I would like to discuss a new-old doctrine: the doctrine of brotherhood. We, the entire Jewish people, are all brothers; so were we created and so were we born.

The Zohar tells us that when we left Egypt, we had sunk to the bottom of the 49th level of impurity. Almost everything we had learned from our father Abraham was forgotten (Rambam, Hilchot Avodah Zarah, Ch. 1). However, a number of things remained— we remained brothers; we didn’t change our names, language or dress; and we didn’t gossip. On the merit of these traits, we were redeemed.

Moshe Rabbeinu said, “‘Indeed the matter is known!’” (Sh’mot 2:14) meaning ‘Now I understand why we suffer: it is because of the evils of gossip. I saved the Hebrew from the Egyptian who was beating him, but people spread this news, and now I’m in danger’ (Rashi). Yet we didn’t all gossip. Those who gossiped either didn’t leave Egypt or dropped out along the way. They simply were not brothers.

The brotherhood that we formed in Egypt is reparation for the groundless hatred that broke out between Joseph and his brothers, as well as for the arrogance of the sons of Rachel and Leah to the sons of the maidservants, Bilhah and Zilpah. In Egypt, we were all in the same boat. We became brothers. And this restitution appears strongly in the case of Moshe, as it says, “He went out to his brothers” (Sh’mot 2:11). This is the foundation for
Israel existing as a people. On the other hand, our sages expounded as follows: “There was an opaque darkness…People could not see each other” (Sh’mot 10:22-23). When a person does not see his friend, it is the greatest darkness that there is. This is the foundation of the Sabbatical year.

We are taught that the First Temple was destroyed because of bloodshed, idolatry, and sexual sin. These are undeniably heinous crimes. But could it be that the Temple was destroyed because of our abuse of the land— our non-observance of the Sabbatical year, the Shmittah year? Could it have gone that far? Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook, explains in the introduction to his book “Shabbat Ha-Aretz” and in his article “Nechamat Yisrael” (Ma’amarei HaRe’iyah) that the theme of the Sabbatical year is love. We no longer say, “What’s mine is mine and what’s yours is yours;” instead we say, “What’s mine is yours.” We say, “Take, my brother. The harvest belongs to us all. It is for all of us to eat, and not for sale, and not to be destroyed. It is not even for making medicines. For if we become brothers, we won’t be sick.” The Land is very pleased with this. Then she too participates and yields three times as much produce as usual.

Cain was cursed. G-d said, “When you work the ground, it will no longer give you of its strength” (Bereshit 4:12). Cain had jeopardized brotherhood. During the Sabbatical year, brotherhood returns, and then the blessing of the Land returns.

In the Musaf Shemoneh Esreh we say, “Because of our sins, we were exiled from our land.” The Second Temple was destroyed because of sinat chinam, baseless hatred (Yoma 9b). Again, we had jeopardized our brotherhood. Now, brotherhood has returned, and we have returned to our land. Yes, brotherhood has returned! Our nation is full of love! Obviously, there is a small minority of haters. In every camp there are several haters. Yet that is a negligible minority. If our nation has 50,000 haters, that is just 1%. Yet in all walks of life, people are talking to one another. There is brotherhood.

In every family there are Jews of different types and from different streams. They should love one another and help one another. In every workplace, there are all sorts of workers, and they work together amicably. Especially in the Army, there is brotherhood. If there was not mutual love between comrades-in-arms, we would have to close down the army. Love between comrades means that a person is prepared to be wounded or killed for his brother. Is that not unconditional love? And we find it not just amongst Israel’s heroes who were decorated for bravery after the last Lebanon War and Israel’s wars that preceded it, we find it in every fighter.

We are not monolithic, but we are united. In our opinions we may be divided, but not divisively so. We can fight for our views, but let us not forget that we are brothers. Let us not say, “Cut the baby in half!” nor, “Let neither you nor I have it” (Orot HaTechiyah 20).

The “Committee for Finding Flaws in Others” is not us. We are not members! The very idea is crazy. It’s divisive. It’s impure. Instead of casting blame— create. Build the Land. Build the nation! Be productive and work towards something positive. Brotherhood. Love. Unity. °

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