{"id":52719,"date":"2019-03-31T22:22:19","date_gmt":"2019-03-31T19:22:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=52719"},"modified":"2019-03-31T22:22:19","modified_gmt":"2019-03-31T19:22:19","slug":"see-speak-act","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/see-speak-act\/","title":{"rendered":"See, Speak, Act"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[],"acf":{"old_id":"52719","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":33992,"related_cahpter":"2005","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Deuteronomy 22:3 - \u201cYou must not remain indifferent\u201d","content":"

This has been my favorite verse in the Torah for as long as I can remember. And I do remember, as a college student 30 years ago, the first time I picked up the Bible to read it on my own – the same semester that I met Elana and God (I was clearly in the mood for love!) reading Scripture on my own, in English, hit me with a force beyond description. I was thrilled by the drama and the pageantry, elevated by the wisdom, challenged by the vision of a just, compassionate and righteous society, a vision yet to be implemented.<\/span><\/p>\n

Then I read these staccato words. In the middle of a paragraph which speaks of our obligation to restore lost items to our fellow (the Torah terms him your “brother”!), how we are to inconvenience ourselves to return lost property or clothing or livestock, we are then instructed <\/span>lo tukhal le-hitalem, you must not remain indifferent.<\/span><\/i> If you were looking for a three word summation of the entire Torah, that would be it.<\/span><\/p>\n

I have tried throughout my rabbinic work, as a husband and father and friend, not to allow myself to be indifferent. When I saw the exclusion and marginalization of LGBTQ people, I didn’t let myself remain quiet. When I fathered a boy who struggles with autism, I didn’t let myself remain quiet. I am no saint, but that charge of Torah was a goad that would not let me hide (another way to translate the verse: \u201cyou may not hide\u201d). Rashi, in his typical way, comments that we may not hide our eyes as though we didn’t see the others’ suffering. <\/span><\/p>\n

These powerful, uncompromising, stern words call me to be who I am supposed to be. Whether tired or not, worn down or not, I can no longer hide. I must not remain indifferent.<\/span><\/p>\n","image":false,"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"Jews\/Verses\/Tanakh","main_caption":"See, Speak, Act","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"Deuteronomy 22:3 - \u201cYou must not remain indifferent\u201d","preview_embedded":"","preview_image":false,"preview_video":"","external_link":"","link_for_pay":false,"tile_gallery_items":false,"credits":""},"alternate_tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"","hide_media":false},"tile_group":{"preview_image_url":false,"main_caption":"","sub_caption":"","":null,"popup_package_extra_content":"","read_time":""},"home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo":{"seo_title":"","seo_description":"","seo_default_title":"","seo_default_description":""},"links":false},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52719"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52719"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52719\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":52720,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52719\/revisions\/52720"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52719"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52719"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52719"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}