BackWe Need One Another
By: Rabbi Dr. Abraham Unger
On the last day of Moses’ life, he has one final message. The whole people is gathered, across the generations. All are included, from the laborers to the tribal heads. No Israelite is absent. The covenant – the one from Sinai that established the Law – is renewed, but this time, with a new dimension. That revelation at Sinai bound each individual to the Torah. This gathering, as Moses takes in his final breaths, binds each individual to every other person assembled.
The Kli Yakar, a 16th century Rabbinic commentary, states that this new covenantal moment is about mutual responsibility. We watch each other, because we need each other.
The Kli Yakar suggests that we are all accountable to each other, and in holding each other accountable, we sustain a more ethical society. In exhorting us to stay close as a Jewish people, Moses is reminding us that community is a basic human need. Like a parent, Moses wants his sibling children to stay bound together as a family.
We are living in fractious times, even as a Jewish community. We are only human, and differences will arise. But the Torah is teaching us that we must always remember we stood at the foot of the mountain together, we received the Law together, and we promised to keep each other warm when the night seemed darkest.
Can you hear Moses’ final exhortation? He is calling to every member of the Jewish community, telling us we need to remember the mutuality of responsibility every child of Israel shares. I am connected to you, and you to me. Of all the lofty sermons Moses could have given on his last day, all he asked was that we remember how much we need each other.