Sharing responsibility
Paul Stier
This is a commentary on Hillel’s saying: “If am here, everyone is here; and if I am not here, who is here?” (Sukkah 53a). Rav Steinsaltz comments on this “In other words, one must consider himself as the one upon whom it is incumbent to fulfill obligations, and he must not rely on others to do so.” And we can probably relate to this from our own experience. Most of us have been in situations in which there were many other people united with us in a cause, in a shared responsibility. And some of us might sometimes wonder, why am I even here when there are so many other people already in place? But Hillel would challenge us in such a situation because “if I am not here, who is here?” This means we are personally responsible for communal and collective matters. Because if everyone thought they are exempt from their responsibility for your community or society, nobody would take this responsibility. Nowadays, we could see this for example with voting behavior. If everyone thought their single vote and voice didn’t matter, democracy as a whole wouldn’t work.
But I believe this isn’t just about the fact that an individual must take responsibility because otherwise nobody would do it. It is also about the fact that it’s better not to be alone in taking responsibility, it’s better to take it collectively. In the Western world we live in a world of extreme individualism. This is sometimes blurring our understanding of how we could do things better together. Organizing as a community, as an association, as a union, as a small democracy within a democracy means to not only take responsibility because nobody else would do it, it means to take it because it actually serves us and others better.
But how could this look like in practice for a Jewish community? It could mean to rethink the way how we fund our programs and activities. Is it really necessary to rely on large philanthropies or could we fund ourselves without them if we integrated interested Jews in a better way? Do we understand Jewish communities only as the providers of services like prayer, learning and life cycle rituals? Or could we organize in such an inclusive way that many people feel like they can make decisions, influence what’s happening and also contribute to them financially? Why do we rely in our self-understandings, the shaping of our Jewish identities and lives on funding decisions of some large donors? How would Jewish life look like without them? And would this even be better? Would we survive as a Jewish people? How would we understand ourselves as Jews? Can we empower ourselves to democratize Jewish life?
I don’t have the answers to these questions. There are many good reasons why things developed this way. It’s also clear that people with more property and income should contribute more. I am incredibly thankful for every chance I got in programs, communities, universities and so on which were all made possible through Jewish philanthropy. It can sometimes even help in breaking up old, exclusive, and undemocratic communal structures. But we should have an open conversation about how we organize as a community and who is holding responsibility and power. I believe that Hillel can teach us quite a bit about how this responsibility should be shared on the shoulders and minds of a community as a whole. Maybe my commentary can be a contribution to this conversation because if I am not here, who is here?