Hi,
The theme of this week’s essay is the importance of embracing our unique individuality and thereby contributing to a meaningful unity of the Jewish people. I hope you enjoy it.
If you are a Hebrew reader, you may also enjoy an essay by Rabbi Avraham Chein I have published this week on my other Substack (ksovim.substack.com). The essay was written 80 years ago for Rosh Hashanah 1944 and describes the difficulty of having anything meaningful to say in the midst of the Holocaust. After such a challenging year, I am hearing many people wonder how they are going to approach the upcoming month of Tishrei and I hope Rabbi Chein’s approach will provide validation, insight and guidance.
With the blessing of ketivah vachatimah tovah - for a good and sweet year,
Reuven
“Man was created alone to teach you that whoever destroys a single soul is as if he destroyed an entire world, and whoever saves a single life is as if he had saved a complete world” (Mishnah, Sanhedrin 4:5)
The essays included in Torah Studies are drawn from the edited talks of the Rebbe that were printed as Likkutei Sichot, except for the essays for parshat Nitzavim and for Pesach, which were based on the Rebbe’s communal letters. From the beginning of his leadership in 1950, the Rebbe would compose communal letters (מכתבים כלליים), addressed to “to the sons and daughters of Israel, wherever they may be.” Within these letters, which could extend over multiple pages, the Rebbe would point out unique aspects of the holiday and how they relate to each and every Jew. Initially, these letters were issued biannually, before Pesach and Rosh Hashanah. However, over time, their frequency increased.
In advance of Rosh Hashanah 1971, the Rebbe’s communal letter (for Hebrew version see here and here) focused on the first verses of parshat Nitzavim which are always read on the shabbat before Rosh Hashanah:
“You are all standing this day before the L-rd, your G-d the leaders of your tribes, your elders and your officers, every man of Israel, your young children, your women, and your convert who is within your camp both your woodcutters and your water drawers, that you may enter the covenant of the L-rd, your G-d, and His oath, which the L-rd, your G-d, is making with you this day, in order to establish you this day as His people, and that He will be your G-d, as He spoke to you, and as He swore to your forefathers to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.” (Deut. 29:9-12)
He notes a seeming tension in these verses which begin as an address to a collective - אתם…כולכם - and then proceeds to delineate all the different classes and types of Jews. If everyone was being addressed as one, why was it necessary to describe each of them individually?
“It did so in order to make a fundamental point: that on the one hand, there must be unity amongst Jews; and, at the same time, each has his unique contribution to make, his own individual mission.”
However, if we are to value and dignify the immense difference of ‘the heads’ from the ‘water-drawers,’ on what basis can we develop a real sense of unity between them?
“The verse supplies its own answer: “You are standing today, all of you before the L-rd your G‑d.” It is as Jews stand before G‑d in the full recognition that He is the author of their powers and the ground of their being, that they are one.”
The verse highlights that when all individuals, regardless of their positions or roles, come together before G-d, acknowledging Him as the source of their abilities and the foundation of their existence, a genuine sense of unity emerges.
The Rebbe elaborates, in a manner that is strongly reminiscent of Rabbi Sacks’ distinction of contractual and covenantal societies, that in the context of human communities, individuals often join together for specific purposes, such as economic ventures, intellectual pursuits, or other shared interests. Within these partnerships, they contribute their resources, whether it be money, labour, or ideas, toward a common goal for a defined period. However, outside of these partnerships, individuals maintain their separate identities and private lives.
In contrast, the community of Israel is not merely a partnership formed for a specific purpose. It is a partnership "before the L-rd your G‑d," and its purpose is to enter into a covenant with G‑d. This covenant encompasses the entirety of an individual's being, not just their labor or ideas, and each person contributes according to their unique capacities. Furthermore, this partnership is not limited to a specific duration but is perpetual, as enduring as the Torah itself. This is the essence of true unity.
Moreover, within this partnership, the efforts of each individual Jew contribute to the collective work of the entire community. The unity of Israel is not achieved by conformity or uniformity among its members, but rather by each Jew being true to themselves in fulfilling the directives of "the L-rd your G‑d." In this way, when every Jew fulfils their unique mission, Israel becomes unified before G‑d.
