Silence Betokens Consent: Sermon for Parshat Mishpatim
By Rabbi Andrew A. Goodman
Last week, we heard the 10 commandments as given by God to Moses to the Israelite people. This week, in parshat Mishpatim, we hear a longer list of laws that the Israelites must follow. Some of these rules concern matters of theft, damage, and repayment. However, there are many rules that are less legal in nature and have much more of a societal focus.
One law, given in Parshat mishpatim, which continues to be an emblematic law preached throughout the rest of the Torah and by the prophets is: “You shall not ill-treat any widow or orphan.” Found in Exodus 22[1], this law lays out that Jews have an obligation to those in our midst that are disadvantaged, marginalized, and susceptible to prejudice. It is easy to see how these groups, widows and orphans, could be abused by society and we Jews are called to refrain from worsening their burden.
Immediately after laying out the prohibition from mistreating the widow and orphan, the text continues with an interesting phrase. “If you do mistreat them, I will heed their outcry as soon as they cry out to Me,”[2] : “im aneh t’aneh oto, ki im tza’ok yitzak eilai, shamo’ah eshmah tza’akato.” The sentence structure of the Hebrew is a little weird. Each verb in this phrase is doubled. This is a construct used in the Torah to emphasize an action… but seldom do you find more than one in a verse, let alone three. I am going to repeat the line again and I want you to listen to the repetitions of verbs in the sentences.
“im aneh t’aneh oto, ki im tza’ok yitzak eilai, shamo’ah eshmah tza’akato.”
“If you do mistreat them, I will heed their outcry as soon as they cry out to Me,”
The rabbis noticed this, and in their commentaries on the Torah, they wondered why the sentence structure is so special. The questioned why there is so much doubling in this verse.
Rashi, one of our tradition’s greatest rabbis, explained the verse thus: He said that the verbs of this verse are emphasized as a strict warning. He taught that the crime of mistreating an orphan or a widow was so heinous, so despicable, that the punishment was equally terrible. Thus, the Torah text emphasizes this prohibition in order to keep Jews away from making this grievous error.
I like this read because it emphasizes how we Jews must look at our obligation to our greater society. Using widows and orphans as two paradigmatic examples of target groups in society, Rashi teaches us that ignoring or mistreating these already marginalized groups is an immense transgression. It is so bad that the Torah text explains part of what could be the punishment for such a sin: “[God’s] anger shall blaze forth and [God] will put you to the sword, and your own wives shall become widows and your children orphans.”[3]
Though it is harsh, there is divine justice in this. The Torah teaches that though the widow might not have a husband, and the orphan might not have parents, God will be there protecting and providing for them. And, if you take advantage of, mistreat, or further insult a group that is already a victim in society, the punishment is necessarily severe.
However, if we look at widow and orphan as paradigmatic examples of victims… by oppressing an already oppressed person, a society is created where oppression is the norm. Mistreatment becomes status quo. In this kind of society, you become like a widow or an orphan… you too become a marginalized person.
* * *
Though Rashi’s words are sagacious, I still was not satisfied by the answer. The punishment of violating this law was spelled out in the Torah, so why was there the need for the Torah text to emphasize the verbs? Why highlight, “If you do mistreat them, I will heed their outcry as soon as they cry out to Me?”
There is a teaching brought by the Vilna Gaon, one of the most brilliant Jewish thinkers of the 18th century from Lithuania. He said that the verse is phrased in this way to emphasize the correct action and not lead to errors in logic. With the phrase, “If you do mistreat them, I will heed their outcry as soon as they cry out to Me”… ONE COULD THINK that having a person cry out to God and having God listen would be a meritorious action. ONE COULD THINK that causing a person to connect to God in this way would be a holy act as it is connecting a person in need with God. With that logic… ONE COULD THINK that one SHOULD mistreat an already victimized person in hopes that they will connect to God.
However, the Vilna Gaon warns against this line of thinking. He says that the repetitions in this verse remind us that, even “for the sake of Heaven”, one should not oppress, cause pain, or mistreat someone who already is of marginal status in our community.
* * *
This notion of caring for and guarding the rights of those victimized by society has been paramount in Jewish thought for the past three millennia. Though I’m sure at times we have fallen short, we Jews have always tried to be the voice of compassion, tolerance, and human rights in otherwise negative cultures. We Jews were activists in the anti-slavery movements; we were hand in hand with the feminist movement; and we were on the front lines, side by side with Christian allies, during the civil rights movement.
