Good and Evil: Responsa

by Gershon Mitchel

It is not for thee to complete the work, but neither art thou free to desist from it.

—Talmud

More sweat in peace, less blood in war!

—An indigenous people

The world is too dangerous to live in — not because of the people who do evil,
but because of the decent people who sit and let it happen.

—Albert Einstein

To know & not see is one thing,
To see & not know is another thing.
To know & to see & to not do — is an inexcusable thing.
All the more so in a Democracy where one is able,
Rather, obligated to speak up against the tyranny of the weak by the strong.

—Gershon

Ye ought not be perpetrator,
Ye ought not be a victim,
Ye ought not be a bystander.

—Adapted from Yehuda Bauer

If in a time of national calamity a man/woman who withdraws him/herself from their kindred (human family) & refuses to share in their sorrow — their two guardian angels come & lay their hands upon his/her head and say, “He/She has isolated her/himself from their country in the day of its need — let them not live to see & enjoy the day when G-D shall restore its prosperity.” When the community (family of humankind) is in trouble, let no one say, “I will go home and eat & drink & say, 'peace be unto thee, my soul,” for to them scripture hath solemnly said (Isaiah 22:14) “Surely this iniquity shall not be purged from you till you die.” [A rather potent rejoinder, eh!!]

—Ta'anit 11a

The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who in a time of great moral crisis maintain their neutrality.

—Dante

—from our April 2002 Newsletter

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