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Parshat Shekalim: None of Us Can Be Bystanders
There is a timeless Jewish folklore legend, often set in the quaint, mythical town of Chelm, renowned for its endearing tales of simplicity and wit. The story always elicits a wry smile but also imparts a timeless lesson regarding the essence of community and the significance of each individual’s contribution.
One day, the residents of Chelm decided they were going to celebrate a great communal occasion, and that each household should contribute a bottle of wine that would be poured into a collective barrel. The barrel would then provide a blend of the town’s finest vintages for all to enjoy on the great day.
The local beadle was charged with taking the barrel from home to home, where each family poured their bottle of wine into the barrel, so that on the festive day, everyone would benefit from the full selection of wines from across the community.
Finally, the day of the celebration arrived, and, with great excitement, the community president was given the honor of opening the spigot into the first glass of wine. Imagine his surprise — and everyone else’s — when the liquid that emerged was crystal clear. The president took a sip, and lo and behold — it was water.
Apparently, each contributor to the wine appeal had reasoned that if they substituted water for wine, among all the other contributions, who would notice? The result was a barrel of water — and great disappointment.
George Bernard Shaw once said, “The greatest folly in a community effort is the illusion that someone else will do it.” His pithy observation was thoroughly underscored in 1968 by a seminal study conducted by John M. Darley, a professor of psychology at Princeton, and Bibb Latané, a prominent social psychologist at Columbia.
The study focused on a phenomenon they defined as the “bystander effect,” where individuals are less likely to offer help to a victim when other people are present. Critically, the lesser the number of bystanders, the more likely any one of them is to help.
Darley and Latané conceived the study after the 1964 murder of Kitty Genovese, a young woman who was stabbed to death outside her apartment in New York City. Reports claimed that numerous witnesses did nothing to intervene or contact the police. The researchers sought to understand why the witnesses failed to act, hypothesizing that the presence of others can lead to a diffusion of responsibility, with each bystander feeling less pressure to respond due to the assumption that someone else will do so.
To test their hypothesis, Darley and Latané conducted a series of experiments. One of the most notable involved participants being placed in a room alone or with others, who were actually confederates of the researchers and not real participants.
During the experiment, participants overheard what seemed to be a real emergency: for example, a person having a seizure in an adjacent room. The key measure was whether participants would leave the room to try and get help, and how quickly they would do so.
The findings were striking. Participants were significantly less likely to help when they believed that others were also aware of the seizure. If they were alone, 85% of participants went for help, compared to only 31% when they believed that there were four other witnesses.
This compelling evidence of the “bystander effect” demonstrated how the presence of others inhibits people from taking action in emergency situations.
This Saturday, in synagogues across the world, we will hear Parshat Shekalim, recalling the time in Jewish history when every adult Jew gave a half-shekel donation towards the upkeep of the Temple in Jerusalem. This passage from Exodus (30:11-16) describes God’s commandment to Moses to take a census of the Israelite men over the age of 20 by having each one give a half shekel of silver.
It has always struck me as odd that each person was expected to give the same amount, notwithstanding their economic circumstances. But perhaps this was God’s way of ensuring that the “bystander effect” never gained traction among the Jewish people.
By mandating the same amount from everyone, the Torah emphasizes a revolutionary concept: not just the equal worth of every individual’s contribution to communal life but the importance of everyone’s involvement in society, not just letting others do the work while you stand on the sidelines.
This message of half-shekel uniformity is that no one’s offering is deemed less significant because of its monetary value. It is a statement that every person, regardless of their economic status, has an invaluable role to play in the community’s well-being and sanctity. This inclusivity fosters a sense of belonging and significance among all members, reinforcing the idea that collective strength is derived from the unity and commitment of its individuals. No one can ever afford to be a bystander, and no community can afford to have bystanders.
The equality of everyone’s contribution also serves as a reminder that in the eyes of God, the intentions and heartfelt commitment behind an act of giving are as important, if not more so, than the gift itself. This perspective is an inspiration for a community where values like compassion, empathy, and collective responsibility are paramount, creating an environment where everyone’s participation is not only valued but seen as essential to the communal fabric.
This concept of valued contributions extends beyond financial giving to encompass the diverse talents, time, and energy that individuals bring to their communities. Just as the half-shekel symbolizes financial equivalence, the broader application of this principle recognizes the unique contributions each person can make, whether it be in the form of volunteer work, sharing knowledge, or offering moral support. In recognizing and valuing these varied forms of contribution, the community is enriched and strengthened in multiple ways.
