R' Yehuda Leib Orlean (1900-1943) was born to a family of well-off Gerer Hasidim in Warsaw, and was a Gerrer chassid of the Imrei Emes. In 1933, he became the director of the Bais Yaakov Teachers’ Seminary. He was a soft-spoken but charismatic and beloved teacher, who wrote a number of important Bais Yaakov texts including the 1935 textbook Yidish leben (Jewish Life) and the biographical essay “Sarah Schenirer.” In 1943, R' Orlean was murdered in Birkenau.
R’ Yehuda Leib Orlean offered a striking explanation in the Al Chet of על חטא שחטאנו לפניך ביודעים ובלא יודעים, for the sin we have committed before You knowingly and unknowingly. He asked: Why should we be held accountable for sins committed unknowingly?
His answer was that this phrase does not refer to mistakes made in ignorance, but to the sin of not knowing itself. We are commanded to know—to be aware, attentive, and sensitive.
We live in a world where people are wrapped up in themselves, concerned only with their own needs and concerns. Such self-absorption leads to spiritual blindness. A person who doesn’t notice another’s pain, confusion, or struggle is guilty of not knowing.
To truly live as a Jew means to be aware of what is happening around us—to see the person crying in distress, the elderly man who is lost, the one struggling under a heavy burden. There is no excuse to say, “I didn’t know my neighbor was sick or alone and needed help.” You should have known—because caring requires awareness.
