The famous biblical moral question, “Am I my brother’s keeper?”, appears in Parashat Bereishit in the story of Cain and Abel. As evidenced by its appearance in the Torah, this question of human obligation has been with us since the earliest human societies. It is a question we must ask in all places and times, including in our own, where an eroding sense of community and deep inequality test the fabric of our democracy. John Steinbeck, a great American writer, took up this question in his short, gut-wrenching novel, Of Mice and Men.
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