This time of year, more so than the rest of the year, we are all supposed to feel like brothers. While this is a very important concept, we don’t always relate it to people from other countries, communities synagogues or yeshivot. We tend to identify more with people like ourselves.
The Artscroll book about Rav Nosson Tzvi Finkel discusses a sad event that took place in Mirrer Yeshiva in the 1990s. I was there at the time and remember it.
There was a British boy who was new to the Yeshiva. He had only been there for a few months when, one day during first Seder, he told his havruta that he had to use the restroom. He didn’t return and was missing until the next morning when he was found in the restroom. Apparently, he’d had a heart attack or some other sudden event and passed away in a very tragic way.
A few days later, while everyone was still in shock, Rav Nosson Tzvi addressed the talmidim and quoted a Gemarah that says, “If one of the brothers pass away, all the brothers should be worried. One if the members of the group passes away, the entire group has to be concerned.
Lo Alenu, if one of a group passes way , it means that, has v’shalom, there was a judgement on the whole group.
He said, “ One of our chaburah passed, so we have to take this to heart. We have to be concerned, we have to do to Teshuva.” Then he paused and said,
You might think to yourself, “This was a British boy who just came to Yeshiva. What does this have to do with me? I didn’t even know him.
But if a boy has been in Yeshiva for 2 and 1/2 months and you didn’t know him, that’s a bigger reason to worry. And if you say to yourself that you don’t consider him a part of the Haburah, Woe- you must worry!!
He explained that if you don’t feel concerned, , or feel that he has nothing to do with you, you have an even bigger concern- to think a fellow Jew in your Yeshiva has nothing to do with you!
This is an important point that we must constantly reiterate. Brooklyn, Deal, Israel, Boro Park, Hasid, Sephardi… we are all one nation, with one Father.
If we don’t feel that, there is something to be worried about. B’ezrat Hashem, we will feel it.
Have a wonderful day.