One of the centerpiece mitzvot in parshat Yitro is the
mitzvah of lo tirtzach - that it is
forbidden to murder. This mitzvah is often glossed over, I assume because it is
so completely obvious. But over the past few months and years, we have
certainly seen this all over the news, whether in Chicago or across the
country. This mitzvah of lo tirtzach
is violated in our cities, our country, and our world constantly. It is
certainly as important now as in the time of the Children of Israel and Moshe,
when this mitzvah was placed in the center of the aseret hadibrot, the 10 commandments.
There are two ways that we can interpret lo tirtzach. The first is a very limited
understanding: when the Torah says lo
tirtzach, that we cannot murder, the Torah is telling us that we cannot
perform that final act of killing. This view is represented by Ibn Ezra, who
comments:
בידך- we are prohibited from killing the
person with our own hand.
For Ibn Ezra, one is liable for transgressing the
commandment of “you shall not murder” only if you have done something fairly
direct to kill that person: with your hands themselves, or with your words,
your testimony.
But there is another, more expansive view of lo tirtzach. Maimonides, in his
immaculately organized code of Jewish law called the Mishneh Torah, could have
created a section titled “הלכות רוצח- Laws of Murder.” But instead, he used
the title “הלכות רוצח ושמירת הנפש - Laws of Murder and the Protection of
Life.” For the Rambam, the law that we are not allowed to murder is completely
intertwined with laws about the preservation of life. In the very same place
where the Rambam mentions that a murderer is to be executed, he also talks
about how there is a mitzvah to not stand idly by when someone’s life is in
danger; to build guardrails on our rooftops to prevent people from falling; to
help a person whose animal collapses on the road. The Rambam, in the same place
where he talks about how one must not murder, also writes that we cannot leave
people abandoned and helpless. For the
Rambam, if we perform what seem like small acts of chesed, kindness, we are simultaneously preventing murder and
protecting life.
This coming Monday, Anshe Emet will host over a hundred people of multiple
faiths from the Lakeview area at Anshe Emet, as we come together for a day of
learning and service in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. We will explore how the values of preserving
life, freedom, and equality are manifested in our faith traditions, in the work
of Dr. King, and how we can make those values into a reality today by taking
action on issues including juvenile justice, mental health justice, money and
politics, and supporting those in our community who were formerly incarcerated.
Please join us, as we come together to learn, to act, and to live up to the
Rambam’s imperative of preserving life.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi David Russo
