A wonderful story is found in Midrash Rabbah. We are told of a mortal king who with the power of the exchequer mints many coins on a regular daily basis. He directs his treasury to make a mold and use it often to produce coins of the realm.  In fact every coin is exactly like every other coin. However, God creates humankind from the same mold but no two individuals are exactly alike.

The rabbis use this story to remind us that there is no such thing as the common man. We are each uncommon. The only place where we may appear to have commonality is in the quantifying process found in charts and graphs used by statisticians. What then can be said about what we assume is the average person. I think we can fairly say that in the mind of the average person he or she know that average is a bad descriptive adjective of whom they are. The average person knows instinctively that he or she is something special, someone who has hopes and aspiration, fears and victories, drives and desires.

It is comforting and consoling to know that in the eyes of God we are not statistics. We share the abundance of God’s care and concern and compassion. Each one of us counts in a different, unique and special way. This notion reminds us that each of us has a sanctity and wholeness which defines our souls.

Another Midrash tells us that the world was created with one human being. It begs us to understand that the saving of a single soul is just like saving an entire universe. As we observe famines, and wars, and droughts and natural disasters, and senseless murders, and all sorts of crimes against the body and soul, it is easy for anyone of us to reach the end of our rope and get burned out with the zeal for compassion.  Just the other day some hapless soul was hit by lightening under the bay bridge. He was killed instantly. This was the result of a freak thunderstorm that tore through the region. I was immediately disturbed by the newscasts that spoke of the extensive damage the winds had caused but only one life was lost.  The family of that unfortunate soul did not see it as “only one life” but as an entire universe that perished with that one individual.

And so I remind my non Jewish colleagues who ask me about the soul that Jewish tradition teaches us that as Jews we see the world in a delicate state of balance. The scale can be tipped in either direction. It is up to us to make sure that forces for good outweigh the desires of those who want to have it the other way.