Don’t be a bystander when you can save a life לֹא תַעֲמֹד עַל דַּם רֵעֶךָ

BySharon Brooks

Vav Zayin Students of Adath Israel Religious School

ויקרא י״ט:ט״ז

(טז) לֹא־תֵלֵ֤ךְ רָכִיל֙ בְּעַמֶּ֔יךָ לֹ֥א תַעֲמֹ֖ד עַל־דַּ֣ם רֵעֶ֑ךָ אֲנִ֖י יְהֹוָֽה׃

Leviticus 19:16

(16) Do not deal basely with^-a your countrymen. Do not^-b the stand by the blood your fellow: I am the LORD.

רש"י על ויקרא י״ט:ט״ז:ב׳

(ב) לא תעמד על דם רעך. לִרְאוֹת בְּמִיתָתוֹ וְאַתָּה יָכוֹל לְהַצִּילוֹ, כְּגוֹן טוֹבֵעַ בַּנָּהָר וְחַיָּה אוֹ לִיסְטִים בָּאִים עָלָיו (סנהדרין ע"ג):

Rashi on Leviticus 19:16:2

(2) לא תעמד על דם רעך NEITHER SHALT THOU STAND AGAINST THE BLOOD OF THY FELLOW — witnessing his death, you being able to rescue him: if, for instance, he is drowning in the river or if a wild beast or a robber is attacking him (Sifra, Kedoshim, Chapter 4 8; Sanhedrin 73a).

Micah: If you just let someone's death happen you have all of this guilt growing on you. You may just as well have a note on your back "I just let a murder happen." And you can never recover from that guilt, That is something that is irreplaceable. And you can never recover from watching that

Jackson: If you are walking through school halls and see a person being bullied and you walk by like a bystander, imagine if that were a murderer and life and death. Would you still be a bystander or would you be an up stander.

סנהדרין ע״ג א

:גמ׳ ת"ר מניין לרודף אחר חבירו להרגו שניתן להצילו בנפשו ת"ל (ויקרא יט, טז) לא תעמוד על דם רעך מנא הני

Sanhedrin 73a

GEMARA: The Sages taught in a baraita: From where is it derived that with regard to one who pursues another in order to kill him, the pursued party may be saved at the cost of the pursuer’s life? The verse states: “You shall not stand idly by the blood of another” (Leviticus 19:16); rather, you must save him from death.

Adam: When there is a robber or bad person after an innocent person the better thing to do is to kill him rather than just standing there watching. Its worse not to do anything.

From My Jewish Learning, "International Intervention", Rabbi Dorothy Richman, American Jewish World Service:
Elie Wiesel, speaking at the Darfur Emergency Summit in July 2004, interpreted the ancient verse to highlight its contemporary global implications:
“Lo ta’amod al dam re’echa is a Biblical commandment. Thou shall not stand idly by the shedding of the blood of thy fellow man. The word is not achi’cha, thy Jewish brother, but re’echa, thy fellow human being, be he or she Jewish or not. All are entitled to live with dignity and hope. All are entitled to live without fear and pain.”

“Daily we should take account and ask: What have I done today to alleviate the anguish, to mitigate the evil, to prevent humiliation? Let there be a grain of prophet in every man!” (Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, “Religion and Race,” 14 January 1963)

“In a free society, only some may be guilty but all are responsible.” - Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel

Miya: In the news everyone hears about the tragic stories that happen to people and the lives that they lost. But we don't think about how we could have stopped it and the impact it has on the world when this tragedy happens. It isn't just one person who passes away and one person who is at fault. It is everyone.