וטעם וחי אחיך עמך שיחיה עמך והיא מצות עשה להחיותו שממנה נצטוינו על פקוח נפש במצות עשה ומכאן אמרו (תו"כ פרשה ה ג) וחי אחיך עמך זו דרש בן פוטירי שנים שהיו מהלכין בדרך וביד אחד מהם קיתון של מים אם שותה הוא מגיע לישוב ואם שניהם שותים שניהם מתים דרש בן פוטירי מוטב ישתו שניהם וימותו ולא יראה אחד במיתתו של חבירו עד שבא רבי עקיבא ולמד וחי אחיך עמך חייך קודמים לחיי חבירך
THAT HE MAY LIVE WITH THEE. The meaning thereof is that he [i.e., the stranger or settler] shall [be enabled to] live with you, it being a positive commandment to support him, and it is from here [that we deduce] that we are commanded by means of a positive commandment to save life. It is from here too, that the Sages have said: “That thy brother may live with thee. This was explained by Ben Peturi: If two people were going on a journey [in the desert], and one of them has a pitcher of water which [contains such an amount that] if he [alone] drinks it, [it would suffice to enable him to] reach an inhabited place, but if both drink from it, both would die. Ben Peturi stated: ‘It is better that both should drink and die, rather than that one should witness the death of his colleague,’ until Rabbi Akiba came and taught: that thy brother may live with thee — thy life takes precedence over the life of thy colleague.”
The building of the Tabernacle was the first great project the Israelites undertook together. It involved their generosity and skill. It gave them the chance to give back to God a little of what He had given them. It conferred on them the dignity of labour and creative endeavour. It brought to closure their birth as a nation and it symbolised the challenge of the future. The society they were summoned to create in the land of Israel would be one in which everyone would play their part. It was to become – in the phrase I have used as the title of one of my books – “the home we build together.”
Rabbi Johnathan Sacks, C&C Truma, 5774
The LORD made them both.
The LORD gives luster to the eyes of both.
דָּבָר אַחֵר, וְכִי יָמוּךְ אָחִיךָ, הֲדָא הוּא דִכְתִיב (משלי כט, יג): רָשׁ וְאִישׁ תְּכָכִים נִפְגָּשׁוּ, (משלי כב, ב): עָשִׁיר וָרָשׁ נִפְגָּשׁוּ עֹשֵׂה כֻלָּם ה'. רָשׁ זֶהוּ רָשׁ בַּתּוֹרָה, וְאִישׁ תְּכָכִים, זֶה שֶׁשּׁוֹנֶה סֵדֶר אוֹ שְׁנֵי סְדָרִים. עָמַד רָשׁ עִם אִישׁ תְּכָכִים וְאָמַר לוֹ הַשְּׁנֵנִי פֶּרֶק אֶחָד וְהִשְׁנָהוּ, (משלי כט, יג): מֵאִיר עֵינֵי שְׁנֵיהֶם ה', קָנוּ הָעוֹלָם הַזֶּה וְהָעוֹלָם הַבָּא. עָשִׁיר וְרָשׁ נִפְגָּשׁוּ, עָשִׁיר בַּתּוֹרָה רָשׁ בַּתּוֹרָה, אָמַר אוֹתוֹ רָשׁ לְאוֹתוֹ עָשִׁיר, הַשְּׁנֵנִי פֶּרֶק אֶחָד, וְלֹא הִשְׁנָהוּ, אָמַר לוֹ מָה אֲנָא בָּעֵי מֵיתַב וּמַתְנֵי יָתָךְ בְּמַשְׁקִין אוֹ בְּמֵאֵימָתַי קְרֵי וּתְנֵי עִם דִּכְוָתָךְ, עֹשֵׂה כֻלָּם ה', מִי שֶׁעָשָׂה לָזֶה חָכָם יָכוֹל לַעֲשׂוֹתוֹ טִפֵּשׁ וּמִי שֶׁעָשָׂה לָזֶה טִפֵּשׁ יָכוֹל לַעֲשׂוֹתוֹ חָכָם. דָּבָר אַחֵר, רָשׁ, זֶה שֶׁהוּא רָשׁ בִּנְכָסִים. וְאִישׁ תְּכָכִים, זֶה שֶׁהוּא עוֹשֶׂה בִּפְעֻלָּה, עָמַד רָשׁ עִם אִישׁ תְּכָכִים, אָמַר לוֹ תֵּן לִי מִצְוָה, וְנָתַן לוֹ, מֵאִיר עֵינֵי שְׁנֵיהֶם ה', זֶה קָנָה חַיֵּי שָׁעָה וְזֶה קָנָה חַיֵּי הָעוֹלָם הַבָּא. עָשִׁיר וָרָשׁ, עָשִׁיר זֶה שֶׁעָשִׁיר בִּנְכָסִים, וָרָשׁ זֶה שֶׁרָשׁ בִּנְכָסִים. עָמַד רָשׁ עִם הֶעָשִׁיר אָמַר לוֹ תֵּן לִי מִצְוָה, וְלֹא נָתַן לוֹ, עֹשֵׂה כֻלָּם ה', מִי שֶׁעָשָׂה זֶה עָנִי יָכוֹל לַעֲשׂוֹתוֹ עָשִׁיר וּמִי שֶׁעָשָׂה לָזֶה עָשִׁיר יָכוֹל לַעֲשׂוֹתוֹ עָנִי, אָמַר הֶעָשִׁיר לְאוֹתוֹ הֶעָנִי לֵית אַתְּ אָזֵיל לָעֵי וְנָגֵיס, חָמֵי שָׁקְיָין, חָמֵי כְּרָעִין, חָמֵי כָּרְסָוָן, חָמֵי קֻפְרָן, אָמַר לוֹ הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא לֹא דַּיָּךְ שֶׁלֹּא נָתַתָּ לוֹ מִשֶּׁלָּךְ מְאוּמָה, אֶלָּא בַּמֶּה שֶׁנָּתַתִּי לוֹ אַתָּה מַכְנִיס לוֹ עַיִן רָעָה,
Another matter, “if your brother will become poor” – that is what is written: “The poor man and the deceitful man [ve’ish tekhakhim] meet” (Proverbs 29:13); “wealthy and poor meet; the Lord is the maker of them all” (Proverbs 22:2). “Poor,” this is one who is poor in Torah. Ve’ish tekhakhim, this is one who studies one or two orders. If the poor man stands with the middling man and says to him: ‘Teach me one chapter,’ and he teaches him, then “the Lord enlightens the eyes of both of them” (Proverbs 29:13); they acquire this world and the World to Come.