In a previous essay (‘Sin City’), I have observed a recurring tension between individualism and the collective in Rabbi Sacks's writings. Additionally, I have noted how his frequent inclination towards prioritising the collective and the community to overcome individualism, can sometimes serve to deemphasise the importance of the individual. Here I intend to shed light upon instances where Rabbi Sacks emphasises the significance of the individual, and more notably, where he attempts a harmonious synthesis between the individual and the community. This approach makes him much more aligned with the Rebbe’s approach above.
The essay ‘Individual and Community’ is arguably Rabbi Sacks’ most strident defence of the importance and centrality of the individual in Judaism:
“No one in Judaism is commanded to put his life at risk to save the life of another - even to save the entire Jewish people ("even if all Israel needs his help"). Despite the fact that Judaism is an intensely communal faith, nonetheless in Jewish law the individual takes priority over the community.”
Despite Judaism's profound emphasis on community and collective responsibility, the individual takes precedence over the community in matters of life and death and the rights of the individual take priority over the welfare of the group. This principle is rooted in the belief that each person is created in the image of G-d and, therefore, possesses inherent dignity and value.
“The concept of G-d, singular and alone, gives rise to the concept of the human person, singular and alone. This is the birth of the individual in Western civilisation.”
As such, no one should be forced to sacrifice their own life, even for a noble cause. This teaching underscores the importance of self-preservation and the recognition that one's own life is not expendable. We see that the private good overrides the public good, regardless of the potential consequences.
Rabbi Sacks accentuates the preeminence of the individual in Judaism, asserting that the integrity of a single life should not be compromised, even for the preservation of the entire Jewish community. Understandably, such a heavy emphasis on the importance of the individual can place a strain on the coherence of the community and the collective and we can appreciate the question Rabbi Sacks’ poses at the end of that essay: “Can a civilisation that grants supreme significance to the individual also flourish as a collective entity?”
Conversely, a strong emphasis on the importance of the collective can erase the dignity of different identities and individual personalities. For example, in his essay on the census at the beginning of Bamidbar, Rabbi Sacks points out the importance of balancing the need to create a communal unit whilst retaining the significance of each individual:
“In any census, head-count or roll-call there is a tendency to focus on the total: the crowd, the multitude, the mass…Counting a group devalues the individual, and tends to make him or her replaceable…So G-d tells Moses to “lift people’s heads” and to show them that they each count; they all matter as individuals…This census, and the language used to describe it, sends the clear message that in Judaism we believe that each individual matters.”
Whilst Rabbi Sacks is well known for promoting a covenantal society that overcomes the damage caused by individualism, he is similarly concerned about preserving the value and uniqueness of the individual within that society. Probably his most sustained argument in that direction is in his The Dignity of Difference: How to Avoid the Clash of Civilizations, however, it is in his essay ‘Three Types of Community’ where I believe he provides the clearest articulation of his position as informed by the Rebbe’s teachings on this week’s parshah discussed earlier.
In that essay, Rabbi Sacks considers the significance of Moshe’s act of bringing the Jewish people together as a ‘kehillah’ in the aftermath of the sin of the golden calf. In contrast to an ‘edah’ which accentuates the collective, or to a ‘tzibbur’ which accentuates the differences among the group, a ‘kehillah’ is the attempt at a synthesised community of individuals.
“A kehillah is different from the other two kinds of community. Its members are different from one another. In that sense it is like a tzibbur. But they are orchestrated together for a collective undertaking – one that involves in making a distinctive contribution…The beauty of a kehillah, however, is that when it is driven by constructive purpose, it gathers together the distinct and separate contributions of many individuals, so that each can say, “I helped to make this.”
Unlike certain groups, whose members share common backgrounds and experiences, a kehillah embraces diversity, bringing together individuals with distinct identities and perspectives. Great leaders understand that true community-building involves nurturing both the individuality of its members and their collective purpose. They recognise that a kehillah is not merely a gathering of people but a dynamic, living organism that thrives on the diversity of its parts.
As the Rebbe’s letter concludes:
“This is the time of the year—the Ten Days of Teshuvah—when the Jew “returns” to his essential self when the masks of self-deception are broken. And this essential self—that he is a veritable part of G‑d above—expresses itself in all details of his daily life, in thought, speech and deed.”
We therefore read the verses of Nitzavim before Rosh Hashanah to prepare us to stand united, not in spite of our differences, but precisely because of them. Only when we shun the pressures of conformity and tap into our unique individual role in the purpose of creation, can we stand together as one before Hashem and be worthy of His blessings.