(א) בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יְהֹוָה אֱלֹהֵֽינוּ מֶֽלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם אֲשֶׁר קִדְּ֒שָֽׁנוּ בְּמִצְוֹתָיו וְצִוָּנוּ לַעֲסֹק בְּדִבְרֵי תוֹרָה:
(1) Blessed are You, Adonoy our God, Ruler of the Universe, Who sanctified us with commandments and commanded us to be engrossed in the words of Torah.
If a person incurs guilt— When he has heard a public imprecation and—although able to testify as one who has either seen or learned of the matter—he does not give information, so that he is subject to punishment; Or when a person touches any unclean thing—be it the carcass of an unclean beast or the carcass of unclean cattle or the carcass of an unclean creeping thing—and the fact has escaped him, and then, being unclean, he realizes his guilt; Or when he touches human uncleanness—any such uncleanness whereby one becomes unclean—and, though he has known it, the fact has escaped him, but later he realizes his guilt; Or when a person utters an oath to bad or good purpose—whatever a man may utter in an oath—and, though he has known it, the fact has escaped him, but later he realizes his guilt in any of these matters— when he realizes his guilt in any of these matters, he shall confess that wherein he has sinned. And he shall bring as his penalty to Hashem, for the sin of which he is guilty, a female from the flock, sheep or goat, as a sin offering; and the priest shall make expiation on his behalf for his sin. But if his means do not suffice for a sheep, he shall bring to Hashem, as his penalty for that of which he is guilty, two turtledoves or two pigeons, one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering. He shall bring them to the priest, who shall offer first the one for the sin offering, pinching its head at the nape without severing it. He shall sprinkle some of the blood of the sin offering on the side of the altar, and what remains of the blood shall be drained out at the base of the altar; it is a sin offering. And the second he shall prepare as a burnt offering, according to regulation. Thus the priest shall make expiation on his behalf for the sin of which he is guilty, and he shall be forgiven. And if his means do not suffice for two turtledoves or two pigeons, he shall bring as his offering for that of which he is guilty a tenth of an ephah of choice flour for a sin offering; he shall not add oil to it or lay frankincense on it, for it is a sin offering. He shall bring it to the priest, and the priest shall scoop out of it a handful as a token portion of it and turn it into smoke on the altar, with Hashem’s offerings by fire; it is a sin offering. Thus the priest shall make expiation on his behalf for whichever of these sins he is guilty, and he shall be forgiven. It shall belong to the priest, like the meal offering.
There is a burden of sin associated with not speaking—the choice of a person who has significant information to quash it, is sinful. What this verse is saying is that one may not legitimately choose not to involve oneself. As people, we need to be a part of society, to be among people, and to raise our voices. When we acquire important information based on something we have seen or found out or based on our own knowledge, it is incumbent upon us to make our voices heard. Passivity is not just inaction, it is an active choice to do the wrong thing, and one who does so bears his sin. . .
. . . We don’t always choose the circumstances in which we find ourselves. We do not necessarily choose a state of impurity, we do not necessarily choose to know, and we do not necessarily choose to see this aspect or another of our society. We do not always seek awareness regarding the wrongs taking place around us. But not having chosen does not exempt one from responsibility. Just as if we find ourselves in a state of impurity we need to purify —whether we chose this state consciously or not, so also not wanting to know does not exempt one from action when one has knowledge.
Thus the proximity of the case of impurity to the case of refusing testimony turns from surprising to telling. It testifies that even if we have not chosen circumstances that have brought us to a state of impurity, even if we have not chosen circumstances that have brought us to a state of knowledge—none the less we have an obligation to purify, one that is parallel to our obligation to stand up and give testimony. We must stand up and call out. Even if we have not willingly chosen the circumstances that turned us into people who know, our obligation to fix, to purify, and to alert is not dependent on those circumstances. We must raise our voice and if we don’t we shall bear our sin.