Holidays and Annual
Lecture Series

If you are in middle school or high school, come learn with us this summer. If you are a college student and beyond, check out our summer Kollel in New York City, our vibrant Beit Midrash programming in Israel, and, of course, for year-round study, Yeshivat Drisha.
November 3 - November 3, 2024
On Zoom

This lecture uncovers the historical and theological context of the well-known “kol yisrael arevim ze ba-ze” statement. Rather than simply a pithy maxim on the importance of solidarity, we will show that this statement is part of a group of texts which employ financial metaphors to think about the repercussions of sin. Not only Jews but also Christians in late antiquity took very seriously the idea that each and every human action bears great weight and can tilt the heavenly scales toward redemption or oblivion. As a result, these texts demonstrate profound anxiety about the implications of every person’s sin, which is often described in financial terms. The solution to this problem is presented through the metaphor of guarantorship, by which one person’s merits, accumulated through good deeds, can balance the sins of another. The collective community, bound together through the performance of mitzvot, is thus a solution to the challenges of facing divine demands as an individual person.