Mem Moment | Not Just “Passing Through”
Parashat Shoftim “Judges”
Parashat Shoftim closes with a murder mystery: a corpse is discovered in a field, and no one knows what happened or who is at fault. In response, the Torah outlines an enigmatic public ritual whereby the elders of the city nearest to the corpse perform the mitzvah of eglah arufah – the “axed heifer” – as a means of communal atonement: “All of the elders of that city, who are nearest to the corpse, shall wash their hands over the heifer that was axed in the valley. And they shall make this declaration: ‘Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it done’” (Devarim 21:6-7). Certainly, no one suspects that the elders are the culprits! Why, then, must they stand over the heifer and publicly declare their innocence?
Our tradition teaches that it is a great mitzvah to escort guests such that no harm should befall them, and one who fails to do so is like one who spills blood. The Talmud (Sotah 46b) explains that in the eglah arufah ritual, these elders are effectively saying, “Had we encountered him, we would have fulfilled our duty to care for and escort him.” The elders are not merely denying that they committed the murder—they are publicly stating that they did not fail this stranger before he ever reached the field. They simply had no chance to help.
When we wait for our fellow Jews to come to us seeking community, we miss countless opportunities to accompany them to their physical, emotional, or spiritual destinations. What would it look like if—instead of sitting at the proverbial city gates waiting for travelers to pass by—we saw ourselves as leaders, as elders, as people of agency, and took upon ourselves the initiative to go out into the field and find those who are lost, estranged, and otherwise in need of sustenance and protection?
