Our Hands Did Not Shed This Blood, But Our Eyes Saw

For years, Israelis have been warned about violence, yet it seems that only after the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin did the quotes from the late Prime Minister’s final speech at the peace rally in Kings of Israel Square, where he was shot and killed, truly resonate. His most famous words, "Violence is the corrosion of the foundation of Israeli democracy. It must be denounced and isolated. This is not the way of the State of Israel," have echoed every year since. However, the shocking reports of senseless street violence prove that the message has not sufficiently permeated the consciousness of Israeli citizens.

Violence is not merely a physical blow to another person’s body. It is a blow to society, to the state, and to everyone who believes that the Creator fashioned man to be upright and good. The problem is that people have lost their way by seeking to settle scores with one another or, in particularly extreme and horrific cases, by closing accounts in a cruel manner devoid of logic and basic humanity.

The great sorrow that every person should feel when exposed to the details of the shocking murder of a 21-year-old Israeli man, who worked at a pizzeria in Petah Tikva on Independence Day eve and simply asked a few wild youths to maintain order and not vandalize the place, only to have his own body destroyed and his life cut short by a group of unrestrained human animals, is not just over the incident itself. It's also over the knowledge that the writing was on the wall for a long time; everyone saw and knew, and some even warned, yet the horrific act was not prevented. Another family in Israel found herself standing before an open grave, crying out Shema Yisrael.

The Torah tells of a slain person found in the field between two cities, where the killer is unknown. The elders of the city closest to the body must perform a ceremony known as Egla Arufa. During this ritual, they must declare aloud: "Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it," and ask for forgiveness and atonement from the Creator. This ensures they are not suspected of the grave sin of bloodshed by failing to care for the deceased while he was still alive, ensuring he was escorted and sent on his way home in peace after finishing his business in their city.

Returning to our current reality: every Israeli citizen who heard of the appalling murder in Petah Tikva last Independence Day and other violent incidents that occurred in the city and across the country thereafter felt shock and horror. Although they know with certainty that their hands did not shed blood, they cannot say that their eyes have not witnessed street brawls or violence in movies and television series. Their ears have heard dirty language and low humor daily, and the mind of every individual walking the streets has thought, at least once a day while moving between darkness and light: "Heaven forbid, am I next in line?"

Before we judge the whole world and click our tongues at the violence directed at us from the outside, we must begin to see the light of life in anyone who "doesn't sit right with us" in a moment of temporary madness. We must remind ourselves of a familiar piece of our Jewish past that remains so true now: "The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau."