Evil’s Innocent Accomplices

Some time ago, I was drafted by the Israeli Police to assist in an international manhunt. My getting enmeshed in the particular case was fairly distressing and a confidant of mine was concerned about my getting further entangled in this mess.

However, shortly thereafter he encouraged my involvement with the following quote by Edmund Burke:

“All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.”

I thought Ayn Rand expanded nicely on this in “Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal”:

“The spread of evil is the symptom of a vacuum. Whenever evil wins, it is only by default: by the moral failure of those who evade the fact that there can be no compromise on basic principles.”

Rabbi Ovadia Sforno comes to a related conclusion as to the acquiescence signified by silence from a more domestic example regarding a married woman taking a vow (Numbers 30:15):

“If her husband shall be silent about her from day to day – he will have let stand all her vows; or all the prohibitions that are upon her, he will have let them stand, for he was silent about her on the day of his hearing.”

Sforno comments:

“Silence by the one who can protest is like agreement, for the one who is silent is as if he agreed with the act.”

Silence may be golden, but there are times where it may be criminal. May we always know the difference.

Shabbat Shalom,

Bentzi

Dedication

To the Israel Police Force. I found them to be determined, resourceful and relentless. May they always be a tool of justice.