This past week, we talked about the importance of working on our love for our fellow man, especially in the month of Elul, in order to prepare for Rosh Hashanah. The first week of Elul was dedicated to pushing this point. In the Gemarah that discusses the judgment of Rosh Hashanah, it says that, on one hand, everybody goes in front of God individually. But then it says that everybody is looked at in one large view. How do those two statements coincide with each other? Rav Yisrael Salanter explains as follows:
A person is judged as an individual. He is judged individually on how much he impacts the Jewish people at large. Therefore, Rav Salanter says that the only advice he has for a person to be successful in his judgment is, in his words, “Be a man that everybody needs.” Be somebody that is necessary. Be somebody that is part of the Jewish people. What does that mean?
Simply it means, as in the mashal that my father-in-law, Rabbi Scherman, once gave, a secretary should make sure that when she runs the office, she has a very specialized system, in which only she knows how the records are kept. In this way, she becomes indispensable.
If they dispose of her, then nobody knows how to figure anything out.
So too, a person has to be indispensable to Hashem. It shouldn’t be that a person is here just to enjoy life. Rather, he should be necessary. That there is a good reason to keep him here. This is what we say in our prayers in the Amida, when we say, “For Your sake, God.”
We tell God that we want to be here because “the company” needs us. Then, for everything that we do, we charge it to the company account. This is advice on how to merit in our judgment. Rav Wolbe, in his Sefer Alei Shur ( volume 2), explains what “Be a man that everybody needs,” means:
It means that you aren’t an egoist. You don’t live your life only for yourself. You are involved in hessed. You tolerate others. You love others. And this doesn’t just mean that you are involved outwardly, but rather, that you are carrying the yoke of your friend. As we mentioned previously about Rav Shach, you cry when people are in pain.
That is what it means to be a man that everyone needs.
Of course, if Hashem put you in a leadership position, then even more so. But it has nothing to do with what your position is. You can be a housewife, and if, when you hear about a problem, it bothers you, that means that you are part of the Jewish people.
Rav Abraham Kalmanowitz says that you know you are a part of the Jewish people when you hear of a problem and it causes you to toss and turn, and you can’t go back to sleep.
When you immediately want to know what you can do for them, that is what it means to be part of the Jewish people. We have to work on that for the next three weeks, as we get ready for Rosh Hashanah.