Is He Jewish? Does He Need Help? That's Enough

Being Jewish is an incredible thing. Every Jew. Sometimes, reflecting on what the Torah demands of us evokes immense awe. You can place heavy burdens on robust individuals, or challenge those with sharp minds with complex questions, but you cannot do the opposite. Assigning tasks to those for whom it is not suitable – it just won’t work. Here, in our Torah portion, Hashem commands us to do something that might seem fitting only for extraordinary righteous individuals... and yet, Hashem commands all of us equally. It turns out that we are all extraordinary individuals... The command is: "If you see the donkey of your enemy lying under its burden, would you refrain from leaving it? You must surely help him!" (Exodus 23:5).

The verse discusses a situation where you encounter someone in need of your help, but there’s a "small problem": you don't particularly like him, to put it mildly... What do you do in such a case? Help or not help? Well, the holy Torah addresses such situations too, and commands you to help and assist! "Help him?! That person?! He’s not even a person!" Yes. Help him. That is what Hashem asks of us. Have you ever thought about this? This command refers to a really uncomfortable situation. A situation where you encounter someone you'd actually be happy to see in this predicament... but the Torah commands you to set all your feelings aside and... yes, help. Without a doubt, this is one of the hardest tests. It’s true that perhaps until now we’ve gotten used to giving ourselves "passes" when it’s tough, maybe we’ve "rounded off the edges" a bit, but the One who created us knows that we possess immense and unique strengths, and the possibility of being extraordinary righteous individuals is indeed within our realm. We are the Jewish people, the chosen people, different from all the other nations. We are in a league of our own! Each of us contains a divine soul that grants us incredible powers to act and perform, even when it goes against all "logic" accepted by other nations.

Among other nations, helping others is a concept reserved only for family and close friends. Certainly not for someone you hate. In the eyes of a non-Jew, seeing someone you despise in distress is a wonderful opportunity to leave them that way... But not among Jews. For us, it doesn’t matter at all if you know this Jew or not, if he thinks like you or not, if he belongs to your community or not – he’s Jewish? That’s already enough reason for you to stop everything and assist him. Yes. Even if you still harbor negative feelings towards him.

Did we mention that being Jewish is an amazing thing?