Where do you draw the Line?

Last week, in New York City, a taxi clipped a red Beetle while veering across four lanes of traffic to pick up a fare. The two drivers got out to examine the damage: the cabbie, a short man of Middle Eastern origin, and the Beetle driver, a hulking giant.

As the cabbie approached, the Beetle driver grabbed him by the shirt and hoisted him off the ground. There, at eye level, with the cabbie’s feet dangling in the air, the Beetle owner began screaming. Every third sentence was “This is your lucky day!”

Eventually, the cabbie was lowered back to terra firma. But then, the Beetle guy asked, “Don’t you want to know why this is your lucky day?”

He then proceeded to answer his own question:

“Because I’m on my way to anger management class and I don’t dare show-up with blood on my shirt!”

***

Do you remember the last time your blood boiled? What was it that brought your temperament to the boiling point? Your child didn’t bring you the cup of water in the thirty-second time slot you allotted him/her? Or maybe it was the cashier who mistakenly gave you too little change and didn’t apologize? (The nerve!)

You do know how to boil, as all warm-blooded humans do, so where are you when your hot blood is needed? Where were you when eight thousand of your brethren were evicted from their homes two years ago? And where do you hide as you see your homeland in a dire state of corruption and self-destruction?

And there are nuclear threats… Does Iran manage to make you boil – do you give it the same attention that you give your spouse when he or she forgot something on the shopping list?

In this week’s Torah portion, we read about someone who became furious “only” because he witnessed an open desecration of G-d’s name. He saw a Jewish leader sinning with a Midianite woman in public. And he made his move, striking both the man and woman dead. Pinchas was his name; his reward – ascension to the priesthood and eternal life as the famous Elijah the prophet.

Yes, times have changed. In today’s day and age, we treat deviant behavior with a less aggressive approach. In an era without the revealed presence of G-d in His Sanctuary, capital punishment by Jewish leaders is forbidden. Thus, murder isn’t quite the option when your blood boils, even for spiritual causes. Yet the eternal message remains: there has got to be a red line. And when it’s crossed, it must affect our very essence, to the point that we will do anything to stop the travesty.

Liberalism, ironically, has brought with it total selfishness, rather than true defense of humanity. For today, one may see a world in flames and let it be; after all, fire must also experience freedom of expression… In a world of moral relativism, nothing is objectively wrong; condemnation of various actions or ways life is considered intolerance. And thus, only “intolerance” is condemned. How confusing!

Somewhere you have to draw a line – a line that, when crossed, will call you to the stand and make you open your mouth and do something. Be it Israel or Darfur, profanation of Torah values or disregard for morality, don’t become a senseless human devoid of standards and feeling. Take a position. Believe in it. Scream about it. Act upon it!

Do something about it:

As humans, and, even more so, as Jews, we must assume responsibility for the present and the future. It is all about you and me.