AY 331 We are all Related We're talking about trait number four of God, called L’she’erit Nachlato, which means Hashem considers the Jewish people as His relatives. And regardless of what they're doing or not doing, or what they're deserving of, He can't see their pain and has to alleviate it. How does that apply to us? Says the Tomar Devorah, That's how we have to act with our friends, because we are all connected, our souls are connected. Our bodies might not be connected, but our souls are connected. He says that's why there's a concept in Shevuot 39A, כל ישראל ערבים זה לזה We are all responsible for each other. Why? In his words, “ Every person has a piece of his friend inside of him. I have 600,000 pieces inside of me. And therefore, when I sin, I'm impacting all those other 600,000 pieces of my soul that everyone has inside of me. The reason someone else can say kiddush for me if I need to hear it is that he has a little bit of me in him, and I have a little of him in me. We're all connected, we're all related. That's why we're responsible for each other. If I see someone else sinning, I can stop him, because when he sins, it's making a hole in my boat- again, because a little bit of him is inside of me. This is an unbelievable concept. And it’s not just poetic prose; this is real fact. Anytime a rabbi adds the word mamash , it means for real. That means we're not saying this in poetry. We are for real. We are really considered relatives. He says, מפני שממש יש בכל אחד חלק אחד מחבירו For real , each one of us has a portion of our friend in us, and if that's the case, I have to want the benefit of my friend, and my eyes should be good on my friend's respect, as dear as mine. Why? In his powerful words, שהרי הוא – הוא ממש ומטעם זה נצטוינו He is literally me. And that's why V’Ahavta L’Re’echa Kamocha-I have to love my friend like I love myself, because his good is my good and his loss is my loss. Therefore, I want my friend to be successful. I don't want to ever say anything negative about him. Just like God doesn't want to see our degradation, or our pain and negativity, because of the relationship. And that's how we have to treat each other. Again, when we see someone else in pain, וירע לו ממנו כאלו הוא ממש היה שרוי באותו צער או באותה טוב I have to feel like I’m in that same pain, and the opposite, if he’s celebrating, I have to celebrate as well. This are unbelievable concepts that we have to really put into our consciousness. This is not just a flowery way of speaking. If we had eyes to see, we would see the connections, and the feelings that we should have, should be based on that real connection. Have a wonderful day.