and the obligation to prevent genocide? How should this obligation apply to communities?
SC. Foundations of the Legal and Moral Duties to Rescueefe
Promoting Peace in the World- Yishuv HaOlamHaChinuch, Mitzvah 600
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| We Jews have been commanded to rescue the pursued from the hands of any who pursue them with intent to kill, if necessary at the cost of the pursuer's life...Among the roots of this commandment is that God, Who is Blessed, created the world and willed that it be settled, and the settlement of the world is upheld by the championing of the weak against those stronger. Furthermore, the pursued will always have eyes and heart turned toward God to champion him against his pursuer, as Scripture says, "The Lord will seek out the pursued"- meaning that the pursued seeks the Lord and prays to him. Therefore, He Who is Blessed has commanded us to assist the pursued. [EDAH] |
שנצטוינו להציל הנרדף מיד מי שירדפהו להורגו, ואפילו בנפש הרודף, כלומר שאנו מצווין להרוג הרודף אם לא נוכל להציל הנרדף אלא אם כן נהרוג הרודף, ועל זה נאמר [דברים כ"ה, י"ב], וקצתה את כפה לא תחוס עינך. ואמרו בספרי, והחזיקה במבושיו, מה אותו מקום מיוחד שיש בו סכנת נפשות ונאמר על זה וקצותה את כפה כך כל דבר שיש בו סכנת נפשות הרי הוא בוקצותה את כפה, ומנין שאם אינו יכול להצילו בכפה בלבד שחייב להצילו בנפשה, תלמוד לומר לא תחוס עינך. וזה שאמר הכתוב אשת האחד, דבר הכתוב בהוה שאשתו של אדם אצלו תמיד ומשתדלת להצילו מיד מכהו בכל כחה, אבל הוא הדין בכל אדם.
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Suggested Discussion Questions
Sefer HaChinnuch strikingly formulates the Jewish idea that we act for God in this world. The oppressed turn to God for assistance, but God responds by turning to us.
Love of Human Beings- v'ahavrta lere'acha kamocSara Schriner, Em B'Yisroel 2:75-7
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| When we state that it is a mitzvah to love people, this means that it makes no difference who the person is, whether Jew or alien...Thus Abraham our father, through love and devotion, extended his hospitality to guests, dressing them and feeding them. He endangered his life for the sake of the King of Sodom and begged God's mercy for Sodom and Gomorrah. Moses our master, too, was quick to come to the aid of alien shepherds and defended them from attackers. [Edah] |
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Suggested Discussion Questions
Sara Schriner argues that Abraham endangered himself out of love for the evil King of Sodom when he was conquered. Are there limits to the obligations universal love can impose? Note that the straightforward reading of the Biblical text is that Abraham endangered himself for the sake of his nephew Lot, not for the King of Sodom.
D. Jewish Particularity and the Universal Obligation to Rescueo, Commentary on Exodus 2:11-17
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| "He saw a man who was Egyptian striking a man who was Hebrew from among his brethren"- and owing to his sense of brotherhood he aroused himself to assist (avenge). "He said to the evildoer"- since each one of them was his brother, he did not arouse himself to avenge, but rather rebuked directly. "Moses arose; He championed them"- since both parties to the quarrel were aliens, he did not arouse himself to avenge (assist), not did he care to straighten their ways through moral rebuke, rather he arose to rescue the oppressed from the hands of their oppressors. [Edah] |
(יא) וירא בסבלותם. נתן לבו לראות בעוני אחיו: וירא איש מצרי מכה איש עברי מאחיו. ומצד האחוה התעורר להנקם: (יג) ויאמר לרשע. מפני היות כל אחד מהם אחיו לא התעורר להנקם, אבל הוכיח במישור: (יד) הלהרגני אתה אומר. אתה מעורר מדנים להרגני: ויירא משה. ובכן נשמר לנפשו וברח: ויאמר אכן נודע הדבר. כשאמר זה המוסר את דבריו אלה בפני רבים, ולכן לא הרג את המוסר מבלי אין תועלת בהריגתו אחר שכבר מסר: (טו) וישב בארץ מדין. בחר לשבת איזה זמן בארץ מדין: וישב על הבאר. ובעברו בארץ קרה לו שישב סמוך לאיזה באר, כמו ויפגע במקום (בראשית כח, יא) באיזה מקום, כמבואר למעלה: (יז) ויקם משה ויושיען. בהיות שני בעלי הריב נכרים לא התעורר להנקם, גם לא הקפיד לישר ארחותם בתוכחות מוסר, רק קם להושיע את העשוקים מיד עושקיהם:
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Suggested Discussion Questions
S'forno contends that Moses reacted with rage to oppression against his community, with outrage to oppression within his community, and with pragmatic rationality to oppression outside his community. Do you find these differing reactions compelling or troubling? How well does S'forno's reading mesh with Dr. Zuroff's analysis of the moral implications of the Shoah?
Dr. Efraim Zuroff, (Director, The Simon Wiesenthal Center, Jerusalem) "A Plea for Jewish Action Against the Crimes Being Committed in Darfur"
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We who have preached to the world for decades about its failure to save the Jews who faced Nazi genocide, cannot ignore the plight of other victims of heinous crimes. Our response, moreover, will in no way diminish or impugn the memory of the Holocaust. If anything, the success of a Jewish effort against the perpetrators of contemporary mass murder, ethnic cleansing, and genocide will only reinforce the power of the memory of the Holocaust and its unique importance not only for us but for the entire world. So as we face the terrible crimes being committed in Darfur and its vicinity by Arab militias supported by the Sudanese government, we have a Jewish obligation to speak out against the murders and try our utmost to facilitate prompt action to save those targeted by the killers. For years we have been preaching "Never Again," and we have time and again proven our dedication to saving Jews in distress but the time has come to demonstrate clearly that our sacred pledge made in the wake of the Holocaust also applies just as well to the rest of the world. Standing up for Darfur will not betray the memory of Europe's murdered Jews, it will honor that memory. In the words of Hillel, "If I am not for myself, who will be for me, and when I am only for myself what am I, and if not now, then when?"
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