Why Charles Ramsey was the hero

What would you do, if you heard a scream from a neighbor’s basement? You’d call the police, for sure. But them what? Would you go over? Would you wait outside until the police come? Would you call your survivalist buddy to come over and storm down the front door?
We were all shocked by what happened in Cleveland, a monster imprisoning and torturing four women, mindbogglingly evil acts.
Rescue after 10 years of enslavement was amazing:
A neighbor, Charles Ramsey was inside his house eating a McDonald’s meal when he heard a woman across the street began kicking at the door and screaming. He goes to the porch, hears her screaming “help, let me out.” Ramsey opened the door helped kick in the aluminum screen door through which Berry and her daughter escaped
“I’ve been there a year, she’s been right there next to me a year.”—this was the first time he had any inkling of anything off-kilter with his neighbor. He said he never had a clue anything was wrong. When he heard the screaming, he said, there is no feeling, you just do what you need to do.
It is an amazing story of heroism.
But there were also missed opportunities
Neighbors had called police over the years about weird things they saw:
three naked young girls crawling on all fours with dog leashes around their necks while three men (likely Castro's brothers) watched,
troubling pounds and screams,
a little girl looking out of an attic window.
3 years ago: neighbors heard a blood curdling shriek from the basement. The neighbors called the police. Nothing happened.
Last year a little girl saw a naked woman crawling out of castro’s house
And Castro was fired from his job as a school bus driver, after abducting a child for a joy ride in the school bus, which might have made police all the more concerned about reports about unusual activity at his house.
The neighbors say cops rarely followed up — once, they briefly knocked on Castro's door but left when he didn't show. The cops say they were never called. Or maybe they chalked it up to domestic disturbance, a couple quarrelling, and didn’t want to get involved.
It’s easy to blame the police for these missed opportunities. This is their job. But really it’s all of our jobs too. But could the neighbors have done more? Could they have been more tenacious?
The Torah says, “do not stand idly by the blood of your neighbor, and most of us clearly seeing someone in distress will act to do something about it. Rashi: if we truly love our neighbor as ourself, we will never speak negatively about them, or seek to harm them, or desire for anything but the best for them. Certainly anybody would have called the police.
What if Ramsey had just called the police? Maybe they would have come on time. Or maybe they would have come a little too late, Interviewed Castroi, and found nothing amiss.
What made Ramsey’s response different was that he didn’t just call the police. He went up to the door, and seeing a hand sticking out, battered in the door.
Too often, when we are called to help, we do a half baked job. We offer to help someone, and it doesn’t happen, there’s no follow through. The neighbors tried to help over the ten years, they called the police, and went on with their day. Obviously, nobody wants to be a vigilante, but the question is, how much of a response fulfills my duty?
Judaism tells us that when you take on something, any mitzvah no matter how small, you see it through, and do it beautifully.
You should safeguard the observance of all the commandment(s) that I am commanding you today, so that you will live, multiply, and come to possess the Land that G-d swore to your forefathers.
-- Devarim 8:1
Rashi: The term "all the commandment(s)" is to be taken literally.
[Another interpretation:] According to the Midrash Agadah [the verse is saying]: If you have started a mitzvah, finish it, because only the one who completes it is credited with [the mitzvah]. As the verse states, "And they buried the bones of Yosef, which the Jewish people had brought up from Egypt, in Shechem" (Joshua 24:32). Was it not the case that Moshe alone took care of this [mitzvah of taking the bones, and not the Jewish people]? However, since he did not complete it, it is credited to the Jewish people, who did complete it.
Don’t just start a mitzvah, see it through.
If you were here for the lovely barbeque, you saw the detail with which Alex and his crew not only cooked, but set up tables, and even had a service line with sterno burners. If you’re called to help, you do a great job.
Doing a mitzvah completely, thoroughly—not stopping for another mitzvah, not multitasking. I saw couple a sitting, talking, and one was checkling facebook. If you’re going to be present with your spouse, be totally present, be able to give your full attention. The sources state that if you start a chapter of Talmud, you should finish it—mesayyem—that’s why we have a siyyum. Whenever we do a mitzvah, we should finish it.
Another expression of this is the notion that osek bamitzvah patur min hamitzvah—if I’m busy with one mitzvah, I don’t stop for another. This is why a groom doesn’t have to davven the night of the wedding—he’s busy with the bride. Don’t get torn by even two different things. Don’t move on until you’ve done a really great job at the first thing. Perseverance.
What could perseverance have looked like here? It means just calling the police might not be enough. Asking this neighbor who they were, and asking to talk to them. It means waiting outside until the police come, and making sure they investigate thoroughly, and if they don’t, calling the police station. It means not passing the job off to someone else, not wiping our hands clean and moving on.
What are the mitzvah opportunities in our own life, and how can we do them really well? If someone is sick, not just visiting them once, but visiting them weekly or daily, bringing them meals, not losing steam. If someone is homebound, as a number of our congregants are, it means visiting them, cheering them up, not losing momentum. If someone needs a job, helping them with their resume, their outfit, maybe a mock interview.
Mishna (Kiddushin 39b) teaches us that “whoever performs one mitzvah is well rewarded and his days are prolonged and he inherits the world.” The Jerusalem Talmud, in commenting on this mishna, reads this notion of one mitzvah differently. It argues that "ONE Mitzva" refers to one that a person dedicates him/herself to with particular diligence. The Jerusalem Talmud mentions "Talmud Torah, Bikur Holim, Gemilut Hasadim and other mitzvot that require a high level of perseverance." The Jerusalem Talmud means to say that if one performs one mitzva b’emunah, with real devotion, he’s worthy of having the Divine spirit rest upon him/her. (David Ebstein)
Let us all find our signature mitzvah; maybe something we're good at, or maybe just something where we are needed, and do it well, see it through, bring that one beautiful act, that one diamond of a mitzvah, into the world.