We are discussing lessons in Noseh B’Ol/ Carrying the yoke of your friend. In English we call it being empathetic ; feeling for the person in their time of difficulty, even if you aren’t in their situation. There is a difference between empathy and sympathy. When a person has sympathy for someone, they say , “I’m very sorry for what you are going through, and I feel bad ,” It comes from the outside. But empathy is when you say, “ I understand what you’re feeling, and I want to let you know that you are not alone. I’m with you.” This person is not just on the outside. When we have empathy, we do things for others, and that is how we are with them. The ultimate example of this is Moshe Rabbenu. The Elder of Kelm says that when the Torah first describes Moshe to us, all it discusses his middah of empathy. First, he went out and saw an Egyptian hit a Jew, and he killed him.. The next day, he saw a fight between two men. He got involved, and asked, “ Why are you hitting your friend?” In the third case, he saw that the shepherds were picking on Yitro’s daughter, and he got involved again. Moshe Rabbenu doesn’t sit by. When people are in trouble, he gets involved. That is the Middah of Noseh B’Ol. That is what made him into a leader. He left his comfortable palace and he went to be with his Jewish brothers. He literally carried their yoke for them. He put his head under their load and carried it with them.. That it is what it means to be a leader who has that trait of Noseh B’Ol/Feeling other people’s pain, rather than just being there on the outside, feeling bad for them. There was a famous man named Mike Tress (he was also known as Rabbi Elimelech Tress) . Artscroll published a book about him called, “ Call me Mike.” He was a great activist during war time, and he did everything to try and save the Jews. After the war, he traveled to Europe with a group of activists, to see what was going on in the DP (displaced persons) camps. One night, the others got nervous when they saw that he wasn’t with them at the hotel. When they finally found him in the morning, they asked him where he had been, and he said he slept in a DP camp. They asked him why he did that, and he answered, “ How could I go sleep in the lap of luxury in a hotel, and then come back to them? I slept with them.” He was empathetic to the point that he gave all of his money away to save Jews. They say he didn’t even have enough money to pay for his medicine. He felt that every dollar could save another Jew. Baruch Hashem, he was paid back with many, many special children and grandchildren, that follow in his ways. Hashem repays the righteous. This is a Jewish sign of greatness and leadership- We empathize, not just sympathize.