In Chapter 3 of the book of Genesis, we encounter one of the Torah’s first instances of personal responsibility, in which Adam and Eve “missed the mark.” Both insist that what occurred was not their fault – each blaming the other or putting the blame on the serpent. In the following Chapter, Cain and Abel’s tragic story illuminates the significant place moral responsibility plays in Judaism. Cain does not deny his personal responsibility but asks why he must be concerned with his brother’s welfare instead of focusing solely on himself.

 

God created us with free-will and the potential of choice. He granted us freedom, but with this freedom comes responsibility. We were created in the image of God and so we are innately committed to living a responsible life, a life in which personal and moral responsibility become a part of who we are. Taking responsibility - achrayut in Hebrew - plays a core role in Mussar. It is captured in the teaching of Hillel (Avot 2:6) “u’veemkom sh’ain anashim hishtadail lihiyot ish,” that in a place where people are not taking responsibility, we each need to step up and be the person who does take responsibility. Rav Yisrael Salanter, the renowned Mussar leader, taught that responsibility for other human beings is the single most important human value. Rav Yisrael believed that the process of transforming ourselves into ethical, responsible beings was too difficult to leave to happenstance. It required an active and intentional effort from us. It required avodat Hashem, Divine service.

 

The Hebrew word for responsibility, achrayut, comes from the word acher, meaning “other,” as well as achar, which means “after.” Is the essence of responsibility being concerned about what comes after (i.e., the consequences of one’s actions) or to be sensitive to the other (i.e., attending to the needs of the people around you)? According to our teacher, Alan Morinis, both meanings of this middah must get developed in one’s Mussar journey.

 

Rabbi Jonathan Sacks {z”l} emphasized the importance of achrayut:

 

“If you want people to value something, get them to participate in creating it. Give them a challenge and give them responsibility. The effort we put into something does not just change the object: it changes us. The greater the labor, the greater the love for what we have made.”

~ Judaism’s Life-Changing Ideas, p. 100

 

As our counting of the Omer moves into its third week, the Middah of achrayut – from both a personal and moral perspective – begins to take on a significant role in our Mussar practice. We are being asked to become more aware and sensitive of the consequences the choices we make have on both ourselves and others, as well as the moral implications each choice we make carries.

 

“One of Judaism’s most distinctive and challenging ideas is its ethics of responsibility, the idea that God invites us to become, in the rabbinic phrase, His ‘partners in the world of creation’. The God who created the world in love calls on us to create in love. The God who gave us the gift of freedom asks us to use it to honor and enhance the freedom of others.”

~ Rabbi Jonathan Sacks {z”l}, To Heal a Fractured World, p. 3

 

This year’s Omer challenge revolves around the cultivation of an ethic of responsibility. On a personal level, it focuses on the need to take ownership of our deeds and actions, to step up to the plate with zerizut (enthusiastic action) and intentionality, and to become the best form of myself that I can become. From a moral perspective, we are being asked to cultivate a stronger and more solidified sense of collective responsibility that ensures the connectedness to our ancestral lineage and Jewish consciousness. Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel proclaimed that responsibility is the essence of not only being a person, but of being human. He added to this the notion that the souls of all human beings are “carved from mountains of holiness” and no one is cut off from “the worldwide community of responsibility.”

 

Your destination can be anywhere and anything as long as it is meaningful for you. Please email us at helaine@mussarinstitute.org and share your goal and your progress or struggles.

 

- Helaine