(יד) הוּא הָיָה אוֹמֵר, אִם אֵין אֲנִי לִי, מִי לִי. וּכְשֶׁאֲנִי לְעַצְמִי, מָה אֲנִי. וְאִם לֹא עַכְשָׁיו, אֵימָתָי:
(14) He [Rabbi Hillel] used to say: If I am not for me, who will be for me? And when I am for myself alone, what am I? And if not now, then when?
(ד) הִלֵּל אוֹמֵר, אַל תִּפְרֹשׁ מִן הַצִּבּוּר, וְאַל תַּאֲמִין בְּעַצְמְךָ עַד יוֹם מוֹתְךָ, וְאַל תָּדִין אֶת חֲבֵרְךָ עַד שֶׁתַּגִּיעַ לִמְקוֹמוֹ, וְאַל תֹּאמַר דָּבָר שֶׁאִי אֶפְשָׁר לִשְׁמֹעַ, שֶׁסּוֹפוֹ לְהִשָּׁמַע. וְאַל תֹּאמַר לִכְשֶׁאִפָּנֶה אֶשְׁנֶה, שֶׁמָּא לֹא תִפָּנֶה:
Hillel said: do not separate yourself from the community, Do not trust in yourself until the day of your death, Do not judge not your fellow man until you have reached his place. Do not say something that cannot be understood [trusting] that in the end it will be understood. Say not: ‘when I shall have leisure I shall study;’ perhaps you will not have leisure.
- What is Hillel suggesting?
- What is "community"? Who defines community?
- What are the benefits of belonging to a community? What are the sacrifices of belonging to a community?
- What might Hillel's advice say about the role of interpersonal relationships?
- What is "the" community? Is it all Jews? A subset of Jews? All people?
- Is there even such a thing as "the" Jewish community? Who is part of it? Who is not? Who determines these boundaries in the first place?
- What constitutes "separating"? Why is it ill advised?
- What defines the Jewish people? Nationality? Ethnicity? Ethical behavior Religious commitments? Shared norms and values? Food? Shared history?
- What are some times when the Jewish community has been cohesive? What makes those times unique?
- What happens when a tzibbur holds a set of beliefs and assumption that we no longer hold?
When are you an "If I am not for me" person? And when are you an "If I am only for myself" person?
- How do the people you generally surround yourself with make you a better person?
In starting out your time on campus, as you continue to find "your people":
- What do you want your community to offer you?
- Who do you want to be in your community? What do you want to offer your community?
- And how can your community hold you accountable and help you be the best person you can be?
(close by sharing one thing you have to offer this community and one thing you need from this community)
Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak Kook, Orot
The relationship between the Jewish people and its individual members is different than the relationship between any other national group and its members. All other national groups only bestow upon their individual members the external aspect of their essence (a title such as American). But the essence itself each person draws from the all-inclusive soul, from the soul of God, without the intermediation of the group... This is not the case regarding Israel. The soul of the individuals is drawn from ... the community, the community bestowing a soul upon the individuals. One who considers severing himself from the people must sever his soul from the source of its vitality. Therefore each individual Jew is greatly in need of the community. He will always offer his life so that he should not be torn from the people, because his soul and self-perfection require that of him. (p. 144)
Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik, On Repentance, pp. 114-115
Judaism has always viewed man from this dual perspective. It sees every person as an independent individual and also as part of a community, a limb of the body of Israel. Jewish thinkers have conducted an ongoing dialectic on this subject throughout the ages. The pivotal question is: Does the individual stand above the community which should serve its needs, or should the individual subordinate himself to the community's needs? In Judaism this question has been asked in relation to the individual who serves as a community leader. Who, in our history, was a greater leader than Moses, redeemer of Israel, the great rabbi and teacher, about whom our Sages wrote that his worth was equivalent to that of six hundred thousand men, meaning the total number of the male community of his time? Nonetheless, when the children of Israel fashioned the Golden Calf, "God said to Moses, 'Go down - lower yourself down; for did I not grant you greatness only to benefit Israel? And now that Israel has sinned, what need have I of you?'" (Berakhot 32b). Even the greatness of an individual like Moses is dependent upon the community. It would seem that the community and the individual are placed in balance with each other and are interdependent. At times we find that the community must sacrifice itself on behalf of the individual ... And at times the individual must sacrifice himself for the good of the community.
Never is the individual's worth belittled when measured against the whole community; and never is the community undermined because of any individual or individuals. Each has its own position of strength.
Hillel says "Do not separate yourself from the community" because they are the society/total, they endure, as was explained that the community has more existence, and therefore the one who separates from the community separates from something that has the most existence. Furthermore society is everything, and they have the power of everything, and therefore one who separates from the community separates themselves from everything, and they are outside. If that one is outside they are considered for for naught because they left society. This matter is explained in the words of the Rabbis, who count those who separate themselves from the community with heretics, and epikoruses, who deny the Torah, and Revival of the Dead, as it says in Masekhet Rosh Hashanah (17a)...Thus the one who separates from the ways of the community leave society. And Hillel says that society is the main thing and not the private individual, for the individual is dynamic/changing, and these societies endure, as has been explained, for societal power endures without change.
Ahad Ha'Am (Asher Ginsberg; b. 1856, Kiev; d. 1927, Tel Aviv. Father of Cultural Zionsim)
When the individual values the community as his own life and strives after its happiness as though it were his individual well-being, he finds satisfaction and no longer feels so keenly the bitterness of his individual existence, because he sees the end for which he lives and suffers.
Tiferet Yisrael on Pirkei Avot 2:4 (R' Israel Lipschitz; 1782-1860, Germany)
[Hillel's teaching] includes five ideas:
- That one should not separate himself from (minhagei tzibur) the customs of the community.
- When the community gathers at its routine times, one should rouse himself for study, for prayer, to discuss matters of mitzvah, or the needs of the community. A person should not say, "They can decide what they want, and I--myself--will agree and accept what has been decided." Rather, one should assume a role in the communal gatherings, advising for (l'tovot ha-tzibur) the health of the community and always in the service of God.
- When the community is in a troubled state, even if the individual is not in that same sadness, he should feel their troubles as if he too were troubled. Thus, he can be with them in their sadness.
- When one prays for his own needs, he should include in his prayers the same wish for all those who are needy, thereby including himself among those who are in need.
- For one who is appointed to oversee the (minhagei tzibur) customs of the community: if the heads of the community are all mixed up in conflict, and they do not represent the community, even if the overseer is one of them and equal to them, he should not separate himself entirely from the general community, in order for him to manage them. There is no honor in getting mixed up among his servants. He works for the community's love, since they think of him as a stranger who is proud to be among them.
This is what the Sage is saying: One who knows the correct (middah) value of blending together confidence for the community with humility, one who can suitably balance measure for measure, at the appropriate time, in the appropriate place, with the appropriate person -- that is a person who is accomplished and should be loved and always respected.
And it is taught in a baraita: A Torah scholar is not permitted to reside in any city that does not have these ten things: A court that has the authority to flog and punish transgressors; and a charity fund for which monies are collected by two people and distributed by three, as required by halakha. This leads to a requirement for another three people in the city. And a synagogue; and a bathhouse; and a public bathroom; a doctor; and a bloodletter; and a scribe [velavlar] to write sacred scrolls and necessary documents; and a ritual slaughterer; and a teacher of young children. With these additional requirements there are a minimum of 120 men who must be residents of the city. They said in the name of Rabbi Akiva: The city must also have varieties of fruit, because varieties of fruit illuminate the eyes.