Quotables & Notables

Notables: Figures from the Tanakh to Admire

 

Shifrah and Puah

The Book of Shemot/Exodus features one of the earliest examples of civil disobedience. Pharaoh instructed the chief midwives to the Hebrews, Shifrah and Puah, to kill baby boys as they were born. (Shemot 1:16)

The midwives feared God, and did not do as the Egyptian king had ordered them. They allowed the infant boys to live. The king of Egypt summoned the midwives and demanded, 'Why did you do this? You let the infant boys live!' 'The Hebrew women are not like the Egyptians,' replied the midwives to Pharaoh. 'They know how to deliver. They can give birth before a midwife even gets to them.' God was good to the midwives....Because the midwives feared God, He gave them great families [of their own]. (Shemot 1:17-21)

 

Isaiah

The Prophet Isaiah is the source of some of Judaism's most eloquent calls for social action and justice, including the hope that swords will be beaten into plowshares. (For this and other quotations by Isaiah, go to Quotables.)

Who was Isaiah the Prophet? Isaiah was actually two different people. The teachings of two prophets, who lived 200 years apart, appear in the Book of Isaiah.

The First Isaiah lived in Jerusalem sometime between 850 and 800 B.C.E.

Chapters 1 through 39 indicate that they were written before, during, and after the fall of the northern kingdom of Israel.

Very little is known about the later prophet, including his name, although we refer to him as the Second Isaiah. In the Book of Isaiah, Chapters 40 through the end relate to the 70-year exile Babylonia after the destruction of the first Temple.

Quotables: Jewish Quotations on Social Action

Thou shalt not stand by idly by the blood of thy neighbor.
– Leviticus 19:16.

If your brother becomes poor,...uphold him.
– Leviticus 25:35

Justice, justice you shall pursue.
– Deuteronomy 16:20

Put your evil doings
Away from My sight.
Cease to do evil;
Learn to do good.
Devote yourself to justice;
Aid the wronged.
Uphold the rights of the orphan;
Defend the cause of the widow.
– Isaiah 1:16-17

And they shall beat their swords into plowshares
And their spears into pruning hooks;
Nation shall not take up
Sword against nation;
They shall never again know war
– Isaiah 2:4; Micah 4:3

Happy is the just man, for he shall fare well;
He shall eat the fruit of his works.
Woe to the wicked man, for he shall fare ill;
As his hands have dealt, so shall it be done to him.
– Isaiah 3:10-11

Those who write out evil writs
And compose iniquitous documents,
To subvert the cause of the poor,
To rob of their rights the needy of My people;
That widows may be their spoil,
And fatherless children their booty!
What will you do on the day of punishment,
When the calamity comes from afar?
– Isaiah 10:1-3

And I will...humble the haughtiness of tyrants.
– Isaiah 13:11

How is the taskmaster vanished,
How is the oppression ended!
The Lord has broken the staff of the wicked,
The rod of tyrants
That smote peoples in wrath....
– Isaiah 14:4-6

Behold a king shall reign in righteousness,
And ministers shall govern with justice;
....
Then the eyes of those who have sight will not be sealed,
And the ears of those who have hearing shall listen;
And the minds of the thoughtless shall attend and note,
...
No more shall a villain be called noble,
Nor shall "gentleman" be said of a knave.
For the villain speaks villainy
And plots treachery;
To act impiously
And to preach disloyalty against the Lord;
To leave the hungry unsatisfied
And deprive the thirsty of drink.
As for the knave, his tools are knavish.
He forges plots
To destroy the poor with falsehoods
And the needy when they plead their cause.
– Isaiah 32:1-8

For the work of righteousness shall be peace....
– Isaiah 32:16

Observe what is right and do what is just.
– Isaiah 56:1

Because on your fast day
You see to your business
And oppress all your laborers
....
Your fasting today is not such
As to make your voice heard on high.
....
...[T]his is the fast I desire:
To unlock the fetters of wickedness,
And untie the cords of the yoke
To let the oppressed go free;
To break off every yoke.
It is to share your bread with the hungry,
And to take the wretched poor into your home;
When you see the naked, to clothe him....
– Isaiah 58:3-7.

He [God] has sent me as a herald of joy to the humble,
To bind up the wounded of heart,
To proclaim release to the captives,
Liberation to the imprisoned....
– Isaiah 61:1

Hate evil and love good,
And establish justice in the gate.
– Amos 5:15

Let justice well up as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream.
– Amos 5:24 (In his "I Have a Dream" speech, Martin Luther King, Jr. used a different translation and said, "No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until 'justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream.'")

Thus said the Lord of Hosts: Execute true justice; deal loyally and compassionately with one another. Do not defraud the widow, the orphan, the stranger, and the poor; and do not plot against one another.
– Zechariah 7:9-19

These are the things that you are to do: Speak the truth to one another, render true and perfect justice in your gates. And do not contrive evil against one another, and do not love perjury, because all those are things that I hate – declares the Lord.
– Zechariah 8:16-17

I will act as a relentless accuser against those who...swear falsely; who cheat laborers of their hire; and who subvert [the cause of] the widow, orphan, and stranger – said the Lord of Hosts.
– Malachi 3:5

The Prophets take us to the slums. Their breathless impatience with injustice may strike us as hysterical....But if such deep sensitivity to evil is to be called hysterical, what name should be given to the abysmal indifference to evil which the prophet bewails?
– Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel

He [Hillel] used to say, If I am not for me, who is for me, if I am not for myself, what am I, and if not now, when?
– Pirkei Avot 1:14

It is not upon you to complete the task, but you are not free to desist from it.
– Pirkei Avot 2:21

On three things does the world endure: justice, truth, and peace....
– Pirkei Avot 1:18a

If there is no justice, there is no peace.
– Bahya ben Asher, Kol HaKemah , 14C

Wisdom without action is like a tree without fruit.
– Joseph Kimhi, Shekel HaKodesh 12C

Action takes precedence over study.
– Judah HaNasi, Talmud I Pesahim 3.7

For the sin we have committed in Your sight by oppressing a fellow person.
....
For the sin we have committed in Your sight by violence.
....
For the sin we have committed in Your sight by casting off responsibility.
....
For the sin we have committed against You by groundless hatred.
–Al Khayt prayer, morning service for Yom Kippur

Justice is truth in action.
– Benjamin Disraeli

In Judaism social action is religiousness, and religiousness implies social action.
– Leo Baeck, Essence of Judaism

Our quarrel is not with Jews who are different, but with Jews who are indifferent.
– Rabbi Stephen Wise

The greatest menace to freedom is an inert people....
– Louis Brandeis

The most important office...is that of private citizen.
– Louis Brandeis

The 20th-century ideals of America have been the ideals of the Jew for more than 20 centuries.
– Louis Brandeis

 

Prayer for Overcoming Indifference

I watch the news, God. I observe it from a comfortable distance. I see people suffering, and I don't lift a finger to help them. I condemn injustice but I do nothing to fight against it. I am pained by the faces of starving children, but I am not moved enough to try to save them. I step over homeless people in the street, I walk past outstretched hands, I avert my eyes, I close my heart.

Forgive me, God, for remaining aloof while others are in need of my assistance.

Wake me up, God; ignite my passion, fill me with outrage. Remind me that I am responsible for Your world. Don't allow me to stand idly by. Inspire me to act. Teach me to believe that I can repair some corner of this world.

When I despair, fill me with hope. When I doubt my strength, fill me with faith. When I am weary, renew my spirit. When I lose direction, show me the way back to meaning, back to compassion, back to You. Amen.

– Rabbi Naomi Levy