561. The Soul of Israel
“Therefore, man is called ‘unique,’ to teach you that anyone who destroys one soul from Israel, the text says about him that it is as though he destroyed a whole world. Likewise, anyone who sustains one soul from Israel, the text says about him that it is as though he sustained a whole world” (Sanhedrin 37).
We should say, Why did the writing say this? After all, we have divisions in the Torah between individuals and the collective where the collective takes precedence over the individual, and it also stands to reason that the individual is one, and not many. Thus, what is the reason that the writing says that the individual is like the collective?
Our sages said, “He who performs one Mitzva [commandment], happy is he for he has sentenced himself and the entire world to the side of merit” (Kidushin 40). Why is this so? After all, we see that there are wicked in the world, and it is known that in each generation, we have righteous, as our sages said, “There is no generation that has none such as Abraham,” etc.
Thus, the merit that the righteous caused should have been apparent to the collective. Yet, we see that someone who invents some invention in science, this wisdom that the wise extended is enough for the whole collective. That is, one who wants to delve in the wisdom can benefit from what the wise person extended to the collective. But clearly, one who does not engage in science has no connection to that innovation that the wise person extended.
It is likewise in spirituality: “He who performs one Mitzva sentences himself and the entire world to the side of merit.” That is, one who engages in the work of the Creator can benefit from the lights he has obtained through his sentencing.
Accordingly, “One who sustains one soul from Israel,” who made the sentencing to the side of merit, sustains his soul, since “The wicked in their lives are called ‘dead.’” It follows that without sentencing, he is “half and half,” like a person hanging between life and death. By sentencing, he becomes alive. It follows that the lights that he drew suffice for the whole collective.
This is the meaning of “The world stands on one righteous,” meaning that the light that he extended is as in “A candle for one, a candle for one hundred.” Hence, he who loses his soul, by sentencing to the side of fault, loses a whole world, meaning that he denied the revelation of the light that was enough for the entire world. This is the meaning of the words, “One must say, ‘The world was created for me.’”
This is why there is the precision, “He who sustains one soul from Israel,” meaning that the intention is a soul in the quality of Israel, but not in the nations of the world, since the intention is on the decision toward the quality of Israel, which is called that he has sentenced to the side of merit.
This is why there is the intimation in regard to Israel, “You are called ‘man,’ and the nations of the world are not called ‘man,’” since anything spiritual must have its grip on corporeality. Hence, when sustaining the corporeal soul of Israel, he has the same judgment as keeping the spiritual soul of Israel, since with respect to branch and root, the corporeal soul of Israel implies the spiritual soul. However, we should know that this pertains mainly to the spiritual.