Seeking My Brothers: Unity as Hashem's Command

1“It is my brothers that I seek.”¹ Notice the wording: why does the verse say anochi mevakesh, using anochi for “I,” and not hineni mevakesh, “here I am, seeking”? Surely the choice of word means something.

2We can explain this in three ways. The rule is that there is nothing that is not hinted in the Torah,² and the Torah is expounded on four levels, called PaRDeS: the plain meaning, allusion, homiletic exposition and the hidden meaning. So we may find an allusion here. The mitzvos of the Torah fall into two parts: mitzvos between man and his fellow, and mitzvos between man and the Omnipresent. Most of the mitzvos between man and his fellow are deeds that it would be right to do even without Hashem's command, and any person of sense understands them with his own mind. So when a person is engaged in them, the yetzer hara tends to make him forget that at this moment he is fulfilling a command of the Omnipresent, blessed be He. The yetzer hara has another way as well. It puts the idea into a person's heart that the main thing is the mitzvos between man and the Omnipresent. These, it tells him, are more important and more pleasing before Hashem, and through them he fulfills Hashem's command more than through the mitzvos between man and his fellow.

3But this is not correct, and one must take care not to be misled by the yetzer hara's words. For Chazal said: “For transgressions between man and the Omnipresent, Yom Kippur atones. For transgressions between man and his fellow, Yom Kippur does not atone until he appeases his fellow.”³ We see, then, that the mitzvos between man and his fellow carry greater weight than the mitzvos between man and the Omnipresent. As for the yetzer hara's first enticement, making a person forget Whose command he is doing: when he is engaged in mitzvos between man and his fellow, he must reflect and take to heart that he is fulfilling the command of our God. It is the Holy One, blessed be He, Who demands that we do the mitzvos between man and his fellow, and these too are commands of the Omnipresent, just like all the mitzvos between man and the Omnipresent.

4All this is hinted in the words of our verse. “My brothers” refers to unity and brotherhood, that is, to the mitzvos between man and his fellow. Anochi mevakesh, “Anochi seeks,” is read in the sense of “Anochi, I am Hashem your God,” the opening of the Ten Commandments.⁴ It means that the Holy One, blessed be He, is the One Who demands of us that we live by these mitzvos between man and his fellow. We must always watch ourselves and keep in mind that these too are part of the commands of the Omnipresent.

5We can interpret it in another way, based on what we find at the receiving of the Torah. It is written, “And Israel encamped there opposite the mountain,” and Rashi explains: “As one man with one heart.”⁵ Of all the great and tremendous preparations Bnei Yisrael made for receiving the Torah, why does the Torah mention only this one, that they became as one man with one heart? We can explain this with a teaching of the holy sefarim, the Ohr HaChaim and the Toldos Adam: no single Jew can fulfill all 613 mitzvos by himself.⁶ But when Jews are united in love, they become guarantors for one another, as Chazal said.⁷ So when one Jew fulfills one of Hashem's mitzvos, it is counted for every Jew as though he himself had fulfilled it. It is clear, then, why the preparation most needed for fulfilling the Torah was precisely this one, “as one man with one heart.”

6This too is hinted in “It is my brothers that I seek.” The word anochi alludes to receiving and fulfilling the Torah, for it recalls “Anochi, I am Hashem your God” in the Ten Commandments. To receive and fulfill the Torah, we must first prepare ourselves with unity and brotherhood, with “my brothers,” and this is the main preparation for receiving the Torah.

7We can explain it in yet another way, based on a practice taught in the name of the holy Arizal and cited by the Magen Avraham.⁸ Before praying, a person should accept upon himself, saying the words aloud: “I hereby accept upon myself the positive commandment of ‘You shall love your fellow as yourself.’”⁹ Through this his prayer is accepted on high and bears fruit.

8Our verse, “It is my brothers that I seek,” hints at this as well. When a person stands in prayer to make his requests before Hashem, that is anochi mevakesh, “I seek.” He is asking of Hashem, Who is hinted in the word anochi, as it says, “Anochi, I am Hashem your God.” Before he asks, he must first take upon himself unity and love: “my brothers.”

9May Hashem grant that we be privileged to do this, and that our prayer be accepted before the Master of all. Amen, may it be His will.