Kevin Bemel ·
Why You Are as Important as the Whole World
“And Joseph died, and all his brothers and all of that generation.” (Shemos/Exodus 1:6). An entire generation is gone. But who cares? What do people of the past mean to the present?
The parsha for this Sabbath begins the second book of the Torah with Shemos. A new Pharaoh succeeds to the Egyptian throne and enslaves the Israelites. He declares that all their male infants are to be killed. Moses is born and Pharaoh’s daughter raises him, nursed by his own mother. He flees to Midian after killing an Egyptian to save a fellow Hebrew’s life. There he meets and marries Zipporah, the daughter of Reuel, also known as Jethro, the priest of Midian.
Moses encounters G-d in the burning bush and is told he will be G-d’s messenger to Pharaoh to seek the release of the Children of Israel. Reluctant, he eventually bows to the will of G-d. Moses leaves Midian for Egypt. His older brother Aaron meets him and becomes his partner in dealing with Pharaoh. They have their first meeting and rather than agreeing to their demands Pharaoh makes the enslavement harsher.
Rabbi Chaim ibn Attar, known as the Ohr Hachaim, was one of the most popular rabbis in Morocco during the late 17th and early 18th centuries. A popular commentator on the Torah, he notes the enslavement occurred in three phases. First, Joseph died and the Israelites lost their source of power in Egypt. Second, honored by the Egyptians all their lives, the rest of the brothers died. Finally, the rest of the people of that generation died. The Egyptians considered them too important to treat like slaves.
Now the Egyptians felt they no longer had any reason to honor or respect the Children of Israel. But equally important, since the Israelites no longer received respect, they lost their self-respect. So they did not resist when the Egyptians enslaved them.
Rabbi Chaim Shmuelevitz, the head of the famous Mirrer Yeshiva that escaped from Poland to Shanghai during World War II, sees in this story a metaphor for how the yetzer hara, the evil inclination, works. First, it attempts to make you feel powerless to resist it. For example, it may surround you with people who think that while you consider something wrong that idea or behavior is perfectly natural and therefore okay.
Second, it seeks to cut you down another notch and to make you feel dishonored. Having made one mistake, you tend to let it grow in your own eyes, thinking that everyone must know about your mistake. Who would think well of you then?
Finally, it makes you feel insignificant. If no one else thinks you are worthy why should you?
Once you have fallen through these three levels the yetzer hara enslaves you. This process shows you the folly of hanging your self-esteem on the opinions of people who do not know you. How can such people actually see the true content of your character?
The Torah shows you a different path. First the Talmud teaches that all human beings came from one person, Adam, therefore if one person is destroyed it is as if a whole world is destroyed. Rashi tells you therefore you should internalize the idea that you are as important as an entire world. And if this is so, then sinning clearly has a broadly damaging impact on this world so you are motivated to govern your conduct carefully.
You should build your self-respect on a foundation of good acts, mitzvahs, each of which is like a stone in the foundation of a mighty edifice, your belief in your own greatness. If you focus on such an effort, what strangers and acquaintances say and do becomes unimportant. Your relationship with G-d and your loved ones, who know what is in your heart, will keep you on the right path despite temptation.
Please take just a minute to share one way you bolster your self-respect…
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Every year beginning on Simchas Torah, the cycle of reading the Torah, the first five books of the Bible, ends and begins again. Each Sabbath a portion known as a sedra or parsha is read. It is named after the first significant word or two with which this weekly reading begins.
What verse in the Old Testament would you like to know more about? Ask a question and I will answer it in a future Parsha Nugget!
