This is nothing new. It happens every crisis. Conservative talk-show hosts are to blame for the shooting of Representative Gabby Giffords. The movie The Matrix is to blame for Columbine. President Bush was responsible for Katrina.<\/p>\n
Sorry, but I\u2019m not buying it. James Holmes is responsible for the Batman shooting in Aurora. Jared Lee Loughner shot Rep. Giffords. Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold committed the atrocity in Columbine. Katrina was a hurricane. Every time we take advantage of a crisis to further a personal or political agenda, we absolve the truly-guilty party of a little more responsibility for their actions.<\/p>\n
Even more heinous than blaming third parties because it furthers one\u2019s own agenda is blaming the victim. Whether it\u2019s claiming that a rape victim is to blame because she dressed too provocatively or that the US brought 9\/11 upon itself, it is reprehensible to blame the injured party for an unprovoked attack. (And yes, there are many who justified al-Qaeda\u2019s actions. Google it.)<\/p>\n
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If we can\u2019t blame the truly guilty when it\u2019s not convenient, how can we be expected to hold ourselves responsible for our actions? That\u2019s certainly counter to our own agendas! So, you know who ends up being blamed for obesity? McDonald\u2019s.<\/p>\n
Yes, obesity is clearly McDonald\u2019s fault. Except, you know what? I keep kosher. I don\u2019t eat at McDonald\u2019s. Or Burger King. Or KFC. I don\u2019t even eat at the kosher equivalents of such places because a Big Mac costs $3.95 and its kosher analog costs $7.95. (Those \u201ctwo all-beef patties\u201d really add up!) So, if I need to drop another 10 or 90 pounds, I can\u2019t really blame fast food, can I?<\/p>\n
I could blame Chinese food, a particular weakness of mine. That makes sense. I worked in a kosher Chinese restaurant while in college and my son worked in one when he returned from study in Israel. Yes, that\u2019s it \u2013 Chinese food is to blame! I must sue!<\/p>\n
Or, I could re-read the first sentence of my previous paragraph: \u201cI could blame Chinese food, a particular weakness of mine.\u201d Note that Chinese food is a weakness of<\/em> mine<\/em>. It\u2019s not inherently evil. Plenty of people possess the willpower to eat it in moderation. If I don\u2019t, you know whose fault that is? Mine. I have to own that.<\/p>\n A good Biblical role model for accepting responsibility is Achan, in the seventh chapter of the book of Joshua. (Accepting responsibility is just about the only thing for which Achan is a good role model, as we will see.) Despite having a military advantage, things went poorly the Jews at the battle of Ai. It came to their attention that the reason was a loss of Divine favor because someone had looted consecrated spoils from the battle of Jericho. Achan ben Karmi of Judah was ultimately identified as the guilty party. He confessed not only to this crime but also to looting under the leadership of Moshe and to a litany of other offenses. And, of course, they let him go when he promised to be good.<\/p>\n No, just kidding! Achan was executed. He was guilty and many others died as a result of his selfish actions. Our deeds do have consequences, after all, and saying \u201cI\u2019m sorry\u201d doesn\u2019t always cut it. (Yes, teshuvah \u2013 repentance \u2013 is extremely important, but it doesn\u2019t put criminals back on the streets.) But the Talmud in Sanhedrin (44b) tells us that while his confession did not save him from execution, it did secure his place in the Next World.<\/p>\n Achan was far worse than any of us could ever dream of being but when push came to shove, he accepted responsibility for his deeds. Doing so saved his soul. If the rest of us could take responsibility for our far smaller character flaws and lapses of judgment, we could actually change our lives. If we direct that constructive energy outward, we may even change the world.<\/p>\n I once heard OU Executive Vice President, Emeritus Rabbi Dr. Tzvi Hersh Weinreb, define what it means to have faith. (I cannot recall in whose name he said it.) He said that when something bad happens, a person without faith says, \u201cOh, no. Woe is me. Why did this happen?\u201d A person with faith says, \u201cOkay, this happened. Now what am I going to do about it?\u201d The person without faith is not constructive; he looks backwards. Such people are the ones who end up dealing with their problems by assigning blame. The one who has faith looks ahead, not behind.<\/p>\n There are lots of things that need improvement in this world. We\u2019re never going to fix them if we\u2019re fixated on avoiding blame or furthering personal agendas. To do so is a disservice to the innocent, to the guilty, to society and to ourselves. It also shows a lack of faith on our part. Let\u2019s stop pointing fingers and start rolling up sleeves. Let\u2019s do the right thing and show we have faith.<\/p>\n Rabbi Jack Abramowitz<\/strong>\u00a0is Torah Content Editor at the Orthodox Union. He is the author of five books, including\u00a0<\/em>The Tznius Book<\/a>. His latest work,\u00a0<\/em>The Taryag Companion<\/a>, is available from\u00a0OU Press<\/a>\u00a0as well as on\u00a0Amazon<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When we blame our personal enemies we let the real culprit off the hook.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":384,"featured_media":55228,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[85],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28382","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-inspiration"],"yoast_head":"\n
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