the terrible and glorious responsibility of human beings for the seriousness of their lives, then we could rely on a dictum that Hillel, a founder of the Talmud, made into his motto almost two thousand years ago. This motto is: “If I do not do it, who else will do it? But if I only do it for me, what am I then? And if I do not do it now, then when will I do it?” “If not I”—therein lies the uniqueness of every single person; “If only for me,” therein lies the worthlessness and meaninglessness of such uniqueness unless it is a “serving” uniqueness; “and if not now,” therein lies the uniqueness
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