תלמוד בבלי מסכת תענית דף יא עמוד א
בזמן שהצבור שרוי בצער אל יאמר אדם אלך לביתי ואוכל ואשתה ושלום עליך נפשי
Babylonian Talmud Taanit, 11a
At a time when the community is suffering, no one should say, "I will go home, eat, drink, and be at peace with myself."
וְאֵלֶּה הַמִּשְׁפָּטִים. זֶה שֶׁאָמַר הַכָּתוּב: מֶלֶךְ בְּמִשְׁפָּט יַעֲמִיד אֶרֶץ, וְאִישׁ תְּרוּמוֹת יֶהֶרְסֶנָּה (משלי כט, ד). מַלְכָּהּ שֶׁל תּוֹרָה, בְּמִשְׁפָּט שֶׁהוּא עוֹשֶׂה, מַעֲמִיד אֶת הָאָרֶץ. וְאִישׁ תְּרוּמוֹת יֶהֶרְסֶנָּה. אִם מֵשִׁים אָדָם עַצְמוֹ כַּתְּרוּמָה הַזּוֹ שֶׁמֻּשְׁלֶכֶת בְּזָוִית הַבַּית וְאוֹמֵר מַה לִּי בְּטֹרַח הַצִּבּוּר, מַה לִּי בְּדִינֵיהֶם, מַה לִּי לִשְׁמֹעַ קוֹלָם, שָׁלוֹם עָלַיִךְ נַפְשִׁי, הֲרֵי זֶה מַחֲרִיב אֶת הָעוֹלָם. הֱוֵי וְאִישׁ תְּרוּמוֹת יֶהֶרְסֶנָּה.
Now these are the ordinances (Exod. 21:1) Scripture says elsewhere: The king by justice established the land, but the person who sets her/himself apart (like terumah*)overthrows it (Proverbs 29:4) The Torah’s king rules through justice and thereby causes the earth to endure, but the person who sets himself apart (terumah) overthrows it. This implies that if a person acts as though s/he were a terumah by secluding her/himself in the corner of their home and declaring: “What concern are the problems of the community to me? What does their judgment mean to me? Why should I listen to their voices of protest? Let my soul dwell in peace!” -If one does this, they overthrow the world.
*The word terumah means “something set aside,” as with the priestly offering.
QUESTIONS:
1) What is the danger of staying home?
2) How does this text speak to what drives you to do the work you do everyday?
כל מי שאפשר למחות לאנשי ביתו ולא מיחה- נתפס על אנשי ביתו, באנשי עירו- נתפס על אנשי עירו, בכל העולם כולו -נתפס על כל העולם כולו
Anyone who is able to protest against the transgressions of one's household and does not, is punished for the actions of the members of the household; anyone who is able to protest against the transgressions of one's townspeople and does not, is punished for the transgressions of the townspeople; anyone who is able to protest against the transgressions of the entire world and does not is punished for the transgressions of the entire world.
QUESTIONS:
1) What is our responsibility towards others?
2) When there is so much to care for at home and abroad - how do we balance the imperative to act with our own self care?
(9) But take utmost care and watch yourselves scrupulously, so that you do not forget the things that you saw with your own eyes and so that they do not fade from your mind as long as you live. And make them known to your children and to your children’s children:
QUESTIONS:
1) What does it mean to serve a community as an outsider?
2) How is seeing different than witnessing?
3) What does the text highlight as our responsibilities when we serve "on the ground" and then once we return home?
4) How do your responses to #2 sit with you?
"Why We Went: A Joint Letter from the Rabbis Arrested in St. Augustine," June 19, 1964
We came from different backgrounds and with different degrees of involvement. Some of us have had intimate experience with the struggle of minority groups to achieve full and equal rights in our widely scattered home communities. Others of us have had less direct contact with the underprivileged and the socially oppressed. And yet for all of us these brief, tension-packed hours of openness and communication turned an abstract social issue into something personal and immediate. We shall not forget the people with whom we drove, prayed, marched, slept, ate, demonstrated and were arrested. How little we know of these people and their struggle. What we have learned has changed us and our attitudes. We are grateful for the rare experience of sharing with this courageous community in their life, their suffering, their effort. We pray that we may remain more sensitive and more alive as a result... Each of us has in this experience become a little more the person, a bit more the rabbi he always hoped to be (but has not yet been able to become).
QUESTIONS:
1) What do we gain from our experiences serving in other communities?
2) How does this work change us?
3) How do we become good allies? How do we inspire others at home to get involved?
Rabbi Aderet Drucker June 2019