[Avodah] Concerning ourselves with the world at large

[Yaakov Moser]

>
> I only have one Makor for this idea, that we, as Jews, should concern
> ourselves with the well-being of the world at large. It is from Ramchal, in
> the Hakdamah to Mesillas Yesharim: "The general rule for this (Halichah
> B'drachav - MYG) is that a person should act in all his ways based on
> uprightness and forethought (Hayosher V'hamussar - MYG). Chazal generalized
> it as, "Anything which is harmonious both to its performer and to the
> observer." This means that one goes to the n-th degree of doing good, which
> is that its result is the strengthening of Torah and _repairing
> relationships between nations._"
>
> Does anyone have any other Makoros for this concept?
>
> KT,
> MYG
I refer you to the very interesting discussion in Chief Rabbi Jonathan 
Sacks' book "To Heal a Fractured World", chapter 9 - Responsibility for 
Society, pp. 113-129.

"There are certain questions that are note asked within a particular 
culture, simply because the circumstances that give rise to it never 
occurred. Throughout history, Jews took it as axiomatic that they were 
responsible for one another. The question they did /not/ ask was: to 
what extent are we responsible for the wider society and the world?...
/The question was not asked because it never arose./ For eighteen 
centuries of Diaspora history, Jews had no civil rights. They had no 
vote. Until the nineteenth century, they were not admitted to 
universities, the professions, parliaments, local government or offices 
of state. Even after emancipation, in the nineteenth and early twentieth 
centuries, they entered the public domain as citizens rather than as 
Jews. Public culture was either Christian or secular, and there was no 
point of entry for, or interest in, a Jewish voice." [Emphasis in the 
original.]

Nevertheless, he explores some sources.

One of the most explicit is from Rav Kook:

"The love for people must be alive in the heart and soul, a love for all 
people and a love for all nations, expressing itself in a desire for 
their spiritual and material advancement ... One cannot reach the 
exalted position of being able to recite the verse from the morning 
prayer, 'Praise the Lord, invoke His name, declare His works among the 
nations' (1 Chron. 16:8), without experiencing the deep, inner love 
stirring one to a solicitousness for all nations, to improve their 
material state and to promote their happiness."

['The Moral Principles' (Middot ha-Rayah). English version in "The 
Lights of Penitence, Lights of Holiness, The Moral Principles, Essays, 
Letters and Poems", translated Ben Zion Bokser, London 1979 p.136]

Jason Moser

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