How Are We Different 3

As a follow-up to previous posts on the topic of "Mi K'Amcha Yisrael"

here and here

I read (Mishpacha magazine) that a Cleveland benefactor came up with a fantastic chesed idea for families traveling on the afternoon and evening of bedikas chometz, when their car is chometz-free and everyone is hungry.  He, together with others, picked a location between Lakewood and Cleveland on the side of the highway and set up a huge roadside barbeque where travelers going in either direction could stop for a hot meal.

There was no cost for the meals; rather, donations were made to Cleveland's Matan B'Sayser fund.  This year, there was also a food stop located on the route between Toronto and Detroit.

The news item says 1100 people enjoyed hot meals between 1 and 10 pm, there were minyanim for mincha and then maariv, and when rain threatened, two bachurim hurried to the nearest Walmart and bought tents.

Quite impressive!

You are Holy, Chosen, Special, Beloved ...

In an article in the OU's spring 2013 Jewish Action, their executive vice president wrote an article about "The Chosen People" here.  He says:

"With the exception of the Kuzari, almost all Rishonim (medieval scholars) make it very clear that every human being, Jew and gentile alike, is created in the Divine image. The term tzelem Elokim is ascribed to all of humanity—not just Jews. Every human being is created in God’s image (i.e., we were all created with an abstract intellect that enables us to perceive the knowledge of God through the prisms of physics and metaphysics). No human being is inherently better than any other human being. If that is the case, then what does it mean that Jews are the Am Hanivchar, the Chosen Nation?

He goes on to say that being chosen means we have a mission to partner with Hashem, but I want to focus on the part where he says we are not inherently special.  I read this in astonishment. 

Devarim 14:2 (among other places) states, "You are a holy nation to Hashem your G-d, and Hashem picked you to be for Him His precious nation from all the nations on the face of the earth." This follows a pasuk which states we are Hashem's children. There is no mention here at all about our uniqueness being linked to an assignment.

We are called holy, we are chosen by G-d to be an "am segula" (treasured people) from all the nations and He chose us because of His love for us.  Nothing about missions.

And does Weil think that gentiles and Jews have the same neshama?! Does he think the concept of "pintele yid" is just a manner of speech? What does he think happens to a gentile who converts? He is the same as before and this is merely a technical matter, that he is now considered a Jew according to halacha? I guess so.  Nor does he have an explanation as to why we the Torah expects us to love our fellow Jews. 

I've encountered this reluctance on the part of Jews, religious Jews, to accept that we are inherently different, by virtue of our divine souls.  There is the inanimate, plant life, animal life, human life and a fifth category that incomparably different and greater than the previous four.  A Jew.

How Are We Different 2

Here is a follow-up story to my post on "mi k'amcha Yisrael" click here for post which Rabbi Matisyahu Salomon heard from Rabbi Chaim Shmuelevitz and related at the 11th Siyum Ha'Shas.  The latter had asked a Holocaust survivor how he survived, how he retained his faith. 

The survivor said: We were not able to keep any mitzvos in the camp.  We had no Shabbos, no Yom Tov, we could not learn, we could barely daven.  We were taken out early each morning to work in the forest and marched back to our barracks after dark.

But there was one thing that the Nazis could not take away from us, the moon.  There were men who kept track of the Jewish calendar and knew when Rosh Chodesh would be.  A couple of days later, we would look in the sky to see if the moon was out.  Then, as we were being marched back to the camp, with soldiers on both sides of the column, someone in the middle would whisper, Men ken machen Kiddush Levana (we can perform Kiddush Levana).

We would join hands and as we marched we began the bracha.  We came to the words, "He said to the moon that it renew itself, as a crown of splendor for those borne [by Him] from the womb, those who are destined to renew themselves like it .."

The moon symbolizes renewal, the renewal of the Jewish people, the renewal of the Malchus Beis Dovid.  We said those words and we felt strengthened.  We told ourselves that we will one day experience renewal.

