Conservative Currents: Killings, robberies and the Mishna

A few months ago, our car was stolen. We filled in a form at the police station and were told that the chances of finding the car were slim. Then, last Shabbat, my mother's apartment was burgled. The routine was similar - the police indicated that there was little that could be done and that we should think about buying a better lock.

What is the interesting part of this story?

Almost everyone we told our sad story to asked us only if the car and contents had been insured. When we answered that they had been, they considered the matter closed. We had been lucky. To tell the truth, even I felt somewhat relieved.

So who takes responsibility when something is stolen? Not the police, who had very little work to do in this case, Not the insurance company, which will probably just raise the premiums. Not the public, who pay less in taxes for less police work. And not even us, since we were able to replace the car using the insurance money, without the trouble of selling the old one. The thief! I hope he is happy with our car. We used to like it.

But of course there is a problem: something bad happened in our society and no one did anything to stop it. According to the Torah, when a body was found and the killer was unknown, the elders of the city (probably the leaders) would carry out a sacrifice and blame themselves for the event. They took responsibility.

Today, in contrast, when something evil happens, very often life just continues along its normal path. In a sense, this is not unexpected since we live in a country where violence and death are not uncommon. We become inured to such things as property damage, which seem trivial in comparison and we don't let it affect us.

There is another factor too which allows us to take home burglaries or car thefts for granted. That is one of the great achievements of modern times: individualism. After long years of placing their faith in ideologies ranging from socialism to nationalism, many Israelis have begun to look inward instead, towards personal development.

There is basis for this in the Mishna, which notes that a man should say that the world is created for him, in order to find his own interests, special qualities and path for happiness. But the problem is that even though such individualism allows us to achieve more, by focusing on ourselves more than on others, we become aloof from what is happening in society.

So what can we do to change this?

The same section of the Mishna reminds us of two other things: all of us are descended from the same father and as a result, no one person is better than anyone else. Secondly, every person in this world is considered as a representative of mankind, since the whole of mankind is descended from one person. Therefore, our uniqueness should serve others, just as their uniqueness should serve us. But that is not enough. In order to do so, we need to create a platform for interaction; a platform in which we can meet others in order to understand their needs and our ability to fulfill them and in which we ourselves can share our strengths and weaknesses and receive support.

One such framework is the religious community. A good community is not a place where people gather only in order to accomplish their liturgical or spiritual needs. It is a place where people meet others, get to know them and accomplish a "tefilat rabim," in which they seek to discover the needs and desires of others.

The French Jewish philosopher Immanuel Levinas said that by looking at the face of the 'other,' we can see the face of G-d. I believe that this is the main goal of a community. A person who is occupied with the needs of others would try to prevent those others from coming to harm and by making efforts to bring about a better society, would not remain silent when bad things happen. If we have true compassion for the 'other,' we will not tolerate a society in which wrong-doing is accepted.