A wicked person, explains Rashi, is someone who imagines that they are special, that the rules don’t apply to them.
Economists talk about the tragedy of the commons. Imagine a public good, a resource which benefits everyone but which no one feels individually responsible for. Each person believes that she can chip away at it without actually damaging it noticeably.
Let’s imagine a botanical garden full of gorgeous plants. If one visitor snips off a bloom, nothing much happens. Now imagine if every visitor does this. Pretty soon there are no flowers left. The garden is ruined — a loss for the entire community.
It is interesting to consider this idea of personal exceptionalism alongside the idea of Jewish chosenness, expressed many times in Deuteronomy. We are told for instance, “For you are a people consecrated to the Lord your God: of all the peoples on earth the Lord, your God chose you to be His treasured people” (Deuteronomy 7:6).
