בבא מציעא פ“ג ע“ב] דרש רבי זירא ואמרי לה תני רב יוסף מאי דכתיב (תהילים קד:כ) תָּשֶׁת חֹשֶׁךְ וִיהִי לָיְלָה, בּוֹ תִרְמֹשׂ כָּל חַיְתוֹ יָעַר. תָּשֶׁת חֹשֶׁךְ וִיהִי לָיְלָה – זה העולם הזה שדומה ללילה. בּוֹ תִרְמֹשׂ כָּל חַיְתוֹ יָעַר – אלו רשעים שבו שדומין לחיה שביער.
Bava Metzia 83b] R. Zeira interpreted a verse homiletically, and some say that Rav Yosef taught in a baraita: “You make darkness and it is night, in which all the beasts of the forest creep forth” (Psalms 104:20). “You make darkness and it is night” – this refers to this world, which resembles nighttime. “In which all the beasts of the forest creep forth” – these are the wicked in this world, who resemble a beast of the forest.
Rabbi Simcha Zissel of Kelm z”l(d. 1898, close student of Rabbi Yisrael Salanter z”l) built his spiritual worldview on a single line from Pirkei Avot (6:6). He believed that the goal of a Torah life is to learn how to be “נושא בעול עם חברו – to bear the burden of another.” In choosing this line as the basis of his theology, Rav Simcha Zissel centered and highlighted a human ethic. This short essay presents one paragraph from the first chapter of his magnum opus, Chochma u’Mussar, as a way to frame some thoughts about racial injustice, civil unrest, and law enforcement.…
