“Whoever saves one life has saved the world entire.” You may remember this saying from the film, Schindler’s List. Yitzhak Stern also tells Oskar Schindler “the list is an absolute good.”
The Talmud, (Rabbinic commentary on the Bible) Sanhedrin 37a states:
"FOR
THIS REASON ADAM WAS CREATED ALONE, TO TEACH YOU THAT WHOSOEVER DESTROYS A
SINGLE SOUL... SCRIPTURE IMPUTES [GUILT] TO HIM AS THOUGH HE HAD DESTROYED A
COMPLETE WORLD; AND WHOSOEVER PRESERVES A SINGLE SOUL..., SCRIPTURE ASCRIBES
[MERIT] TO HIM AS THOUGH HE HAD PRESERVED A COMPLETE WORLD."
Sometimes, in these days, we feel completely ineffective and
useless when we think of all the problems in the world. There are so many people and situations we
cannot fix. It’s true. But the Talmud explains, if you save one life, you
save all the generations born from that one life.
Whatever your religion or irreligion, there is something you
can do. Write a letter. Say a prayer.
Shed a tear. Wherever you live,
do what you can do to save one life. All
the rest we do is commentary.
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