Parasha Thoughts
By Rabbi Aharon Seleh
In this week’s Parsha, the Possuk states, “Righteousness, righteousness shall you pursue.” The Chida explains the redundant term with a Zohar which states that it’s not enough to make yourself righteous, you must try to make others righteous too. If you do so, you will be rewarded for all the mitzvos that they and their descendants accomplish.
But if one doesn’t involve himself with another’s spiritual life, many times he will be be held responsible for others’ sins. As Chazal teach, one who could have stopped another from sinning and did not is held responsible. Even if one is unsure if others will listen to him, he must still make the effort to stop them. Based on this, Chacham Ovadia zatzal explained why we mention so many types of sins during Vidui even though we didn’t commit all of them. The reason is because many times we had the ability to speak up and try to stop others, but we did not.
Many people simply do not know better. Whether they are religious or not, if they are doing something wrong, correct them. If you see something, say something. Somebody once saw a Jewish store open on Shabbat. He went in and explained that it’s forbidden. The store owner responded that he will close, but was surprised that so many religious people had passed by and nobody said a word to him. We all have a great obligation to speak up.
Shabbat Shalom.