The God Squad: Shomrim patrols a valuable idea for all communities
Question: My heart goes out to Leiby Kletzky and his family. According to a news article I read, people in the ultraorthodox Jewish neighborhood where he lived in Brooklyn, N.Y., were able to find his killer quickly through the shomrim patrol, a local volunteer group, whose name means “guardians” in Hebrew. Wouldn’t it be a great memorial to this boy to create a program that would teach others how to form and maintain shomrim patrols?
I’m amazed that the search party grew to as many as 5,000. The methods the shomrim patrol used to enlist the help of so many people should be of great interest to everyone interested in helping others. I can understand how a small, close-knit community might watch over itself, but to assemble 5,000 volunteers is phenomenal. Shomrim patrol methods could be adopted by other religions and non-denominational community watch organizations. Your thoughts? — J., Wilmington, N.C., via godsquadquestion@aol.com
Answer: My heart is also broken over the brutal murder of that little boy. I think of his death along with death of Caylee Anthony and the hundreds of children whose sad fates never galvanize the interest of the media. I think about them all the time because I’m a grandfather and because I believe that although violence committed against any innocent human being is abhorrent, violence directed against children is the most spiritually corrosive in our world.
The sufferings of children at the hands of pedophiles makes me doubt our biblical belief that we are made in the image of God and reconsider the pessimism of the philosopher Thomas Hobbes, who believed, “Each man is the wolf of his neighbor.”
Whether we’re essentially benevolent or essentially predatory is one of the great questions about human nature that we must each resolve in our own views of humanity. Those who kill children come close to breaking my belief in the basic goodness of human nature, but in the end, our nameless acts of kindness keep me hopeful and tied to God’s benevolent creation and abiding love for all.
I do agree that neighborhood watch associations and shomrim patrols are a good and useful thing on many levels. They provide volunteers to search in those critical first few hours after a child goes missing. They act as a deterrent to pedophiles stalking a neighborhood. Most of all, they help create a cohesive moral community out of isolated individuals.
When the murderer Cain answers God’s question (Genesis 4:9) about the whereabouts of his murdered brother, Abel (“Am I my brother’s keeper?”), God does not respond, perhaps out of sorrow and anger, but we can answer that question with a proud, “Yes, we are!” when we keep our eyes and hearts open to the safety of all our brothers and sisters living, as we sadly do, like sheep among wolves.
Q: My father always stressed education when I was growing up. “Educated people will look up to you even if you’re a pauper,” he would say. Well, maybe in Italy; I don’t know about here. I am an education freak. I’ve earned two master of science degrees and try to spread what I know by teaching at the local community college and working with volunteer organizations. I believe education will cure some of the ills in this world. Does God agree? Is there anything in Scripture urging people to strive to learn? — H., via godsuadquestion@aol.com
A: I just checked and there’s nothing in the Bible about getting two master’s degrees, but I do commend you on maintaining your parent’s values. I think you’re right that the value of learning and education has diminished in our culture. This may be because our children are exposed to so many wealthy celebrities in the media who are, let us say, blissfully unencumbered by formal education.
Still, while it’s true that education is the surest path to knowledge and success, it doesn’t always seem to provide the path to moral virtue, which I believe is the result of parental training and a morally sensitive faith.
My favorite Scriptural passage on learning is from Deuteronomy 6:7 (See also Ephesians 6:4): “And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.”
So we are commanded by God to study, not just to gain degrees or advancement of our careers. Rather, we are to study so we can be good teachers to our children of the way God has set out for us in the world, and so that they, in turn, will also be good teachers to their children. The power of learning is the power of teaching.
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