Did You See The Signs?
D'var
Torah: Mishpatim
February 20, 2009
There are a couple of relatively obscure verses in our Parsha that, oddly enough, speak to an event in the headlines this past week. Which event? There were a number of events of note, the tragic plane crash in Buffalo, the passage of the stimulus bill, the presidential prescription for dealing with home foreclosures and the runaway mortgage industry, and the event of the chimpanzee, Travis, that went on a rampage and viciously mauled a woman by the name of Chandra Nash. These verses happen to deal with the chimp.
We were especially struck by the mauling chimpanzee because we often find ourselves entertained by these animals, playing the piano, wearing a tuxedo and this chimpanzee in particular was featured on some TV ads for Coca Cola and Old Navy. He was a sort of a star. Reportedly, Travis dressed himself, brushed his own teeth and drank from a stemmed wine glass. We feel an affinity with these chimps because they are about the closest thing in the animal kingdom to humans. How could a chimpanzee go so berserk? What a silly question! If chimpanzees are about the closest thing to humans, there is no reason for us to be surprised that one will go on a mauling spree. How many murders were there in Philadelphia last year and already this year? Again, in Philadelphia, another police officer was killed in the line of duty this past week. Too many humans every day maul and kill other members of the human race, sometimes brutally. What is wrong with us? Last Thursday was the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin. Is it that we have not yet sufficiently evolved? Is it that we are desperately in need of the many laws found in this week's Parsha which set out to regulate human and societal behavior? But why a chimpanzee who wears a tuxedo and plays the piano?
The first question that came to my mind in hearing this story and feeling terribly for the woman who was so viciously injured Charda Nash was did this chimpanzee ever exhibit this kind of behavior before or was it out of the clear blue sky. This is where the usually obscure verses of the Torah come into play. In Exodus 21:28 we have, "When an ox gores a man or a woman to death, the ox shall be stoned and its flesh shall not be eaten but the owner of the ox is not to be punished. If however, that ox has been in the habit of goring and its owner, though warned, has failed to guard it, and it kills a man or a woman - the ox shall be stoned and its owner too shall be put to death." These verses are actually not so obscure to the Rabbis of the Talmud. Much attention is given to the goring ox, whether the goring was a surprise or the owner had seen the ox gore previously. Notice the severity of the punishment of the owner who was aware of the fact that the ox had previously gored. In not being sufficiently vigilant to previous incidents, the owner is guilty of murder.
As far as I know, none of us owns an ox and none of us are the proud owners of a pet chimpanzee. When I have assumed the role of Noah and have blessed a whole assortment of pets, no one has brought a chimp. What relevance then does any of this have for us? Maybe it doesn't and yet maybe it does. This all boils down to the question should you have known and should you have responded?
Things go wrong in life. Sometimes there is no way we could have possibly anticipate it and so never in a million years, if we had that many, could we have prevented it. In that case we kill the ox and move on. But there are other times when all the lights are flashing and the bells are ringing and we should have paid attention and if the ox gored again, we are totally responsible. All the signs were there and we missed them or we saw the signs but did nothing.
The examples of this are many. Did we pay attention to the symptoms we were having to respond in time before the illness became too severe. Too many times I have heard "he never liked to go to doctors or he hated hospitals" and a severe price was then paid. Staying with our physical well being for a moment did we pay attention to our bodies just getting more and more run down or did we say that business comes first and I come last?
Did we see the signs of our marriages not flourishing. One spouse says, "I have been unhappy for a number of years." The other spouse has not only been pretty satisfied but has had no idea of the other's unhappiness. Denial is no defense.
If we were aware of the goring ox and did nothing, we are responsible and the punishment is severe. How long have we seen the sign of our global scorching. If we didn't see it with our own eyes, Al Gore and others have been waving the red flags in front of us. This was one of the topics on the agenda of our Secretary of State on her visit to China today.
On a national level there is a public anger and outcry because we are wondering who was aware that the ox was goring but did nothing. Was no one aware that the mortgage industry was running rampant? Why has there been no real response to millions of Americans losing their homes until this week? There were those who saw the goring ox by the name of Bernard Madoff. They reported their sightings to the SEC and the SEC did nothing. The list goes on.
The Torah goes on in verse 33, "When a man opens a pit, or digs a pit and does not cover it, and an ox or donkey falls into it, the one responsible for the pit must make restitution; he shall pay the price to the owner." A lot of pits have been dug that millions of Americans have fallen into and the pit diggers still want their bonuses.
Keep your eyes open for your very own goring ox. When we see the signs that something is going wrong, these signs can be our greatest teachers. Ignore them and we can find ourselves in a deeper pit which we ourselves have dug. When the signs are in front of us, respond. That is the message of these otherwise seemingly obscure verses.
Shabbat Shalom