However, not every religious group shares our mandate for societal harmony and advocacy for those marginalized by our society. In fact, there are groups out there that are actively trying to breed discord and prey on victims in our society. Instead of heeding the caution laid out by the Vilna Gaon, these groups seem to be aggressively trying to use mistreatment, oppression, and pain as their way to get people closer to God. And though we could each name a dozen of these groups, the one closest to home is the Westboro Baptist Church, pastored by Fred Phelps.
* * *
In 2005, Phelps and his “protest ministry” came to Plattsburgh to protest the Mayor’s Cup Regatta. With venomous homophobic slurs and latent anti-Semitic currents, the WBC, Westboro Baptost Church, came to protest a boat race endorsed by an openly Gay mayor. Fortunately, the entire community rallied around to create a citywide, unified theme of “Stop Hate.”
However, the protests of Phelps and the WBC don’t end there. They have protested at the funerals of fallen American soldiers. They have spread hate regarding the firefighters who died in service during the September 11th attacks. They have lashed out about Jews, Catholics, and Swedes. But their biggest target is homosexuality.
Their belief is that homosexuality is a sin according to the Bible. Everyone is entitled to their own beliefs. However, fueled by ignorance and homophobia, they use hate, fear, and threats to try to bring these “sinners” closer to God. They believe that hate is a divine path… and there isn’t anything more anathema to Judaism.
* * *
According to an official email sent out by the WBC, Phelps and company are planning on returning to the North Country on March 6th. After a morning protesting in Albany, this group’s plan is to protest the Plattsburgh High School and the SUNY Plattsburgh campuses. According to educated guess, the High School is a target because there is a GLBTQ – Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer support group for students and allies. And the college is a target because of their upcoming production of “The Laramie Project: The Matthew Shepherd Story.” Because of groups on these campuses that acknowledge homosexuals as human beings, Plattsburgh is a target of Hate in the name of God.
Taking a page from the 2005 playbook, the community gathered together to decide how to react to this affront to religion, human rights, and decency. The community has decided to gather together and do nothing.
If you have read anything by or about Phelps, you know that he thrives on the negative attention he gets. Press that he gets helps him spread his message, and chastisements by public figures gives him more fodder for his cannon of hate. So, the community has decided to rally together and ignore him. The directive from community groups is that we should remain silent, pretend the WBC isn’t even here, go about our business, and after a couple of uncomfortable hours, they will be gone from our midst.
* * *
In the wake of the Holocaust, I am a firm believer that remaining silent in the face of injustice was as big of a sin as perpetrating the crime yourself. After learning about the atrocities at My Lai, I am of the school of thought that inaction make one complicit in the offense. And, always with the Persian proverb in the back of my mind, I truly believe. “Silence betokens consent.”
So, when I heard that silence was the plan to counteract Phelps and the WBC, I paused. I was extremely uncomfortable. I thought, how can we stay silent and be complicit in the immoral act? I understand that Phelps is fueled by attention, but how could WE sleep at night if we did nothing?
Then after grappling with this with colleagues and mentors, I realized, that we can remain silent to Phelps’ face… but we MUST NOT stay silent within our community. If we were to let this misguided pastor preach hate and we don’t say anything then I do believe we are complicit in helping him get his message out. However, if we break the silence we are working against this hate monger.
Therefore, we need to get this message out… at home, at school, at work, and at this synagogue. Let’s not continue the myth that homosexuality is anything less than human. Hopefully we will become better aware that people in our community, our friends, neighbors, coworkers, and even family might not all be heterosexual. I hope that we will be able to acknowledge that members of the GLBTQ community are also part of our religious community. We cannot abide by bigotry, slurs, or intolerant jokes in our work places. Ultimately, I hope that we will be able to respect and appreciate the personal choices, and love, of friends and family members of all orientations.
* * *
The Torah says that we should not mistreat a widow or an orphan. Rashi says that we should oppress anyone who is already disadvantaged in society. The Vilna Gaon says that we must avoid error in logic, thinking that hate will drive someone closer toward God. And Rabbi Abraham Joshuah Heschel says, “There is immense silent agony in the world, and the task of man is to be a voice for the plundered poor, to prevent the desecration of the soul and the violation of our dream of honesty.”[4]
Tonight I pray that we are able to break the silence of complicity. I pray that we are able to teach and act messages of love and support for all those in our community, so we too can continue to be in a supportive community. And I pray that we are able to have our voices join with all those marginalized in society, so that surely, God will hear our outcry. Then, we will be able to combat hate with peace and love, and we will be able to join in prayer:
“Oseh, Shalom bimromav, hu ya’aseh shalom aleinu v’al kol yisrael, v’al kol yoshvei tevel, vimru amen.”
“May the One Who causes peace to reign in the high heavens, cause peace to descend upon us, all Israel, and all humanity, and let us say: Amen.”
