Parashas Ki Seitzei - We're Responsible for Our Actions!

It says in this week's parasha, “If a man is guilty of a capital offense and is executed, you shall hang him from a tree. Do not leave his corpse overnight on the tree, but you should surely bury him on that day, for hanging a corpse is an affront to Hashem...”

Rashi says it's an affront to the King, because man is fashioned in His image. Rashi gives an example of twin brothers who look exactly alike. One became a king while the other was apprehended as a thief and hanged. Everyone who saw him exclaimed, “The king has been hanged!” [And so the king issued a command for him to be brought down.]

I feel this is a very important topic because often we find ourselves making a chillul Hashem, even though at times, we truly feel we're right!

A specific incident comes to mind; a “Chareidi” guy in Beit Shemesh saw a young girl wearing something immodest (or not up to par according to his standards) and spat on her, and then gave her rebuke.

This incident traveled through the Jewish world pretty quickly. Everyone was shocked about this incident! I myself felt a bit of anger when hearing this story. I thought to myself that that is NOT the way a Jew should act nor respond. It doesn't matter how she was dressed, he made a stupid decision on how he's going to go about 'teaching her a lesson'. This guy certainly should not categorize himself as “Chareidi.” That's not what the Torah teaches us to do! There are ways to deal with things, and this definitely was not the right way. Unfortunately because of his impudent, obtuse action, the media-world reacted towards all Chareidim maliciously and claimed we're “fanatics” and behave inappropriately.

I agree this one guy's actions were inappropriate. But “All Chareidim?” This was the action of one man. The truth is, we all represent each other! It's unfortunate that people feel they can take actions into their own hands without speaking to a well learned Rabbi beforehand. And because of this, we were all judged as one.

We were all created in Hashem's image. We need to be aware of that at all times. Our actions can either have others praise what a wonderful nation the Jews are or criticize us.

It's no different than someone saying, “Wow, that child shares so nicely with other kids, I wonder who his parents are!” Or, “Wow, that child has bad characteristics, he probably got it from his parents. I'd never let my kids play at his house!”

We want people to praise Hashem and we need to give them a reason to do so!

Have a wonderful Shabbos,

Nisso