LEV599 "Reprove your fellowman, and do not bear a sin because of him" [this verse]. We have herein been admonished not to bear sin as a result of our neighbors' sinning, by failing to reprove them. If one person sins, once his sin becomes public knowledge the entire congregation is punished because of him, if they fail to reprove him with the rod of their chastisement (Mishlei 22:15). Similarly, the pasuk states (Yehoshua 22:20), "Did not Achan the son of Zerach commit a sacrilege regarding the consecrated item, and wrath fell upon the entire assembly of Yisrael, and that man was not the only one to perish for his sin?" The pasuk also says (Devarim 29:28), "The exposed sins are ours and our children's forever." Even the nations of the world said (Yonah 1:7), "...that we may know on whose account this disaster is happening to us"; how much more does this obligate Yisrael, who are collectively responsible for each other! (See Sanhedrin 27b). In order to be saved from the punishment associated with this [sin], it is fitting to select men of truth and look for men of valor from the entire populace, in order to place them as the overall supervisors in every marketplace and living quarter -- to oversee their neighbors, reprimand them for any act of iniquity, and eradicate the evil.