In it together: ‘Kulanu Areivim Zeh La’Zeh’
The title above refers, of course, to the well-known dictum, “all of Israel, all of the Jewish people are responsible for one another.” This is probably our greatest strength as a people, one that even non-Jews recognize. How many have heard the admiration from some that “you Jews always take care of one another,” or the rebuke from others, “you Jews are so clannish”? But what is the source?
Many are familiar with the expression of Chazal describing Am Yisrael at Har Sinai, “k’ish echad b’lev echad (as one man, with one heart),” cited by Rashi in Parshat Yitro (19:2) on the pasuk “vayichan sham Yisrael neged ha’Har (and Israel encamped there opposite the mountain).” This is due to the change in the pasuk from plural to singular, where the people stood united, in contrast to the other encampments, which were marked, unfortunately, by disagreements. But that is not the source.
It is in fact found in our parsha, B’Chukotai, smack-dab in the middle of the tochacha, the klalah (the rebuke or curse), hardly the place you’d expect it. “V’chashlu ish b’achiv k’mipnei cherev v’rodef ayin; v’lo tihiyeh lachem tekumah lifnei oiyvechem (they will stumble, one over his brother as in flight from the sword, but there is no pursuer; you will not have the power to withstand your foes” (Vayikra 26:37).
Rashi there quotes the Midrash and Gemara (Sanhedrin 27b): “bishvil achiv, they will slip and fall because of their brother; one will fall because of the sin of his brother, sheh’Kol Yisrael areivim zeh la’zeh (for all of Israel are connected to one another.” While we usually refer to this in the positive way, that our connectedness leads to positive outcomes for each, Rashi is reminding us that it also refers to the negative — that the sins of our fellow Jew can result in detriment to other Jews.
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This is profoundly brought home to us all in the wake of recent and not-so-recent events.
In 2021 on Lag BaOmer, 45 people lost their lives and 150 were severely injured in the deadliest civilian disaster in Israel’s history. The victims, almost all religious, mostly Charedi, young and old, literally “stumbled and fell over one another,” just as the pasuk horrifically predicted, resulting in a massive, fatal crowd crush. Can the warnings of our Torah get any more explicit than that? We Jews are responsible for one another and will suffer even if we haven’t personally sinned.
To their credit, immediately afterward, in cooperation with the government, the mostly Charedi authorities responsible for the annual event in Meron put into place stringent guidelines and restrictions with safety procedures that have been eminently successful. This year, given the ongoing conflict up north and the likelihood that full war against Iran will re-erupt, the government has decided to cancel the event altogether, out of legitimate safety concerns.
To their discredit, many in the Charedi community refuse to accept this appropriate government decision, however regrettable, and claim they were planning to send up 70 or more packed buses of people to Meron.
Even more distressing, rather than participating in some concrete way in defending Am Yisrael and Eretz Yisrael, they send their boys into the streets to block traffic, fight with police and lie down in roadways declaring they would rather die than accept the rules of the kofrim (the deniers of G-d), their name for the Jewish government of Israel that has a significant number of religious leaders. They are adopting tactics worse than the leftist anti-Israel, anti-religious non-Jewish protesters in the streets. Is that not acting k’chol hagoyim?
That is not to say that limud haTorah is not a legitimate way to defend Am Yisrael — it certainly is. I believe, as many do, that the wonderful army we have and the incredible defense systems would not function with their level of success, precision, accuracy and effectiveness without Torah being continuously studied day after day, hour after hour by so many in Eretz Yisrael.
But not every able-bodied Charedi bachur is sitting in beis medrash learning. There are countless ways to contribute to our defense that don’t involve a combat role — intelligence, analysis, mechanics, logistics, support, surveillance, etc. — that can be combined with limud Torah. Yet they don’t. Is this an example of Kol Yisrael areivim zeh la’zeh? Especially as thousands of young men and women, and their families, from religiously observant and non-observant homes are fighting, sacrificing and dying to defend us all?
Kol Yisrael areivim is not a slogan. As our parsha indicates, it is a pasuk in the Torah that can have profoundly incredible results or horribly disastrous ones for us all. It depends on how we act. Kol Yisrael means all of Israel — Charedi, Dati, Chiloni. Let us all choose to act wisely, if not only for ourselves but for the good of one another.
B’yachad nenatzeach (together we will win)!
Shabbat Shalom.
Write: Columnist@TheJewishStar.com
