The Torah provides a question to be answered by each generation: How does one survive? One might assume we survive merely through earth’s bounty. That food, water and shelter are enough to exist on this planet. And while these basics are essential (look at Maslow’s hierarchy of need as proof), humans require more than physical nourishment to survive. 

The answer is found at the beginning of the Torah. When Eve is created as a partner to Adam, the Torah reminds us, “It is not good for man to be alone.” Torah encourages us to experience this world together: Its beauty, follies, frustrations and joys. Why do we mourn a loved one in a minyan? The community publicly acknowledges our pain and responds to our deepest of cries. Our sorrow is real, authentic and witnessed by another. Often, we survive the rawest of times when another human being is present, reminding us we are not alone. 

Rabbi Daniel Klein teaches, “Maybe more than awareness of the ways in which we are recipients of our lives, we need to be agents of other people’s experience of compassion, of the gift of being alive.” He explains that once we are aware of our role in someone else’s life, perhaps that is when we understand the meaning of survival. An awakening of a soul that has been given purpose and significance. How do we survive? By reaching towards each other. Fulfilling and answering our physical, emotional, and spiritual needs.