Selling the Torah Scrolls
Rav Yehuda Alkelay, his talmid, recounted that a Jew from Chacham Eliezer Papo's community was once sentenced to death by the authorities. A large sum of money was required to redeem him, and the community was unwilling to pay it.
Chacham Papo ordered that all the Torah scrolls and sacred objects be sold to redeem the condemned man. He explained that the Torah was given to the Jewish people, and without the Jewish people there can be no Torah. In this way he placed responsibility for one another above all else.
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