DEUT1082 (Continued from [[GEN501]] Genesis 4:9 keeper SINAI1 xxii). If our primary purpose through life's journey is moral, to ever develop and grow in moral character, mussar is vitally necessary--to learn it and teach it--that we and our fellow Jews may improve in spiritual health. It is our obligation to show a neighbor the error of his ways and to help him avoid sin with its tragic consequences. In Scripture we read, "If you meet your enemy's ox or donkey going astray, you shall surely bring it back to him" (Exodus 23:4). Who is the owner of this animal that you are required to rescue? Even if he is not a friend but your enemy, hashev t'shivenu lo, says the Torah, doubling the verb: literally, "return shall you return it to him." And to the Sages of Talmud and Midrash this means that even if you keep taking the animal back and it keeps running away, though this happens four or five times, you must continue to bring it to the owner, knowing that he bears you enmity (T.B. Baba Metzia 30b; Midrash haGadol to Exodus 23:4). So, suppose it were not an enemy's animal, but the valued property of a friend. We should surely go out of her way to rescue it. Then what if instead of the animal, the friend himself goes astray in the pathways of life? How much stronger should our heartfelt concern, our deep obligation to return him to the proper path. ... We must cast away cold indifference born of selfishness and callousness. In its place let us accept the Jewish way of responsibility for our neighbor, deep concern for our people. Let us therefore turn to mussar, the moral wisdom and lore that we should learn and teach.