Do not separate yourself from the community TB Taanit 11

Hillel teaches in Pirke Avot: “Do not separate yourself from the community.” (2:4) Today’s daf TB Taanit 11 reminds us that all of Israel is connected to one another in times of trouble; consequently, we should not feel that we can escape unscathed while others are suffering.

“Likewise, the Sages taught in a baraita: When the Jewish people is immersed in distress, and one of them separates himself from the community and does not share their suffering, the two ministering angels who accompany a person come and place their hands on his head, as though he was an offering, and say: This man, so-and-so, who has separated himself from the community, let him not see the consolation of the community.

“When the community is immersed in suffering, a person may not say: I will go to my home and I will eat and drink, and peace be upon you, my soul. And if he does so, the verse says about him: “And behold joy and gladness, slaying oxen and killing sheep, eating flesh and drinking wine; let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we shall die” (Isaiah 22:13). And the prophecy continues with what is written afterward, in the following verse: “And the Lord of hosts revealed Himself in my ears: Surely this iniquity shall not be expiated by you until you die” (Isaiah 22:14).

“The baraita comments: Up to this point is the attribute of middling people, who merely exclude themselves from the suffering of the community. However, with regard to the attribute of wicked people, what is written about those who hope for more of these days? “Come, I will fetch wine, and we will fill ourselves with strong drink; and tomorrow shall be as this day, and much more abundant” (Isaiah 56:12). And what is written afterward? “The righteous perishes, and no man lays it to heart, and godly men are taken away, none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come” (Isaiah 57:1). This verse teaches that righteous people suffer early death to prevent them from witnessing the harm that will befall these evil people (or praying on their behalf-Rashi).

“The baraita continues: Rather, a person should be distressed together with the community. As we found with Moses our teacher that he was distressed together with the community, as it is stated during the war with Amalek: “But Moses’ hands were heavy; and they took a stone, and put it under him, and he sat upon it” (Exodus 17:12). But didn’t Moses have one pillow or one cushion to sit upon; why was he forced to sit on a rock? Rather, Moses said as follows: Since the Jewish people are immersed in suffering, I too will be with them in suffering, as much as I am able, although I am not participating in the fighting. The baraita adds: And anyone who is distressed together with the community will merit seeing the consolation of the community.”(Sefaria.org translation)

This concept of sharing the distress of the community is the underlying idea in the message Mordechai sent to Esther. Mordechai cautions Esther, “Do not think that because you are in the palace of the king your chances for survival are greater than those of other Jews. If you hold your peace at this time, relief and salvation will come to the Jews from another source, but you in your father’s house or perish.” (Esther 4:13-14)

Don’t believe for one moment when Anti-Semites, whether they be Arab terrorists or white nationalists, promise the destruction of “Zionists” they only mean Israelis. It’s only a code word for all Jews. Murderous attacks at synagogues, Jewish community centers, and even kosher supermarkets prove that these murderers make no distinction between Zionists and non-Zionists, between Jewish believers no matter what religious stream a person belongs to and Jewish atheists, and between Israeli Jews and Diaspora Jews. When one part of the Jewish people is in danger all of Israel is in danger.