I work with someone who is Jewish and she was telling me about a a prayer gathering that she goes to regularly. They pray for a list of people in need within their community – people they don’t even know! She said these types of gatherings are common. I was so impressed by the empathy her community has for eachother. Is this something the Torah teaches or do they just do it naturally?
Thank you for that very interesting observation! Rabbi Meir Shapiro of Lublin, Poland, once offered the following explanation. The Talmud makes a point that in Bible grammar an entire nation can be described in the plural form, yet only the Jews are called “Adam” using the singular form – “manâ€? instead of “peopleâ€?. The Talmud is telling us that there is only one nation on earth that is considered like one person, such that if one member is hurt, everyone feels the pain. Just like a body feels the pain of its foot, so the Jews as a whole unit feel each other’s pain. This exists nowhere else!
With my best regards,
Rabbi Boruch Clinton
Ottawa, Canada