What is the worth of the Jew? (Remix of prior blog).

Once upon a time a little boy was born. He was pure, innocent, had all the potential in the world. At his bris they named him Eliyahu. That little boy was/is me 😊.

I am the second of 11 children born to the same mother. From 4th grade – 8th grade, I got up at 5:30 each morning to go to school which was an hour away. My mother passed away when I was 12 ½. My father remarried some 18 months later. These are just some of the details of my early formative childhood years.

As a teenager and young adult, I went to Yeshiva in Los Angeles, Pittsburgh, Brooklyn, France and spent some time in the wild west of Russia at various times in the years 1992-1995 assisting in teaching Jews and restoring Jewish community. Along the teen and young adult journey, I was influenced by teachers and older people, I came to respect them and appreciated their relationship to me. I made friends some of whom I still value as friends until this day. I also had some teachers and older people that disappointed my teen self, I may have adopted some cynicism. Then I married, was blessed with 8 children and have survived thus far to tell the tale.

***
Each of us upon arrival into this universe, regardless of the circumstances of our conception or birth are born totally pure, filled with inherent worth and potential. You may say we arrive as G-d sees us, utterly powerful and infinite.

Then we begin to develop a self-consciousness as it is formed by our inner narrative (of course influenced by genetics, upbringing and culture). We begin to see ourselves as worthwhile based on that narrative. Ideas like; I want to be a good person, a successful person, a smart person, an impressive person and that what determines good, success, etc. are all by products of our inner narrative.

Finally, as we begin to become socially integrated in school, in adolescence and early adulthood, we begin to formulate our worth based on how others see us and what we determine is of value to fit in and rise in the broader social reality. Success is how society sees me, so I strive to achieve those statuses. (Just look at the success of Social Media.)

***
Each Jew is of infinite worth because of our identity as a Jew as chosen by G-d before Creation. This was expressed more explicitly when G-d spoke to Abraham and then concretized at Mount Sinai. This worth is rooted in and defined by the Torah but actually transcends Torah. Because the Jew is connected to the infinite dimension of G-d through the Soul/Neshama which is aliteral part of G-d. The Torah given to us by G-d is designed to help us, at all times, determine what the infinite worth is.

Once we were formed as a People we begin to develop our Jewish worth based on how we relate to this identity of being a Jew. We own the Torah with our own intellect and show up in the world accordingly. We also mix in our personal narrative of what a Jew is and look at our Jewish worth through those lenses.

Finally, we want to fit in to the world around us. To be accepted by those around us. So, at times we adjust our Jewish worth based on how we imagine the world sees us or how the world tells us they see us. This is called assimilation in the most literal sense. I.e., Why do I assimilate? Answer. Because as a social being I want to fit in and the world around me tells me what they expect of me as a Jew.

***
Our journey in life as elaborated in my earlier blog is to move closer to our inherent Jewish Self and our Conscious Self Worth and to be less focused on getting our value from how others see us or by living according to our inner.

The Rebbe often said that when Jews live outwardly and inwardly guided by Torah and its values, we earn the respect of the world. I never really understood this. Is this true? I’m an observant Jew and it doesn’t feel like the world respects me any more than it respects my secular brethren!

Herein lies the awareness I have based on the above analysis of Jewish Worth.

Today Jews are being told by the world around us that no matter what we do, no matter how we act, we will always be hated as Jews. In other words, the world is telling us that our worth will never come from fitting in to society. In this podcast , Haviv Rettig Gur explains that the birth of modern Zionism was Herzl’s awareness of this truth. Where Herzl was wrong, is that just because we have our own land, our own government, we are still not accepted as a nation among nations and never will be until Moshiach comes.)

And yet, there are Jews who rather than leaning into our own inherent worth, and sticking together with our fellow Jews, and believing that morality and right and wrong is not what the world tells is such, or todays wokeness claims to be but what the UN or ICC or dare I say the terrorist Hamas say we are is what defines us, choose to play the moral equivalence card and other such word games so that we don’t stand out and that we are accepted by the world around us.

How do I know this? Because there are those who prefer to criticize all the going ons in our political system, but never once make mention of the evil happening to our very own brothers and sisters. Except on occasion to criticize our fellow Jews.

It smacks of total Jewish insecurity.

If we can dig in to our true Jewish worth, embrace it and live it, we actually do earn the respect of those around us. Note that the Rebbe didn’t say they will love us, but we will earn their respect.

If this hat lands on your head, I encourage you to explore what makes you a Jew. Truly.

If you think I’m referring to someone else, then perhaps the pain you feel as a Jew for the terrible loss of life for our brothers and sisters in Israel, the blatant anti-Jewish hatred that is out there, will push you as it has I, to dig more deeply into your inherent value and worth as a Jew. To explore, to observe, to engage.

I welcome your comments and feedback.

Have a restful Shabbos!