MATZAV.COM Rav Shamshon Raphael Hirsch zt”l, On His Yahrtzeit, Today, 27 Teves

I see a child enveloped in flames. The bystanders are afraid; they do nothing, or else they are only trying to save the building. I see the child. I rush in. Should I first ask my neighbor whether he, too, sees the child? Should I worry whether, in my haste, I am jostling someone, or perhaps hindering the salvage of the building by running in? Perhaps I am causing a draft, fanning the fire? “‘But,’ you might ask, ‘what if you are too late? What if the building collapses on top of the child in a roaring con - flagration before you reach it?’ To this I reply: ‘Were I to be buried under it, I would at least have done my duty.’” (Rav Shamshon Raphael Hirsch, Letter Nineteen, The Nineteen Letters). Rav Shamshon Raphael Hirsch was only 27 years old when he wrote The Nineteen Letters. From where did he derive this burning sense of duty and responsibility?