Brothers

My father-in-law, the Rebbe, explains the verse in the Megillah: “And Mordechai related the wicked decree that had fallen upon him” — Mordechai treated the decree not just as something that had befallen other Jews, but as something that had befallen himself, even though he personally would have been safe through his connections to Esther. He felt their danger as his own; he suffered their pain.

The Jews trapped behind the Iron Curtain are living in the lowest spiritual circumstances possible. But specifically for this reason they have G-d’s promise for an even greater ascent, far beyond that attainable by Jews living in free lands.

Why are we talking here about the future ascent of Russian Jewry if it is something that most of us cannot influence? When your brother marries off a child, since he is your brother, you dance with unbridled joy. So too, we who live in freedom already share in their joy that is sure to come, and which we await every day. And we are not just dancing at our brother’s wedding; rather, when we love our fellow literally “as ourself” – because we all have one Father and we are all one – then we rejoice in our brother’s ascent, as our very own.