In the wake of the harrowing events of October 7th, a profound and stirring example of the principles embodied in Parshat Shekalim and the psychological insights into the bystander effect has unfolded across Israel and the Jewish world. Amidst the devastation and heartbreak, a remarkable array of individual contributions has emerged, which has been a wellspring of strength for us all.
In this time of unparalleled challenges, each person has stepped forward, offering their “half shekel” — not in the form of silver, but through acts of kindness, solidarity, and support, tirelessly working to alleviate the pain and to address the multitude of challenges that have arisen. This collective endeavor, where no act of giving has been deemed too small and no offer of help too insignificant, reflects the very essence of communal resilience and unity. It is the anti-bystander effect phenomenon.
What Parshat Shekalim has taught us — and clearly, it is deeply embedded in our Jewish psyche — is that none of us are bystanders. And this is a principle that guides us, animates us, and ultimately helps us get through a crisis so that we get to see better times.
The author is a rabbi in Beverly Hills, California.
The post Parshat Shekalim: None of Us Can Be Bystanders first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Azerbaijan a ‘Potential Bridge’ for Arab-Israeli Normalization, Jewish Leader Says
From left to right, Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev, Israeli President Isaac Herzog, and Rabbi Marc Schneier. Photo: Foundation for Ethnic Understanding
Amid rising regional tensions, the idea of Azerbaijan joining the Abraham Accords overlooks its long-standing and often undervalued role as one of Israel’s most trusted allies in the broader Middle East, according to one of the country’s most influential Jewish leaders.
“I think discussions about incorporating Azerbaijan into the Abraham Accords are ridiculous and insulting,” Rabbi Marc Schneier, president of the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding, told The Algemeiner in an exclusive interview.
“Most people are clueless when it comes to understanding the dynamics of Muslim-Jewish relations, particularly between Azerbaijan and Israel,” Schneier added.
Signed in 2020, the Abraham Accords were a series of historic US-brokered normalization agreements between Israel and several Arab countries. Since then, Jerusalem has strengthened diplomatic ties with the United Arab Emirates, Sudan, Bahrain, and Morocco, while also expanding defense and economic cooperation.
Azerbaijan’s ties with Israel have long been significant, with the country serving as the Jewish state’s most vital ally in the Caucasus and Central Asia for more than three decades, fostering a partnership that spans energy security, defense, and intelligence.
However, the depth of the relationship between Baku and Jerusalem is often overlooked, according to Schneier, who has worked with Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev and was among the first Jewish leaders to foster ties between Israel and Muslim nations.
During the first Trump administration, the Abraham Accords reshaped regional alliances, with experts suggesting that Azerbaijan could play a key role in balancing regional power blocs.
As a country sharing a lengthy border with Iran while maintaining strong ties with Israel and Turkey, the predominantly Shi’ite Muslim country holds a unique strategic advantage that could challenge Tehran’s influence and alter regional power dynamics.
“Azerbaijan plays a unique role in Israel’s broader strategy by serving as a potential bridge for normalizing relations between the Jewish State and other Muslim-majority countries,” Schneier told The Algemeiner.
He explained that Baku has contributed to regional normalization efforts in the past, notably by facilitating the restoration of full diplomatic ties between Turkey and Israel in 2022, even though the relationship between the two countries has since gone downhill.
According to Schneier, as a strong ally of both Israel and Turkey, Azerbaijan is well-positioned to mediate further diplomatic breakthroughs. Just this week, Azerbaijan hosted Turkish and Israeli officials for talks aimed at preventing potential clashes in Syria
In this regional context, the Jewish leader argued that Baku “serves as a paradigm for the greater Arab and Muslim world,” demonstrating that strong ties with Israel are possible despite historical tensions and religious differences.
“Azerbaijan plays a strategic role by positioning itself as a model for regional cooperation and independent foreign policy,” Schneier told The Algemeiner.
“Within the greater Muslim world, Azerbaijan serves as a beacon of interfaith dialogue and cooperation, setting an example for broader Muslim-Jewish relations,” he continued.
Baku’s strategic importance stems not only from its role at the crossroads of a growing pro-Western bloc countering the regional ambitions of Iran, but also from its economic influence in the region.
Azerbaijan and Israel have continued to expand their cooperation and strengthen their bilateral ties, especially in the energy sector, highlighting the predominantly Shi’ite Muslim country’s emerging role as a strategic player in the evolving Middle East.
