To Guarantee The Friend’s Life

Question: What responsibility must we take for each other?

Answer: There are hardships in life when a person finds himself penniless and friendless, and there is no one to turn to. Imagine you are helpless and completely dependent on others, like the miners buried underground. If somebody doesn’t take care of you from above, you are doomed.

That is what we must feel: desperate dependence on the friends. Without them, we will neither survive nor reach the goal, nor will we be able to sustain ourselves. It comes down to a corporeal, beastly fear that forces a person to value Arvut (mutual guarantee).

A new system is being revealed to us in which we totally depend on each other. What then are we guaranteed? We guarantee oxygen and everything that sustains life.

This feeling depends on to what extent everyone is trying to get to know it. Afterwards, while ascending the spiritual rungs, we will feel this dependence down to the very bones and in every breath we take, like scuba divers who have one oxygen tank left and are breathing through one tube passing it from one to another.

That’s what mutual guarantee (Arvut) is. After all, we are “tied” in the collective soul, except that we don’t see it yet. But gradually, the Creator reveals the true state of things for us: He removes the concealment.
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From the Talk on Sabbath Evening 10/16/10, “Arvut”