Sharing The Burden

 

We know very little about Moshe Rabbeinu before God speaks to him at the burning bush and chooses him to lead Bnei Yisrael out of Egypt. But what little we are told about Moshe’s early life highlights his compassion and his empathy. He goes out from Pharoh’s palace “Vayar B’sivlotam”- and sees the Jews’ suffering. We read in last week how Moshe not only perceived national suffering but personal agony as well; he sees the Egyptian striking a Jewish slave and acts in protest.

      In Jewish tradition we call such a show of empathy or solidarity “Nosei B’ol Im Chaveiro”: sharing in the burden, the pain of another. Pirkei Avot 6:6 teaches that this is one of the ways a Torah personality is developed. According to Rav Shlomo Wolbe (in Alei Shur 1, pg 246) the quality of a person’s entire religious persona is dependent on being able to be Nosei B’ol Im Chaveiro.

      Moshe’s ability to do this was characteristic of his tribe, Levi. The Shelah Hakadosh notes that although the Leviim were never enslaved, they carried with them a profound sense of solidarity with their brethren. On the pasuk that introduces Moshe’s lineage, the Shelah notes the unusual introduction: “V’eyla Shemot Bnei Levi” and suggests that all of the names used by the tribe of Levi were meant to remind them of the oppression of their brethren. For example the name Merari relates to the Hebrew word for bitter. Though they were not personally oppressed, Shevet Levi felt the pain of their brethren and stood in solidarity.

      Nosei B’Ol Im Chaveiro has always been a hallmark of the Jewish People and something that Pharoh could not understand. Why didn’t Pharoh enslave the Leviim? What benefit was there for him in not subjecting the Leviim to slavery? Rabbi Yonatan Eibeshetz answers that not enslaving the Leviim was part of Pharoh’s master plan to prevent the Jews’ redemption. He had been informed by his astrologers that the Jewish redeemer would come from the tribe of Levi. The king of Egypt figured that the only way a person would have the drive, fortitude and courage to lead the Jews out of slavery is if he himself was a slave. Pharoh had no concept of Nosei B’ol Im Chaveiro, of feeling empathy to the degree that it propels one to act, even sacrifice, on another’s behalf.

      The Lubavitcher Rebbe once said, “we are commanded to emulate God’s ways: just as He is compassionate and merciful so too must we be. Just as He feeds the hungry and visits the sick, so too must we. But God also resurrects the dead, He is Mechayeh Hameitim. How can we possibly emulate God in this way?” The Rebbe explained: “If you see a person who is dejected and who has lost the spirit of life, and you say or do something that lifts his/her spirits and restores the will to live- then you indeed have emulated Hashem in resurrecting the dead.”

      Nosei B’Ol Im Chaveiro begins with a feeling and develops into a worldview and finally propels us to act. Sometimes this attitude allows us to alleviate suffering in concrete ways. Sometimes it allows others to see that people care about them, and they are not alone in their suffering.  Just as empathy and solidarity were the impetus for the Egyptian Exodus, so too may our efforts to be Nosei B’ol Im Chaveiro serve as the prelude for our future redemption.