Mi k'amcha Yisrael

(from "Living the Parsha, Bo)

How Are We Different?

I saw a news item recently about a woman (apparently not Jewish) who needed a kidney who posted on Craig's List and got 800 responses.  She actually got a kidney from one of them.  That made me think about the items I've read recently about Jews giving kidneys to other Jews, to people they did not know.  It is a special thing to do but after reading about the 800 responses, it made me think about the phrase "Mi k'amcha Yisrael" - Who is like Your Nation Israel, which we use when a Jew does something special and we feel proud.  Kidney donations are not exclusive to Jews!

I was perusing an Italian cookbook in which the author describes her childhood memories of the elaborate preparations that went into making Sunday dinner which was eaten with the family after mass.  Jews are not the only ones who have a weekly, wonderful family meal! Nor are we the only ones to celebrate holidays.  There are non-Jews who take their holidays very seriously and make elaborate preparations and give them a lot of thought.  Shabbos and holiday meals are not exclusive to Jews!  And Americans, in particular, give a lot of charity, run many chesed organizations, do many acts of kindness, and are hospitable to strangers.

This got me thinking - when does the phrase "Mi k'amcha Yisrael" truly apply in a Jews-only sense? What do we do that is unlike any other group for which we can say, "Wow! Mi k'amcha Yisrael!"? Alternatively, maybe there are things that we do that other groups do too, but we do it in far greater numbers or in a special way.

Come on readers out there - share your thoughts!

Because we aren't human!

A judge in Georgia, asked his Partner in Torah whether he was a rabbi.  He said he wasn't a rabbi; he was a businessman and the judge was disappointed since he had a question that nobody was able to answer to his satisfaction. 

What was his question?

He had marched for civil rights in Selma and he firmly believed that all humans are created equal, so why does the Torah say Jews are the Chosen People?

Hashem helped him formulate an answer which pleased the judge which went something like this.  He said Jews are 0.2% of the world population and yet, Jews have received 22% of Nobel Prizes.  When Time magazine was considering who to put on the cover as Man of the Century, they were undecided between Karl Marx, Freud, and Einstein, all Jewish (they picked Einstein).  Why are we consistently superior in ways that greatly surpass our numbers? Because we are G-d's ambassadors to the world and have a mission to carry out and a message to convey.

That's a fine answer but I heard an even better one.  Yes, all humans are created equal but Jews aren't human! We are neshamos, a veritable part of G-d Above, and we are here on earth in the guise of humans.  We look like everyone else but are hated because we are not truly like everyone else; we are alien beings - neshamos.  Hashem sent down angels in the form of humans (see Bereishis) and that did not work out well.  Neshamos, sent down in the form of humans, works. 

This idea is discussed by Maharal.  There are the four levels within the Beria (creation): inanimate, plant life, animals, and humans, and Yisrael is a separate, higher category which is part of the Borei (the Creator).  As a convert friend of mine told me, non-Jews are often fine with this idea.  They get annoyed when Jews try to act like them.  It's very often Jews who squirm at the idea of being Chosen.

Rabbi YY Rubinstein tells of a lecture he gave for Gateways in which he asked the audience what makes Jews special.  He got hostile responses from "I don't think Jews are special" to "That's racist!" to people walking out.  At a later point in his lecture he asked the audience where they thought someone granted a green card to any country on earth would pick and they enthusiastically responded America! When asked why, they offered many reasons: the economy, the education system, the can-do attitude, etc.

R' Rubinstein then pointed out to them how ironic it was that when it came to extolling America as the best country to live in, they had no problem doing that but when it came to extolling being Jewish, they rejected their Jewishness as anything special. 

Time to relearn the song, "I'm a Jew and I'm proud and I sing it out loud, forever that's what I'll be.  I'm a Jew and I'm proud and I sing it out loud and I know Hashem is watching over me."