(יד) הוּא הָיָה אוֹמֵר, אִם אֵין אֲנִי לִי, מִי לִי. וּכְשֶׁאֲנִי לְעַצְמִי, מָה אֲנִי. וְאִם לֹא עַכְשָׁיו, אֵימָתָי:
Hillel used to say: If I am not for me, who will be for me? And when I am for myself alone, what am I? And if not now, then when?
(ד) הוּא הָיָה אוֹמֵר, עֲשֵׂה רְצוֹנוֹ כִרְצוֹנְךָ, כְּדֵי שֶׁיַּעֲשֶׂה רְצוֹנְךָ כִרְצוֹנוֹ. בַּטֵּל רְצוֹנְךָ מִפְּנֵי רְצוֹנוֹ, כְּדֵי שֶׁיְּבַטֵּל רְצוֹן אֲחֵרִים מִפְּנֵי רְצוֹנֶךָ. הִלֵּל אוֹמֵר, אַל תִּפְרֹשׁ מִן הַצִּבּוּר, וְאַל תַּאֲמִין בְּעַצְמְךָ עַד יוֹם מוֹתְךָ, וְאַל תָּדִין אֶת חֲבֵרְךָ עַד שֶׁתַּגִּיעַ לִמְקוֹמוֹ, וְאַל תֹּאמַר דָּבָר שֶׁאִי אֶפְשָׁר לִשְׁמֹעַ, שֶׁסּוֹפוֹ לְהִשָּׁמַע. וְאַל תֹּאמַר לִכְשֶׁאִפָּנֶה אֶשְׁנֶה, שֶׁמָּא לֹא תִפָּנֶה:
Hillel says: Do not separate yourself from the community.
Guide
A. Read through the first two courses. Explain each one in your own words.
B. Taken together, how do these two teachings from Hillel explore our topics of the individual and the community.
C. Do you agree? Why or why not?
(יב) (דברים כ׳:ז׳) ומי האיש אשר ארש אשה אחד [מארס] ואחד [מייבם] אפילו שומרת יבם לחמשה אחין ואפי' חמשה אחין ששמעו שמת אחיהם במלחמה כולן חוזרין ובאין אין לי אלא בנה ביתו ולא חנכו נטע כרם ולא חללו ארס אשה ולא לקחה בנה בית וחנכו ולא שהה שנים עשר חדש נטע כרם וחללו ולא שהה שנים עשר חדש ארס אשה ולקחה ולא שהה שנים עשר חדש מנין שאין זזין ממקומן ת"ל (דברים כ״ד:ה׳) כי יקח איש אשה חדשה דבר זה בכלל היה ולמה יצא להקיש אליו מה זה מיוחד שארס אשה ולקחה ולא שהה י"ב חדש שאין [זזין ממקומן] אף כולן כן.
A person might think: 'since the Academy of Shammai declares unclean that which the Academy of Hillel declares clean, one prohibits that which the other permits, how, then, can I learn Torah?' This is way Torah repeats: "words...the words...these are the words..." All of the words have been given by a single Shepherd, one God fashioned them, one Provider gave them, Source of all deeds, blessed be God, has spoken them. So make for yourself a heart with many rooms, and bring into it the words of the Academy of Shammai and the words of the Academy of Hillel, the words of who declare unclean and those that declare clean.
Guide
A. What does source 3 teach us about the parameters of community?
B. What communities are you a member or participant of can you honestly say are doing a good job of upholding this value?
אמר רבי אבא אמר שמואל שלש שנים נחלקו בית שמאי ובית הלל הללו אומרים הלכה כמותנו והללו אומרים הלכה כמותנו יצאה בת קול ואמרה אלו ואלו דברי אלקים חיים הן והלכה כבית הלל וכי מאחר שאלו ואלו דברי אלקים חיים מפני מה זכו בית הלל לקבוע הלכה כמותן מפני שנוחין ועלובין היו ושונין דבריהן ודברי בית שמאי ולא עוד אלא שמקדימין דברי בית שמאי לדבריהן
Rabbi Abba said that Shmuel said: For three years Beit Shammai and Beit Hillel disagreed. These said: The halakha is in accordance with our opinion, and these said: The halakha is in accordance with our opinion. Ultimately, a Divine Voice emerged and proclaimed: Both these and those are the words of the living God. However, the halakha is in accordance with the opinion of Beit Hillel. The Gemara asks: Since both these and those are the words of the living God, why were Beit Hillel privileged to have the halakha established in accordance with their opinion? The reason is that they were agreeable and forbearing, showing restraint when affronted, and when they taught the halakha they would teach both their own statements and the statements of Beit Shammai. Moreover, when they formulated their teachings and cited a dispute, they prioritized the statements of Beit Shammai to their own statements, in deference to Beit Shammai.
Finding Oneself by Caring for Others
One must try to transcend one's individual world. Sometimes self-centeredness fills one's whole being, until all of one's thoghts are focused only one's own individual concerns. This way of thinking undermines a person's greatness and will eventually lead to both physical and spiritual suffering.
Instead, one must dedicate one's thoughts and desires to the greater good: others, the people, and the entire world. And (paradoxically) through doing this, one will come to know one's own essence.
--Rav Kook, OK 3, p.147
Guide:
A. According to Rav Kook's teaching in Source #5, how do communal obligations help us to discover ourselves?
B. Can you describe a personal experience that embodies this teaching?
The people are for us a community of people who were, are, and will be--a community of the dead, the living, and the yet unborn--who, together constitute a unity. It is this unity that to young people is the foundation of their identity, this identity which is fitted as a link into the great chain. Whatever all the people in this chain have created ad will create, they conceive to be the work of their own particular being. Whatever they have experienced and will experience the individual conceives to be his or her own destiny. the past of the people is her or his personal memory, the future of the people his or her personal task. The way of the people is the basis of our understanding of ourself. When out of our deepest self-knowledge we have thus affirmed ourselves, when we have said "yes" to ourselves and to our whole Jewish existence, then our feelings will no longer be the feelings of the individuals. Every one of us will feel that we are the people, for we will feel the people within ourselves.
--Martin Buber, Judaism and the Jews, 1909