We are both individuals with needs and wants and part of a greater whole with obligations and responsibilities. Sometimes these are complementary, and sometimes they are in conflict. Using this classic story, we will examine this relationship, and especially ask the question, to whom are we responsible?
(במדבר טז, כב): הָאִישׁ אֶחָד יֶחֱטָא, תָּנֵי רַבִּי שִׁמְעוֹן בַּר יוֹחָאי, מָשָׁל לִבְנֵי אָדָם שֶׁהָיוּ יוֹשְׁבִין בִּסְפִינָה נָטַל אֶחָד מֵהֶן מַקְדֵּחַ וְהִתְחִיל קוֹדֵחַ תַּחְתָּיו, אָמְרוּ לוֹ חֲבֵרָיו מַה אַתָּה יוֹשֵׁב וְעוֹשֶׂה, אָמַר לָהֶם מָה אִכְפַּת לָכֶם לֹא תַחְתִּי אֲנִי קוֹדֵחַ, אָמְרוּ לוֹ שֶׁהַמַּיִם עוֹלִין וּמְצִיפִין עָלֵינוּ אֶת הַסְּפִינָה. כָּךְ אָמַר אִיּוֹב (איוב יט, ד): וְאַף אָמְנָם שָׁגִיתִי אִתִּי תָּלִין מְשׁוּגָתִי, אָמְרוּ לוֹ חֲבֵרָיו (איוב לד, לז): כִּי יֹסִיף עַל חַטָּאתוֹ פֶשַׁע בֵּינֵינוּ יִשְׂפּוֹק, אַתָּה מַסְפִּיק בֵּינֵינוּ אֶת עֲוֹנוֹתֶיךָ.
In the Torah we learn, "When one person sins God will be wrathful with the whole community." (Numbers 16:22) Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai taught a parable: People were on a ship. One of them took a drill and started drilling underneath them. The others said, "What are you sitting and doing?!" "What do you care. Is this not underneath my area that I am drilling?!" They said,"But the water will rise and flood us all on this ship."
Questions for guidance, consideration, reflection:
- What is the pshat (plain meaning of the story)?
- What is the connection to the story and the verse from Numbers?
- Is “sin” the only framework for understanding the story? What might be others?
- How might we understand our individual role in society based on the parable? Is this a correct view? How is this played out today?
- Who is in your boat? In other words, if our actions affect others, to whom are you obligated? About whom do you need to be concerned? Can this story be understood in terms of “loyalty” and “disloyalty’?
- Bonus question: On Yom Kippur afternoon we read the story of Jonah. Jonah is commanded by God to go to Nineveh to preach repentance, but he tries to flee by boarding a boat for Tarshish. When the boat is threatened by a storm, Jonah tells the other sailors to throw him overboard, explaining that it is because of him that the storm has come. They do so, and the sea immediately calms. Is there a connection between these two stories? (Text follows)
(1) The word of the God came to Jonah son of Amittai: (2) Go at once to Nineveh, that great city, and proclaim judgment upon it; for their wickedness has come before Me. (3) Jonah, however, started out to flee to Tarshish from the God’s service. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. He paid the fare and went aboard to sail with the others to Tarshish, away from the service of God. (4) But God cast a mighty wind upon the sea, and such a great tempest came upon the sea that the ship was in danger of breaking up. (5) In their fright, the sailors cried out, each to his own god; and they flung the ship’s cargo overboard to make it lighter for them. Jonah, meanwhile, had gone down into the hold of the vessel where he lay down and fell asleep. (6) The captain went over to him and cried out, “How can you be sleeping so soundly! Up, call upon your god! Perhaps the god will be kind to us and we will not perish.” (7) The men said to one another, “Let us cast lots and find out on whose account this misfortune has come upon us.” They cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah. (8) They said to him, “Tell us, you who have brought this misfortune upon us, what is your business? Where have you come from? What is your country, and of what people are you?” (9) “I am a Hebrew,” he replied. “I worship the God of Heaven, who made both sea and land.” (10) The men were greatly terrified, and they asked him, “What have you done?” And when the men learned that he was fleeing from the service of God—for so he told them— (11) they said to him, “What must we do to you to make the sea calm around us?” For the sea was growing more and more stormy. (12) He answered, “Heave me overboard, and the sea will calm down for you; for I know that this terrible storm came upon you on my account.” (13) Nevertheless, the men rowed hard to regain the shore, but they could not, for the sea was growing more and more stormy about them. (14) Then they cried out to God: “Oh, please, God, do not let us perish on account of this man’s life. Do not hold us guilty of killing an innocent person! For You, O God, by Your will, have brought this about.” (15) And they heaved Jonah overboard, and the sea stopped raging. (16) The men feared God greatly; they offered a sacrifice to the God and they made vows.