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In the summer of 1929 the previous Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn, visited the Land of Israel. The Rebbe left the Holy Land on Thursday, the 22nd of August, two days before the Arab Riots of 1929 in which scores of Jews were massacred in Hebron and Jerusalem. Among the dead and wounded were several of the rebbe's family relations and leading chassidim.

In a letter to the then Chief Rabbi of Israel, Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak Kook, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak writes:

“When the sad news of the pogroms perpetrated in the Holy Land reached me on Sunday [August 25], on the boat from Alexandria to Trieste, I fell ill with a kidney ailment out of sheer pain and distress. Thanks to G-d, the most precious of men, the wise and truly G-d-fearing Dr. Wallach,[1] was with us on the boat and did much to relieve my illness... In such a state I was forced to continue my journey here;[2] for several days after my arrival I was still unable to recover from the effect upon me of the conflagration with which G-d scorched the house of Jacob, in general, and specifically from reading the list of the killed and slaughtered, the holy martyrs, may their souls be bound in the bond of life...”

On another occasion, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak related that at the conclusion of the voyage Dr. Wallach approached him and begged his forgiveness. “Rebbe!” he said “How can I atone for my being the cause of your illness?”

“You, the cause of my illness?” asked Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak in amazement.

“Yes,” said the doctor. “There is no doubt in my mind that if I had not been on the boat with you, you would not have fallen ill. You, Rebbe, are a man upon whom the entire Jewish nation depends; surely, G-d would not have allowed a life-threatening illness to befall you unless the instrument of your cure was readily at hand.”

Evolving Characteristics

At a chassidic gathering in 1987, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak's son-in-law and successor, Lubavitcher Rebbe Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, related the above incident and then applied it to explain a Talmudic saying.

The Talmud states: “There are three distinguishing features to this nation: they are compassionate, meek[3] and charitable. Whoever possesses these three distinguishing features is worthy to be a part of this nation.”[4]

These three characteristics are interconnected. The arrogant are rarely roused to mercy; they regard their good fortune as their due, and feel only contempt toward their “inferiors.” The meek and humble, on the other hand, readily emphasize with the unfortunate. By the same token, the indifferent heart is rarely moved to charity, while the compassionate heart translates its empathy into action.

According to this, the Talmud's listing of these three traits should have followed the logical sequence of cause and effect: meekness, compassion, charity. Indeed, this is the order in which Maimonides lists them in his Mishneh Torah.[5] Why does the Talmud put “compassion” before “meekness”?

The Shame of Giving

The Midrash interprets the verse “May the world be settled before G-d; who shall keep kindness and truth?”[6] as a dialogue between the psalmist and G-d:

Said King David to the Almighty: “Master of the Universe! ‘May the world be settled before G-d.’ Why don't you balance Your world and make equal the rich and the poor?”

Replied G-d: “If such were the case, ‘Who shall keep kindness and truth?’ If all were rich or all were poor, how would there be an opportunity for human kindness?”[7]

So if meekness is a cause for compassion, compassion is a cause for even greater meekness. When a person realizes that all the misfortune he witnesses exists only in order to give him the opportunity to be merciful and kind, he is doubly humbled. With every twinge of compassion in his heart, he is shamed before his impoverished brother, shamed before a fellow human being who is suffering for his sake.

Based on an address by the Rebbe, Adar 27, 5747 (March 28, 1987)

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