What price do we put on the value of each precious Jewish neshama (soul)? How far should we, do we, go, individually and collectively, to save another Jewish soul?

These and so many other questions swirl in the storm of current events as well our history throughout the ages. So whether we wrestle with what we can do to help the Madoff and Abramoff detritus or what is and was the right thing to do about Israeli abducted soldier, Gilad Shalit, the moral tug on our hearts and minds is, hopefully, acute and agonizing.

When we are faced with awful, painful problems which we don't even want to believe are real, and instead, actually act to be part of the solution and not the problem, whatever the problem, whether it is domestic violence, debilitating addictions, the cover-up of and the conflagration of child sexual abuse, teens at risk, etc., we are then doing our part in Tikkun Olam, being partners with G-d in perfecting the creation of the world.

Okay, so this is quite a challenging time for us, the Jewish people-a time to clean house and prepare for Passover, a time to clean house and prepare for Redemption, yet again, please G-d.

And our part in bringing that about, that time of peace, joy and harmony for all of the world, is in facing the unbelievably tough questions and issues and grappling with them, knowing that, as Rabbi Nahman Bulman z"l said, that it will be the darkest before the dawn and therefore, when we feel despair and overwhelm, that is precisely the time to rejoice, as that is when the Geula (Redemption) is actually about to arrive.

So we can hasten that day by taking personal responsibility, not waiting for the other person to deal with it. Whatever the "it" may be.

We can look for and celebrate the Divine G-dliness in each and every Jew and celebrate that person's unparalleled uniqueness.

We can commit to living our lives with honesty and integrity and "be a Light to the Nations."

It sure feels like we have a long way to go. Hopefully, that is just an illusion; it is our limited vision in this very worldly Olam Hazeh, and the hazy horizon really belies an amazingly illuminating imminent sunrise.

So let's pray for one another, and help each other a bit beyond what we think we can; let's take on one more mitzvah, point ourselves in the direction of the light.

Let's pray for the Rabbis, our spiritual leaders. Let's pray for the political leaders in the U.S., the rest of the world and, of course, the leaders in the Holy Land. Because what does seem clear is that it will only be through Divine Intervention that that roiling cauldron may be calmed and that peace may prevail.

In the meantime, we can do our part. We can pray for Gilad Shalit, the Israeli soldier who was abducted at age 19 in 2006. Shalit is a soldier whose release seemed to be on the verge of happening; but freedom didn't come because of terrorists who are only interested in destroying us and taking over our land.

They perceive us as weak and willing to make peace at any price (because of the bungling of the War in Lebanon, because of premature pullout again in Gaza and because of so very many other "confidence-building gestures" for which we paid an excruciating price) and, mostly, because we value each and every precious Jew, dead and alive.

And last but not least, our leaders have given up too many Palestinian prisoners with blood on their hands while the Arab world snickers at what they deeply regard as our "weakness."

We need to know that moral strength is not weakness. And that moral weakness, when we are guilty of that, is certainly not strength.

We suffer from lack of clarity and that is another sign of the coming of Moshiach, the Messiah, and the day when we will altogether be ingathered to the Holy Land of Israel and live and love one another, as G-d wants us to.

So we can get a head start and begin fresh today. Each day. Thanking G-d for a new beginning, a new opportunity to be the best Jew and the best unique holy person that we can be. We can get the clarity we so dearly need by nourishing and developing a delicious relationship with the Creator of the Universe. We can happily do His/Her will, trusting the truth that is in the Torah.

We can keep our eyes on that ball, rather than pointing fingers at or giving control to others who may not have lived up to the standards we hope for, and expect of, one another.

As outgoing Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said regarding the breakdown of negotiations for Shalit, "As long as I stand at its head, the Government of Israel will not agree to any of the conditions or dictates of the Hamas as they were presented to the negotiating team. Israel presented the other side with generous, far-reaching and unprecedented offers, which were meant to lead to Gilad's release. I approved these offers, the practical meaning of which was the release of many hundreds of terrorists, including murderers of Israeli citizens, for the possibility of returning Gilad. These offers were rejected. Others will not be delivered to the Hamas.

"We will not agree to release more prisoners from the Hamas list beyond the hundreds of names that we agreed to and announced to them.

"Over the past several years, in dozens of meetings with world leaders and other leading figures, I was repeatedly asked: Why are you in the State of Israel prepared to at times undermine your most vital strategic interests for one man's fate? They do not understand this; they do not act thus. I am speaking about the best of our friends; countries with ways of life similar to our own, with similar cultures and norms; leaders who truly want what is best for Israel.

"I always answered that the Jewish people carry with them other memories and pains; that we live with scars and sorrows they never had to experience or suffer.

"For we came here, to our land, to live in security, so that none would fight us nor we have to fight them, so that we would not be harmed nor would we be forced to harm others, so that our children would not be kidnapped nor that we would be dragged into actions against the citizens of other peoples.

"Because in the end, the tie which unites Israeli society, perhaps more than anything else, is our mutual guarantee, the feeling of duty and the recognition that "to save one life in Israel - is as if you saved an entire world."

"Therefore, we worked tirelessly for years in covert, bold and unprecedented ways to bring children home; we acted thus to bring Gilad home - so far unsuccessfully. We will continue thusly; we will speak with whoever we can; we will not cease in our efforts.

"For all these years, we had meetings in endless channels, in various places around the world - in our region and in places much farther away - in order to create a track, which would lead to Gilad's release. We made use of different mediators; we were helped by world leaders; and even unofficial representatives. We spared no effort.

"Unfortunately, we came up against a cruel group, one devoid of basic human emotions, murderous and pitiless, which was unwilling to meet the challenge.

"I wish to say, on behalf of the State of Israel and its Government - we do have red lines. We will not cross them. We are not a broken people. We are not a defeated nation. A people who desire life, one surrounded by hostile countries, threatened by murderous terrorist organizations - cannot, is not willing nor will it agree to surrender to every dictate made. The Government of Israel, under my leadership, will not do so.

"We will continue even now in our efforts to bring about the release of Gilad Shalit; we will continue to strive for peace with our neighbors - and we will continue to build up our strength, without flinching from using the force necessary to ensure our security."

These very moving words are from the mouth of an all too human politician. We are all human and we all have our foibles.

The bottom line is-in order to obtain Gilad's release, as well as to bring down any and all blessings from Above, we need to ask ourselves, are we fulfilling G-d's requests as we are asking Him to fulfill ours?