As we observe the price of oil rising due to instability in certain regions and devastating natural disasters that cause tsunamis thousands of miles away – we recognize that our world is an interdependent one. So many events in the world around us impact us indirectly.
This reminds me of a famous Midrash in this week’s Parsha of Vayikra, which tells the following parable:
A group of people were traveling in a boat. One of them took a drill and began to drill a hole beneath himself.
His companions said to him: "Why are you doing this?" Replied the man: "What concern is it of yours? Am I not drilling under my own place?"
Said they to him: "But you will flood the boat for us all!"
It’s easy for us to remember this lesson when it comes to our immediate surroundings – our family, our workplace and intimate social circle. The increasingly smaller global community helps us more deeply appreciate the effect of our actions.
Yet Judaism truly takes it a step further.
In the second verse of this week’s Torah portion we read, “When a man from among you brings a sacrifice to the Lord; from animals, from cattle or from the flock you shall bring your sacrifice.” What’s not readily evident in the English translation is that the original Hebrew switches from singular form to plural.
Why the grammatical inconsistency?
The commentaries explain that the Torah is relating a powerful message about our deeds. Sacrifices were offered to atone for sins. The Torah is teaching that when we sin individually the effect is on all of us. We are actually drilling a hole in our collective spiritual boat. And when we offer a sacrifice we achieve merit for the entire Jewish people.
Rambam (Maimonides) teaches that we must take this perspective not only in a negative vein, but also positively.
When we are deliberating a good deed, we should view ourselves, and the entire world as well, as being equally "weighted" with sins and mitzvot. The scale evenly balanced, and any one deed will tip the scale — my personal scale, as well as the global scale. Any one mitzvah can potentially bring change and redemption to the individual and the entire world.
It isn’t only the physical world that exists in the reality of cause and effect, but also – perhaps primarily – the spiritual cosmos.
Now let me get back to reinforcing our global boat.