Parshat Ki Teitze: The Sin of Indifference
Amidst the melange of mitzvot in this week’s portion (typical of portions in Deuteromony) we encounter an overarching critique that encompasses a critical Jewish behavioral mandate: The Sin of Indifference. The parasha lists the classic responsibilities to return lost livestock and to assist when an animal is astride the side of the road. But this negative mitzvah threads its way through other scenarios: The shooing away of a mother bird when taking eggs as an expression of humaneness; and the building of a parapet around one’s roof to insure against accidental falls. These are extensions of a similar command in Leviticus 19: Do not stand idly by the blood of your neighbor. In essence, if we can heed the moral call of concern for the welfare of animals, the inconvenience of returning lost property, and provisions against preventable accidents, how much more so would we be conditioned to act in the face of more serious obligations.
The word “indifference” is rendered in Hebrew as “hit-a-lem”—to disappear oneself. The commentator Rashi adds: Do not hide your eyes as if you did not see them…[or] pretend that you didn’t. This is an incisive indictment of the well-intentioned—as even the truly good and conscientious can fall victim to a compassion fatigue that insulates them in a cocoon of rationalization—obscuring the need, even the dire need, of others. Our tradition thus counsels us to rise above the complacency and apathy that infect all of us during protracted times of strife—to remember that, particularly at times in which we are burned out on offering blessing to others, that is precisely the time to rise above the satisfactions of self to address the well being of others.
– Rabbi Daniel Weiner
