Eglah Arufah: The Case for Radical Responsibility

^{5 Elul 5781 | August 13, 2021}

Rabbanit Lisa Schlaff

Class of 2021

In this week’s parsha, we encounter the strange ceremony of eglah arufah - the broken heifer.

There are many questions to ask about this ceremony. Why specifically a heifer? Why a flowing wadi? Why must the wadi be barren? Why the washing of the hands? But the question that looms above them all is: what is the ultimate purpose of this ceremony? What does the Torah mean for us to accomplish through this unique ritual?

In grappling with this question, chazal interpreted the ceremony as a type of communal atonement for the tragedy. If a proximate tragedy occurs, the community is in some way implicated and must take responsibility, even if it did not directly cause the death. This is a lovely idea in theory, but where exactly are the lines of responsibility drawn? How precisely is a community implicated in the death of a stranger?

The Mishna in Sotah 9, 6 states:

Here chazal are focused on the responsibility of the community to provide strangers with food and accompaniment. The assumption is that the victim died of starvation or was murdered by highway robbers, a death which would have been avoided had the community properly supported the traveler. A just society is not only responsible to itself, but should ensure the safety and well being of those who pass through it.

The Ibn Ezra (Devarim 21,7) takes this idea a step further and implicates the community for allowing the dangerous roads to exist in the first place. In so doing, he shifts the responsibility of the community from a need to accompany strangers on a one-off basis to providing basic infrastructure that allows for safe passage near the town. This murder is not a one time event, but highlights the town’s negligence in ensuring the safety of the roads. For that, the town must atone.

Both the Mishnah and the Ibn Ezra’s extension of it are focused on the town’s responsibility to abrogate the root causes of tragedy. The town may not have directly murdered the victim, but in neglecting to address systemic societal problems such as hunger and safety, they are indeed responsible.

The Abarbanel takes this notion of communal responsibility to an entirely different, and quite radical level. The Abarbanel implicates the leaders for neglecting to educate the community to uphold moral standards. Murder is not viewed as the act of one evil person, but as the failure of an entire educational system which did not appropriately stress Torah ethics. Here again, the community is responsible for the root causes of tragedy - a just society must proactively establish an educational system that stresses the value of every human life.

Put together, these readings of what the community must take responsibility for in the ceremony of the broken heifer represent a plea to proactively address the root causes of tragedy. Preventing tragedy means everyone needs access to food. Preventing tragedy means ensuring safe infrastructure. And preventing tragedy means providing basic moral education. Let us work towards a world in which we are able to say