Sitting Together as One: Unity Draws Down Blessing

1“Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to sit also together.”¹ Why the double expression, “how good and how pleasant”? The words “for brothers to sit also together” likewise seem to say the same thing twice. When brothers sit, they are of course also together. Can brothers sit in a way that is not “also together”?

2Throughout the Torah, and especially before the giving of the Torah, we see the Torah stressing how important it is that the hearts of Israel be united. As the verse says, “And Israel encamped there,” and Rashi explains: “As one man with one heart.”² Why did the Torah single this out in particular? It is also well known that the Baal Shem Tov, zt"l, and his holy disciples established the practice of gatherings of friends and spoke at length of their great value. My holy father and teacher, zt"l, also urged this many times in his letters. We must understand the depth of this matter.

3aWe can explain this as follows. It is true that each person can sit in his own home and serve Hashem. This is especially so nowadays, when, thank God, there are many sefarim of Torah, mussar and Chassidus, and through them a person really can rise in avodas Hashem, the service of Hashem. But it is written, “There is no righteous man on earth who does good and does not sin”:³ even when a person does good things, he does not reach perfection. That being so, accusers may rise against an individual, since no person can be completely whole. But when the many are united, their flaws are not seen.

3bThis is along the lines of what the holy sefarim, the Yismach Yisrael and the Tiferes Shmuel, wrote on the verse “He has not beheld iniquity in Yaakov, nor seen wrongdoing in Yisrael; Hashem his God is with him, and the King's friendship is in him.”⁴ Rashi explains: “The Holy One, blessed be He, has not looked at the iniquity in Yaakov. When they transgress His words, He does not scrutinize them to look at their iniquities and at the wrongdoing with which they violate His law.” These sefarim explain when it is that Hashem does not scrutinize Israel's sins: when “the King's friendship is in him,” which Rashi explains as “an expression of affection and companionship.” When Bnei Yisrael live in friendship and unity, the harsh judgments have no power over them.

4With this we can also explain what Chazal said about the judgment of Rosh Hashanah: “And they are all surveyed in a single glance.”⁵ On the face of it this is puzzling. Is it anything remarkable that the Holy One, blessed be He, Who knows all hidden things, can see them all at once? Rather, we can explain that Hashem does this for the good of Bnei Yisrael. They are surveyed in a single glance and come to judgment together, and so the harsh judgments do not rest upon them, for when the many stand together, they are surely seen favorably. This is explained more fully later in the sefer, in Parshas Ki Savo and Parshas Nitzavim.

5That is why the Torah urges gathering together and unity so often. Hashem wants to bestow abundant blessing on us, and this can happen only through the unity of Israel. Then the harsh judgments and the accusers who seek, Heaven forbid, to hold that blessing back from us will have no power. That is why, before the giving of the Torah, the holy Torah made a point of describing the preparation, which came through their being “as one man with one heart.” Receiving the Torah and learning it requires abundant blessing, as Chazal said, “If there is no flour, there is no Torah,”⁶ and through unity we become fit to receive the blessings.

6With this we can explain why the Priestly Blessing is worded in the singular, “May Hashem bless you,” yevarechecha, and not in the plural, yevarechechem.⁷ To be privileged to receive blessings and abundance, we must be as one man with one heart. In the same way, when Yaakov Avinu wanted to bless his sons, he first said, “Gather together,”⁸ so that they would then be able to receive the blessings.

7That is why our holy forebears and the disciples of the Baal Shem Tov urged unity so often. We know that the tzaddikim always sought to bestow on us abundant blessing and every good thing, forever. They wanted the accusers to put nothing in the way of that blessing, and the only remedy for this is to be as one man with one heart. So they were constantly calling for gatherings of friends.

8But a gathering of friends is not enough in itself. Friends may sit together many times while their hearts are not as one, and then, clearly, it does not count as truly joining together; the unity needed to bring down the flow of abundance is missing. That is why Dovid HaMelech said, “for brothers to sit also together.” It is not enough for brothers just to sit together, since they can sit side by side and still not be inwardly bound together in love. Only when, beyond sitting together, they are “also together” in inner unity will the blessing spoken of later in the psalm rest upon them. This also explains the double expression “Behold, how good and how pleasant.” It is good for Bnei Yisrael to sit together, but that is not enough; it must also be “pleasant.” Sitting together must be sweet and pleasant, as it is when they sit together in true unity.

9The purpose of this Shabbos, which we have set aside for a gathering of friends, is to make a beginning toward the level of “as one man,” so that we leave this Shabbos united as one. We know that people sometimes belong to the same circle and yet love, brotherhood and friendship are still lacking, and so, Heaven forbid, they are not fit to receive the abundance. That is why we have gathered as friends on the holy Shabbos: to draw our hearts close together, so that we may be privileged to receive the abundance. May Hashem grant that through this we leave this Shabbos “also together,” with our love truly increased, as one man with one heart. Then may the next verses of the psalm be fulfilled in us: “Like the good oil upon the head … like the dew of Chermon that comes down upon the mountains of Tziyon, for there Hashem commanded the blessing, life forever.”⁹ And may we be privileged to receive the eternal blessing with the building of the Beis HaMikdash. Amen, may it be His will.