Why was this so?

Why was this so? The Rabbis answer, The first man was made alone for this reason: to teach that "if anyone destroys one human life, it is considered as if he destroyed an entire world"; and if anyone maintains one human life, it is considered as if he had maintained the entire world.

— from True North (Ethics, Integrity, Truth, Values) · Maharal of Prague Pirkel Avos: A Commentary based on selections from Maharal's Derech Chai

In the book

The tradition teaches that we bear responsibility for one another so completely that a piece of your fellow lives within you — when you damage yourself you damage him, and when you act well you lift him too. It is why whoever saves a single life is regarded as having saved an entire world. It is why the sages insisted that derech eretz — basic decent conduct toward others — comes chronologically before all the higher learning; there is no Torah without it, because proper behavior is the very ground everything else is built upon. — True North (Ethics, Integrity, Truth, Values)

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