Responsibility

From the outset of the Torah, its characters are challenged to take responsibility for their actions: God questions Adam and Eve about their sin in the Garden of Eden and later asks their son Cain about the whereabouts of the brother whom he murdered. Responsibility is a foundation of the covenantal pact between God and the Israelites that appears throughout the Bible. The concept that all Jews are responsible for one another reverberates throughout Jewish texts, as they delve into the practical applications of responsibility and its theoretical underpinnings.