#88 Merit of Community

There is another level of safety in numbers. Namely, being part of a Jewish community. Whether it be a synagogue congregation, a yeshivah or chesed organization, active membership in the Jewish people can also be a life-saving association.

When Elisha offered to speak to the king for the Shunammite woman, she demurred, saying, "I dwell among my people." (Kings 2:4:13.) The Zohar reveals that "the king" in the verse is an allusion to G-d, the king of the universe, and that she preferred to have her prayers considered with the rest of the community rather than being singled out even by the prophet on her behalf.

The Talmud (Yoma 75b) states that the manna fell for Joshua, "as it did for all of Israel." Why is Joshua singled out? Why should he, the chief disciple of Moses, have been any less deserving of sustenance than the rest of the people?

The answer is that because Joshua had accompanied Moses to the foot of Mount Sinai, where he waited for him to return with the Torah, he was temporarily isolated from the community. Even though it was only a few minutes' walk from Joshua's position to the encampment of the nation, he required a special blessing of manna. Anyone residing with the nation received manna in the collective merit of the many; anyone who was set even slightly apart from the rest, and even though it was for a good reason, needed his own special merit to survive.

Based on this Talmudic passage, Rabbi Chaim Shmuelevitz explained the fate of the members of the Mir Yeshiva, which miraculously survived the Holocaust. "We have seen this with our own eyes," he said. "During the wanderings of the Mir, those who remained with the yeshiva were not harassed---all of them got out safely from the terrible exile---but those who segregated themselves even slightly---those who just went to say goodbye to their families in nearby towns, intending to return immediately---never returned." (from The Rosh Yeshiva by Rav Reuven Grossman, Pp. 82-83.)

What is the power of belonging to a Jewish community? The Jewish people is eternal. In the Torah, we have a promise from G-d that we will never be wholly destroyed. Great calamities may befall us, but a remnant will always survive. Attaching oneself to the Jewish people, or to some significant part of it, means attaching oneself to eternity.

Of course, the safety in numbers depends also on the quality of those numbers, the depth of our connection to others. To the extent that our existence matters to others, will they be affected by whatever happens to us? The extent of their suffering due to our fate serves to mitigate our judgment. So it pays to have good friends, in both senses---people who are righteous and who are close to us.

There are, of course, no guarantees. Only the Almighty knows how to calculate all the merits and debits of our accounts in this world. Only He can decide who shall live and who shall die. But if we know how the system works, we can use that knowledge to increase the odds in our favor. And what, after all, is the cost? Only the effort that goes into making friends. It seems like a small price to pay.