There was once a rabbi who hired a wagon driver to drive him to the next town. As the wagon passed a field of ripe produce, the wagon driver stopped the wagon, jumped out, and started picking some fruit.
Within seconds the driver heard the rabbi shout, “Watch out! Someone’s watching you!”
Frightened, he quickly jumped back into the wagon and drove off. But as he looked over his shoulder to see who was watching him, the wagon driver didn’t see a soul. “Hey rabbi,” he said, “Who was coming? I don’t see anyone.”
“G-d was watching; G-d is always watching,” explained the rabbi.
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Edward Snowden became a household name this week as he joined the ranks of world-famous whistle blowers. With high-level security clearance Edward had access to some of the most important—and most secret—programs at the NSA, including the monitoring of U.S. citizens’ phone calls and emails which he went public with after fleeing to Hong Kong.
Without getting into the argument of whether the government should invade our privacy to protect us from terrorism, one thing is clear. Privacy does not exist. The government has access to all our emails, phone calls, text messages and Google searches. Everything we do on our computers is saved, studied and passed around—all without our consent.
Why would Edward disrupt his life, leave his family and his girlfriend, and go into exile? He wanted to warn us that we are not as safe as we think, and that privacy is pretty much an illusion.
Now, as long as we’re not doing anything illegal, why should we care if the government is watching? We have nothing to hide!
Well, for one, the government could easily misuse our information. And there may be some time in the future when the government needs to take a closer look at me. They may want to look through all my emails, my searches, my Facebook posts. They may need to track my locations, my family and friends and every aspect of my private life.
As Jews, the concept of being watched is not new to us. We read in Ethics of our Fathers, “Know what is above you: an eye that sees, an ear that hears, and all your deeds are recorded…”
We know that we are constantly under surveillance and accountable for every action. There’s no hiding and no pretending. And when we die, G-d plays that reel back to us, and we’ll hear every conversation and see every deed we did over the course of our lives. The evidence will be undeniable and we’ll be put on trial for it. The heavenly court will determine our fate.
In fact, in this week’s Torah portion the Jews are about to battle Og, king of Bashan, and G-d tells Moses, “Do not fear him.” Why did Moses need the reassurance?
Hundreds of years earlier, Og had done a favor for Abraham. Since we know that G-d records every single deed—good and bad—Moses was afraid that Og’s good deed would now come to his aid, and he would triumph. So G-d reassured him that he would indeed be able to kill Og during this war.
If we keep in mind that all our words, deeds, and thoughts, are being recorded by Heavenly surveillance perhaps this will give us the inspiration to fill the world with good deeds!
Do a Mitzvah - Watch out - G-d is listening!