Earlier this year, Jerusalem and Azerbaijan’s state oil company, SOCAR, struck a major energy deal. In March, SOCAR also signed a gas exploration license agreement with the Jewish state
As of 2019, Azerbaijan supplied over a third of Israel’s oil. Last year, Jerusalem was the sixth-biggest buyer of oil from Baku, with sales totaling $713 million.
Meanwhile, Azerbaijan has acquired advanced Israeli defense systems, including the “Barak MX” missile system and surveillance satellites, and remains a leading buyer of Israeli military hardware, which was crucial in its 2020 war with Armenia.
The post Azerbaijan a ‘Potential Bridge’ for Arab-Israeli Normalization, Jewish Leader Says first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Iran’s Navy Chief Compares Tehran to Israelites Fleeing Pharaoh Ahead of Passover
Iranian Navy Commander Rear Admiral Shahram Irani. Photo: Screenshot
Ahead of the Jewish holiday of Passover, Iran’s navy chief boasted that his country’s naval and defense power is stronger than ever, seemingly comparing Iran to the ancient Israelites and warning that enemies would be drowned at sea like Pharaoh’s army.
In an ironic twist, Iranian Navy Commander Rear Admiral Shahram Irani drew a parallel between Iran and the ancient Israelites enslaved by Egypt in the Exodus story, positioning Tehran as the modern-day victim of persecution.
In that biblical account, Pharaoh, fearing the growing Israelite population, enslaved them and even ordered the death of newborn boys. However, under God’s power, the Israelites, led by Moses, escaped Egypt. When Pharaoh’s army pursued them, driven by greed and fear, they were ultimately destroyed by the sea.
On Thursday, the Iranian commander praised Tehran’s naval strength and defense capabilities during a meeting with the families of the country’s 86th naval fleet, as tensions grow in the lead-up to nuclear talks with the United States.
“Our maritime power and defensive capabilities are stronger than ever,” Irani was quoted as saying by Iranian state media.
“Today, our enemies see the Islamic Republic’s armed forces and strategic navy as a superpower,” Irani continued. “The devil seeks a direct confrontation at sea, but with God’s help, we will defeat and drown it like the people of Pharaoh.” Other translations quoted him as saying Iran’s “enemies” will be defeated “just as Pharaoh was drowned.”
The apparent comparison was striking since Iranian leaders routinely call for Israel’s destruction, often describing the Jewish state as a “cancer” that must be wiped off the map.
Earlier this week, Tehran and Washington announced that diplomats from both countries will meet in Oman on Saturday to begin negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program.
US and Iranian officials have put out contradictory statements about whether the talks will be direct or indirect, the latter of which would involve Omani mediators passing messages between the sides.
As talks approach, Iran has warned that the country may suspend cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog if external military threats persist, following US President Donald Trump’s renewed warnings of military action should Tehran fail to reach a nuclear deal.
“Continued external threats and putting Iran under the conditions of a military attack could lead to deterrent measures like the expulsion of IAEA inspectors and ceasing cooperation with it,” Ali Shamkhani — an adviser to the country’s so-called “supreme leader,” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei — wrote in a post on X, referring to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Friday that Trump wants Iran to know that there will be “all hell to pay” if it does not abandon its nuclear program, which Western countries believe is meant to produce nuclear weapons. Tehran claims its nuclear activities are purely for civilian energy purposes.
The negotiations will reportedly be led by Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and US presidential envoy Steve Witkoff, with Oman’s Foreign Minister, Badr Albusaidi, serving as a mediator, as the country has long been a channel for communication between the two adversaries.
In response to the White House’s military threats, Iran issued notices to Iraq, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Turkey, and Bahrain, warning that any support for a US attack on Iran — including the use of their airspace or territory by American forces — would be considered an act of hostility.
During his first term, Trump withdrew the US from a 2015 nuclear deal — known formally as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) — between Iran and several world powers, which had imposed temporary limits on Tehran’s nuclear activities in exchange for sanctions relief.
Since then, even though Tehran has denied wanting to develop a nuclear weapon, the IAEA has warned that Iran has “dramatically” accelerated uranium enrichment to up to 60 percent purity, close to the roughly 90 percent weapons-grade level and enough to build six nuclear bombs.
The post Iran’s Navy Chief Compares Tehran to Israelites Fleeing Pharaoh Ahead of Passover first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Passover BDS Referendum at Georgetown University Decried by Jewish Students
Anti-Israel activists protest at Georgetown University in Washington, DC. Photo: Andrew Thomas via Reuters Connect.
