Parshas Nitzavim- We are family!

“You are gathered here today in front of G-d, your G-d, your leaders, your tribes, your elders and your law-enforcers, every Jew.” –Deuteronomy 29:9

“YOU ARE ALL GATHERED: You are inextricably connected one with the other. It follows that one righteous person’s merit can provide protection for the entire Jewish nation, and even the entire world. This concept also implies that a single person’s wickedness can cause negative repercussions for the entire world.” –Midrash Tanchuma ibid

The Midrash informs us that every single Jew is inextricably connected together. The Talmud takes this concept from the theoretical to the practical by ruling that one Jew can perform a mitzvah on behalf of others, (even if already fulfilled his personal obligation) thereby exempting his fellow Jew’s obligation. The most common application of this mechanism is the system of the shofar blower, whereby one person blows the shofar on behalf of the entire congregation. Similarly we find by kiddush that one person exempts everybody else. Without this concept of connection, each individual would be required to blow the shofar and to make Kiddush for themselves. Hence, this connection engenders a tremendous responsibility for all of us.

When did this Jewish connectivity occur? The Chofetz Chaim maintains that the Jewish people became agglutinated together at Sinai. They accepted upon themselves both the personal performance of Torah and a separate obligation to ensure that their fellow Jews would celebrate the Torah. Every single day, in the Shema we accept anew our obligation towards our fellow Jews. We say “And you shall place these words on your hearts.” We then proceed to elaborate that our obligations follow the concatenation from our ancestors to ourselves, from ourselves to our children to and all of our descendents, and on every single Jew. We may not realize it, but we are responsible for everybody’s actions. There is no such thing as “this is none of your business.” You better believe it’s your business!

So what holds us back from ensuring the vitality of Judaism for our fellow Jews? The answer lies in our skewed perception. The Midrash likens our oblivion to seafarers. One passenger proceeded to drill a hole in the floor of his cabin. When confronted by his fellow passengers he replied, “This has nothing to do with you! I’m drilling a hole in my own cabin.” They replied, “True, the hole is in your cabin but the consequence of your actions will ultimately sink this entire ship.” Similarly, we are all in the same boat. However, many of us choose to be like the drilling passenger. Let us never forget that we all share a common destiny. The Kabbalistic work Tomer Devorah explains that every single Jewish soul is bound together, and each soul is affected by the other. This means that our connection isn’t merely of a religious and national nature; rather we are all limbs of the same spiritual body. We are one entity.

As we approach the High Holidays, we just may have to adjust our focus. We must give an accounting not only for our actions, but for every one of our fellow Jews actions. How can we be held accountable for somebody else’s actions? The Hebrew word for the concept of the Jewish connection is called “arvus” which means “cosigner.” We are all considered our fellow Jew’s cosigner. In the materialistic world, if we cosign for somebody, we will do whatever we can to get the borrower to repay his loan so that we won’t have to repay the loan. The spiritual world is no different. We are all connected and we share the common responsibility in this world. We must do everything possible to bring people closer to G-d. That is one dimension. The second wrinkle is that people look at our actions. We should exemplify Judaism to such an extent that being a role-model alone should bring our fellow Jews back.

Let us take the reality of our connectivity to heart. Let us realize that we are family, but even more so, we are all part of the same soul.