The antagonism and tension that exist everywhere between community  and individual are not incidental : they are built into the dialectical relationship between them.

In so many ways, Jewish life is based on the community: there are so many functions for which a minyan - at least ten Jews, namely, a group - is required. The easier option - which is indeed what often happens - is for the community to take over.

The community is made up of institutions: a school, a mikveh, a cemetery, a synagogue, a bakery, a kosher restaurant. If successful, it works for the general good; but whatever it does, it always operates, so to speak, in the plural. In so many ways, the community can be said to swallow its members.