Near the end of this week’s Torah portion, Shelach, tucked after the drama of the most common theme of the parashah (the spies), the Torah makes a distinction that is easy to miss but impossible to forget. The lesson on the two kinds of sin.
The first is b'shogeg (the unintentional transgression), the wrong committed in ignorance, without malice. For this, the Torah offers a path of atonement. The community brings an offering, acknowledgment is made, and repair is possible. The second is b'yad ramah (sinning with a “raised hand”). Deliberately. Defiantly. Eyes open. For this, the Torah's response is categorically different. Hateful intention changes everything.
This is a lesson for our time.
From my seat as a Jewish communal leader, acutely aware of the recent rise of anti-Semitism and pure unadulterated hate, I see that anti-Semitism, too, comes in two very distinct forms. The first is rooted in ignorance, ancient myths and tropes passed from generation to generation, absorbed without examination, perpetuated without awareness. This is the anti-Semitism that Jewish Federations and JCRCs work to dismantle every day through education, relationship-building, and the patient, persistent work of humanizing the Jewish community in places where hatred has replaced understanding. It is real, it causes harm, but it is reachable. It can be healed.
The second form is the intentional, deeply ingrained, unashamed hatred of b'yad ramah. It does not emerge from ignorance. It persists despite knowledge. It is the anti-Semitism behind threats to synagogues, attacks on Jewish students, and the targeted harassment of Jewish institutions. Educational programming cannot alone stand between our community and this threat. For this, we need allies, in law enforcement, and in the halls of Congress, as well as local municipalities, and county commission courtrooms.
That is exactly what the Jewish American Security Act is designed to address. JASA for short, would authorize $1 billion for the Nonprofit Security Grant Program, strengthen law enforcement support, improve protections for Jewish students, and increase accountability for online anti-Semitism. It has bipartisan support. It is actionable. It is urgent.
Please take one minute to urge our Members of Congress to cosponsor this critical legislation, and please share the action alert with friends, family and others in the community.
And here is where Torah speaks to our elected officials directly: in a deeply partisan world, how our representatives vote on this legislation will itself be judged through this same biblical framework. Inaction out of ignorance is one thing. Inaction with full knowledge, after briefings, after attacks, after the evidence is undeniable, is something else entirely.
The Torah knew the difference. So will history. And how we respond is fundamental, because we are Stronger Together.
Shabbat Shalom.
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