LEV594 The Rabbis are ambivalent about this commandment. Arakhin 16b. There are those who question whether there is anyone of sufficient stature to rebuke others and who knows how to do it without public insult, for to rebuke to the point of public humiliation is sinful. The discussion indicates how sensitive the Rabbis were to the possible pitfalls in fulfilling this commandment. However, one feels that the majority believe that one who does not rebuke a sinner when he has the opportunity to do it, partakes of his sin. (Hence also the great virtue attributed to those who are ready to accept criticism. Tamid 28a). The Talmud records the opinion that Jerusalem was destroyed, the righteous perishing with the wicked, because the righteous did not rebuke the transgressors. Shabbat 119b; also, Shabbat 55a, on Ezek.9:4. This commandment seems to encourage the individual who meddles in other people's affairs. It probably often so served. But it is the underlying motivation of all prophetic activity. The prophet is one who cannot be a silent witness to an injustice or impiety and feels the irrepressible need to warn, to rebuke, and to denounce even though he knows he will pay heavily for his meddlesomeness. Jer. 15:10-18, Ps. 69:8-13, 139:21-22. It is this commandment, and the exhortations and personal example of the prophets, that has been the seed, the soil, and the climate to which we can perhaps attribute the presence of so disproportionately large a number of Jewish leaders and workers in the ranks of so many movements aiming to reform or overthrow unjust and oppressive social orders. (Continued at [[DEUT895]] Deuteronomy 16:20 pursue GREENBERG 75).