“Wealthy and poor meet” – one who is wealthy in Torah and one who is poor in Torah. If that poor man said to the wealthy man: ‘Teach me one chapter,’ but he does not teach him, [but instead] he says to him: ‘What, am I supposed to sit and teach you in: One may irrigate, or: From when? Study Bible and study Mishna with those who are like you.’ “The Lord is the Maker of them all” – the One who made this one a wise man can make him a fool, and the One who made that one a fool can make him a wise man.
Another matter, “poor,” this is one who is poor in terms of property; “ish tekhakhim,” this is one who works for a living. If the poor man stands with the one who earns a living and says to him: ‘Give me a mitzva,’ and he gives him; “the Lord enlightens the eyes of both of them.” This one acquired life in this world, and this one acquired life in the World to Come.
“Wealthy and poor,” – “wealthy,” this is one who is wealthy in terms of property. “Poor,” – this is one who is poor in terms of property. If the poor man stands with the wealthy man and says to him: ‘Give me a mitzva,’ but he does not give to him, “the Lord is the Maker of them all,” the One who made this one a poor man can make him a wealthy man, and the One who made that one a wealthy man can make him a poor man. If the wealthy man says to that poor man: ‘Do you not go and toil and eat? Look at your thighs, look at your legs, look at your belly, look that you are corpulent.’ The Holy One blessed be He says to him: ‘Is it not enough for you that you did not give him anything of yours, but regarding what I gave him, you are introducing an evil eye for him?’
בפסוק וכי ימוך כו' והחזקת בו כו' וחי אחיך עמך. ובמד' רש וא"ת נפגשו כו' מאיר עיני שניהם ה'. וזה הענין נוהג הן בעשיר הן בחכם. וממשמע שנאמר והחזקת בו שיש בכח איש להחזיק ביד חבירו שמטה ידו וחי עמך כי הנקודה חיות יכול להתפשט עד אין שיעור. והקב"ה וב"ש משפיע בכל יום לכלל הבריאה כל הצטרכות שלהם הן בנפש הן בגוף וע"ז מברכין הזן את העולם כולו דייקא. רק שהמקבלים צריכין להתאחד ולתת זה לזה באחדות אחד. ואז אין מחסור דבר. וכיון שימוך אחיך ומטה ידו עמך בוודאי נמצא העזר אצלך. ואם כי אינו רואה שיהיה בכחי כל כך. ע"ז נאמר מאיר עיני שניהם ה' שע"י התאחדות ישרה עליהם ברכה. וכן בתוכתות כתי' הוכח תוכיח כו' ולא תשא עליו חטא. פי' שאם מונע מלהוכיח יש לו חלק בהחטא שכיון שרואה ויכול להוכיח באמת צריך חבירו לתוכחה שלו והוא מונע הטוב מבעליו שעזר חבירו הוא אצלו. שכך ברא הש"י שיהיה לזה סיוע מזה וזה לזה יצטרכו כדי שיבינו כולם כי הכל מהש"י. ולא יהיה כל השלימות אצל א'. ולכן איזה חכם הלומד מכל אדם שיש אצל כ"א דבר מיוחד יותר מבאחרים מטעם הנ"ל:
“Or how does it happen that trade, which after all is nothing more than the exchange of products of various individuals and countries, rules the whole world through the relation of supply and demand—a relation which, as an English economist says, hovers over the earth like the fate of the ancients, and with invisible hand allots fortune and misfortune to men, sets up empires and overthrows empires, causes nations to rise and to disappear—while with the abolition of the basis of private property, with the communistic regulation of production (and implicit in this, the destruction of the alien relation between men and what they themselves produce), the power of the relation of supply and demand is dissolved into nothing, and men get exchange, production, the mode of their mutual relation, under their own control again?”
― Karl Marx, The German Ideology / Theses on Feuerbach / Introduction to the Critique of Political Economy
“Only producers constitute a market - only men who trade products and services for products and services. In the role of producers, they represent a market’s supply; in the role of consumers, they represent a market’s demand. The law of supply and demand has an implicit subclause: that it involves the same people in both capacities. When this subclause is forgotten, ignored or evaded - you get the economic situation of today.
The man who consumes without producing is a parasite, whether is a welfare recipient or a rich playboy”
― Ayn Rand, Philosophy: Who Needs It
This brings us to the fundamental distinction in politics between State and Society. The state represents what is done for us by the machinery of government, through the instrumentality of laws, courts, taxation and public spending. Society is what we do for one another through communities, voluntary associations, charities and welfare organisations. Judaism, I believe, has a marked preference for society rather than state, precisely because it recognises – and this is the central theme of the book of Exodus – that it is what we do for others, not what others or God does for us, that transforms us. The Jewish formula, I believe, is: small state, big society.
Rabbi Johnathan Sacks, C&C Truma, 5774