The group Students Supporting Israel (SSI) at Georgetown University is imploring President Robert Groves to halt what they describe as an antisemitic outrage caused by the student government’s placing an anti-Israel boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) referendum on the ballot during the Jewish holiday of Passover.
A slim of majority of the Georgetown University Student Association’s (GUSA) senators voted via secret ballot for a resolution to hold the referendum on April 14-16, according to a report by The Hoya, the school’s official campus newspaper. It will ask students to decide whether they “support … divesting from companies arming Israel and ending university partnerships with Israeli institutions.” Many GUSA senators, however, withheld their support from the measure due to its being passed under a cloud of controversy.
The resolution only passed because GUSA senators, the Hoya noted, “voted to break rules” which require referenda to be evaluated by the Policy and Advocacy Committee (PAC), a period of deliberation which establishes their merit, or lack thereof, for consideration by the senate. At least one GUSA senator, Saahil Rao, has gone on the record to denounce the skipping of this key step as “secretive and rushed,” echoing concerns communicated by SSI in a letter sent to Groves that was shared exclusively with The Algemeiner.
“This referendum, cloaked in the language, represents not only a troubling overstep into Georgetown’s academic and fiduciary independence but also a campaign rooted in the discriminatory logic of the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement,” said the letter, which has attracted support from members of the US Congress. “The process by which this vote was initiated raises further alarm. Reports of procedural irregularities, including a violation of student government rules, call into question the legitimacy of the referendum and risk setting a precedent where activist agendas bypass due process to achieve political outcomes.”
It continued, “More broadly, the passage of this measure would not occur in isolation. It would embolden future efforts to marginalize Jewish and Israeli students, deepen campus polarization, and risk fueling the disturbing rise in antisemitism seen at other institutions. Universities that have permitted such one-sided campaigns are now facing not only fractured communities and repetitional harm but growing federal scrutiny — including potential impacts to public funding.”
On Friday, Georgetown University sophomore and SSI leader Jacob Integrator told The Algemeiner that the BDS referendum undermines the common interests of the Georgetown community, as it has fostered the impression GUSA would violate procedural norms to alienate groups because of their shared ancestry. Alleged impropriety has already compromised the referendum’s integrity, he stressed, adding that GUSA’s holding it at a time when Jewish students will be unable to express their opposition at the ballot box is, in addition to being undemocratic, morally reprehensible.
“Georgetown SSI supports free expression by all campus groups,” Integrator said. “However, we believe that GUSA’s diverging from its standard procedures and the vote being held on Passover is not affording the Jewish community a fair and inclusive opportunity to engage in the process, voice concerns, and participate in shaping a decision that directly affects them.”
The Algemeiner has asked Georgetown University to provide a comment for this story.
Georgetown is one of 60 colleges and universities being investigated by the federal government due to being deemed by the Trump administration as soft on antisemitism and excessively “woke.” Such inquiries have led to the scorching of several billion dollars’ worth of federal contracts and grants awarded to America’s most prestigious institutions of higher education.
The Trump administration recently paused nearly $1.8 billion in combined federal funding to Cornell University and Northwestern University.
In March, it cancelled $400 million in federal contracts and grants for Columbia University, a measure that secured the school’s acceding to a slew of demands the administration put forth as preconditions for restoring the money. Later, the Trump administration disclosed its reviewing $9 billion worth of funding Harvard University, jeopardizing a substantial source of the school’s income over its alleged failure to quell antisemitic and pro-Hamas activity on campus following Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, massacre across southern Israel. Princeton University saw $210 million of its federal grants and funding suspended too, prompting its president, Christopher Eisgruber to say the institution is “committed to fighting antisemitism and all forms of discrimination.”
Brown University’s federal funding is also reportedly at risk due to its alleged failure to mount a satisfactory response to the campus antisemitism crisis, as well as its embrace of the diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) movement — perceived by many across the political spectrum as an assault on merit-based upward mobility and causing incidents of anti-White and anti-Asian discrimination.
“Jewish students studying on elite US campuses continue to fear for their safety amid the relentless antisemitic eruptions that have severely disrupted campus life for more than a year,” US Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said in a statement last month. “US colleges and universities benefit from enormous public investments funded by US taxpayers. That support is a privilege, and it is contingent on scrupulous adherence to federal antidiscrimination laws.”
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
The post Passover BDS Referendum at Georgetown University Decried by Jewish Students first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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