The Secret of Public Responsibility: Why Personal Spiritual Ascent is Not Enough

Wednesday, Parashas Toldos, 30 Cheshvan, First Day of Rosh Chodesh Kislev 5759 (Continued on track 164, side B)

A person can reach tremendous spiritual attainments and hover in the upper worlds, but without working for the sake of the community and establishing a place of Torah and holiness for the multitudes, his divine service is lacking. Through a wondrous story of Divine Providence and a deep commentary on Megillas Koheles (Ecclesiastes), it is explained how taking responsibility for the public opens gates of abundance and new mochin (expanded spiritual consciousness).

A person can begin to fly to the heavens, soaring above twenty cubits. He is in the clouds, hovering in the upper worlds, and he does not care about anyone—not about the community, not about his children, and not about what is happening around him. He serves Hashem, and it seems to him that he has no need to worry about the public. It is regarding this that Rabbi Tanchum comes to warn us.

Moharnat of Breslov (Likutey Halachos, Birkos HaShachar 5) writes that the main thing is for people to gather together and establish a synagogue for generations. All of a person's solitary service of Hashem, even if he achieves the greatest spiritual attainments in the world, has no value compared to the merit of establishing a synagogue together. If there are ten people, they must seek counsel on how to build a large synagogue that can accommodate all the residents of the city, to expand it, to raise funds, and to connect with donors.

The Power of Taking Responsibility

To illustrate this, I will tell a true story. A relative came to me and shared that in the past, he was responsible for a branch of a youth movement in Tel Aviv. The building was old, the walls were about to collapse, and there was a real fear that the place would fall apart and the children would drift away from keeping Shabbos. He reached out to a wealthy millionaire in London whose name was signed on the building's dedication plaque, but the man completely ignored him for an entire year and refused to acknowledge him.

Suddenly, the man in charge had an idea. He sent the wealthy donor a sharp letter: "The building is crumbling. I am taking down your plaque and looking for new donors!" As soon as the wealthy man received the letter, he sent a check for 25,000 pounds sterling. In the merit of that one simple idea, the building was renovated, the children were saved, and in time, entire yeshivas, pilots, and men of action who established settlements grew from that very branch.

What do we learn from this? When a person is deeply involved, feeling a sense of ownership, belonging, and guardianship over a matter of holiness, ideas and counsel immediately fall to him from Heaven. From one small idea, he can raise a vast fortune for the sake of the public and raise up generations upon generations of Torah.

True Zeal for Hashem – Descending to the People

Moharnat explains that this is the aspect of the zeal of Pinchas. A person who wants to be zealous for Hashem and is willing to go through fire and water must know that the main thing is to go and establish a place of Torah and a synagogue. It is not enough to ascend higher and higher in spiritual elevations until no one can even see you anymore. Wondrous dveikus (cleaving to Hashem) is an important thing, but it is not enough.

Regarding this, the Midrash (Koheles Rabbah) expounds on the verse:

"He who loves silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he who loves abundance, with increase; this also is vanity" (Koheles 5:9).

A person can be one who "loves abundance" (doing things b'hamon, in great multitudes)—he does things in abundance, learning, praying, and ascending to the heavens above twenty cubits. They are all servants of Hashem, all cleaving to the Holy One, blessed be He, twenty-four hours a day, but who said that this is all Hashem wants? Hashem wants us to descend below, to the people, to the lowest places, and to build a place that can contain tens of thousands of people.

The Secret of Yosef HaTzaddik: Self-Nullification and Devotion

Yosef HaTzaddik (Joseph the Righteous) symbolizes this illumination, and he is compared to a Chanukah candle—entirely holy to Hashem. The Midrash (Bereishis Rabbah) relates that when the brothers came to attack him, Yosef said to them, "If eleven candles could not extinguish one candle, all the more so that one candle cannot extinguish eleven candles." Yosef was ready to sacrifice his life, embodying the concept of "I am seeking my brothers."

After the passing of Yaakov Avinu (Jacob our Patriarch), the brothers feared that Yosef would take revenge on them. But Yosef, out of immense humility, refused to sit at the head of the table and said to them, "Do not fear, for am I in the place of God?" The Baal HaTurim notes that Yosef used the exact same phrasing that Yaakov said to Rachel ("Am I in the place of God?"), to teach us that every word a person utters returns to him measure for measure. Yosef saw his brothers as shining stars, and he understood that his role was not to lord over them, but to care for them and sustain them.

"No Increase" – When There is No Action for the Community

Let us return to the verse in Koheles. A person can perform a multitude of spiritual devotions: praying for hours, learning for hours, practicing Hisbodedus (secluded prayer) in his home without leaving, and ascending to the skies in yearning and longing for Hashem until his soul expires. But Moharnat warns: If you have not built a synagogue, if you have not done something where thousands of people can come and draw close to the truth—you have done nothing.

"He who loves silver shall not be satisfied with silver"—a person who loves to ascend spiritual levels to Hashem, may He be blessed (the Hebrew word for silver, kesef, shares a root with kisufim, meaning yearning), is never satisfied. He learns twenty hours a day and does not sleep. But "nor he who loves abundance, with increase (lo tevuah)." The word lo (not) is written with the letter Aleph, meaning "no." In other words, he has no increase, he has nothing. All the spiritual devotions in the world are vanity if he does not do work for the sake of the public, to perpetuate and publicize the truth in the world.

Rashi explains this verse: "He who loves mitzvos will not be satisfied by them... and he does not have among them a specific, established mitzvah—such as the Holy Temple, or a beautiful Torah scroll." If a person does not engage in building the Holy Temple or establishing a synagogue, he will be left in Heaven with only a few meager points compared to what he could have merited.

When a person dedicates himself for the sake of the public, even if he suffers humiliation and bloodshed (deep shame), new mochin (expanded consciousness) and Divine attainments open up to him that he would not have reached even in a million years of serving Hashem on his own. We must unite as one man with one heart, contribute our thoughts and our energy, and establish a mikdash me'at (miniature sanctuary) that will illuminate the entire world, fulfilling the verse, "For My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations."

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