Q&A: All Israel
All Israel
Question
What is your view on the idea that all Israel are responsible for one another, like the parable of several people on a boat and one person making a hole, and they say to him: What are you doing? And he says that he is making it only in his own place, and they answer him: True, you are doing it in your own spot, but all of us will drown! Is there a connection between the sins and transgressions of Jews toward one another? That is, can Jews who observe the commandments be punished because their fellow Jews are secular and do not observe the commandments? Can the redemption—whatever that means—be delayed because many do not observe the commandments, whereas if Israel had kept two Sabbaths they would immediately have been redeemed?
Answer
Simply speaking, they can be punished if they bear some blame for it (for example, if they could have protested and did not). The Talmud deals with mutual responsibility regarding hidden and revealed sins ("why are there dots…" Sanhedrin 43b). But bringing the redemption relates to the community as a community, and here certainly there is weight to what each part of the community does. This is not a punishment but a consequence of the community's condition.