For years, New York City has not had a reputation for being the safest city. Recently, the mayor was able to reduce crime. His method was to put more emphasis on preventing smaller crimes, because if he could reduce petty theft, he believed it would create greater respect for the law, which might reduce larger crimes.

Just as Mayor Giuliani focused on the little things in order to achieve a larger goal, so the Torah asks us to do many little things to achieve the larger goal, of pleasantness and peace, as stated in the book of Proverbs, quote "all its ways are ways of pleasantness and all its paths are peace." (3:17) That’s the big picture. The Torah helps us reach this larger goal by be caring, kind, and considerate in the pursuit of peaceful coexistence. The many laws found in my Torah portion this week are just a small part of reaching this larger goal.

Often, we think of the verse "Love your neighbor as yourself",

as the golden rule of Judaism, the underlying concern of all of Judaism. Actually, the author of the Sefer Ha-Chinuch, a Spanish Medieval work, writes that loving one’s neighbor means not only pitying the suffering of others, but even being concerned with the loss of property of others. Rabbeinu Bachya, another Spanish commentator, comments that loving your neighbor means loving all his property as your own. If we wish to pursue peace and love our neighbors, we have to start by the mundane act of caring for their property.

My portion this morning, Ki Teitze, contains a number of laws which serve as an elaboration of the meaning of caring for our fellow human beings. My portion mandates that one who builds a new house shall put a fence around the roof. Failure to do so constitutes a form of bloodshed. For all you contractors and real estate buffs, this may very well be the world’s first building code.

My portion makes a number of provisions for the homeless, the widow, and the orphan. When one shakes an olive tree to reap the olives, one must leave some for the poor. When one is harvesting the wheat fields and forgets a bundle, he must leave it for those less fortunate than he.

When a neighbor’s donkey is seen falling, we must unload it and help it get to its feet. If we see a lost donkey we must return to its owner even if it is inconvenient. The Torah emphasizes that we cannot look away from this donkey or hide ourselves from the situation. Rashi, the well known French commentator says that a man cannot pretend not to notice the suffering of another. The wording in the Torah actually indicates that it’s not only that we shall not or should not look away, but that "lo tu-chal le-hit-ah-lem-

You should not even be physically able to look away. We should be so sensitized to the needs of others as to not be able to look away.

It would be hypocritical of us to be indifferent to others when we always expect others to care about us. Rabbi Schwab, a New York Rabbi who recently passed away, said, that if we want G-d to hear our prayers, we can’t turn a blind eye to others.

In the famous Biblical episode, in which G-d asks Cain where his brother is, Cain replies by asking

"Am I my brother’s keeper?" Apparently, Cain couldn’t imagine that he was his brother’s keeper, and yet in so many ways, we are.

The author of the Sefer Ha-Chinuch writes that the whole health of a society rests on this sense of trust, on the notion that if someone found my property, he would return it. In this way, a person can rest assured that wherever his or her property is, it is in good hands, it is only a phone call away from being in your hands.

There are times when we don’t care as much as we should about the property or suffering of others. But there are 2 types of indifference, rationalized indifference, and complete indifference. Few people are so bad as to be completely indifferent. We all wish we could help others. Most of us rationalize our indifference. We feel that we would care, would take action, if only we had time, if only it were more convenient. As President Kennedy once said, "the deepest place in hell is reserved for those people who in time of moral crisis claim to be neutral."

Nobel prize winner Eli Wiesel, recently said at a White House conference on the Holocaust that "indifference is not only a sin. It is a punishment." If everyone in society is indifferent, ultimately, each citizen will suffer from this callous environment. In the words of our first lady, in order to create a village, we must care, even about lost donkeys, shaky fences, the widow and the poor.

The lofty Biblical goal is to love your neighbor as yourself. The challenge is to translate this vital value into action. We have to turn the ancient pages of the Bible and the Talmud into action.

But, you may ask, how much impact can I really have on society? I am just one citizen of the world. In the Talmudic work, Ethics of the Fathers, Rabbi Tarfon states that "The task in not yours to complete, but you are not free to exempt yourself from it." Each little bit counts. Through each of the little acts of kindness in which we engage, we get closer and closer to the goal of creating a peaceful, pleasant society. No one person can do it by himself. Society depends on each one of us to make it the place we would all like it to be, our own little village, a caring village, a village in which each of us does his share to make it our home.