Will you hear this kind of speech from the victorious candidates in the election next week? "I am gratified you have elected me because I relish the power, I love the influence. I bask in the spotlight." I doubt it. You will rather hear "I am gratified you have elected me and humble to the occasion. I am happy to serve you and the people of this state, this town." The first speech expresses the hidden self interest. The second speech expresses the altruism and noble goals. But perhaps altruism and self interest are not contradictory. Maybe a sacred mission and self interest can often combined, even though popular wisdom says they are usually contradictory.
I learned this from an unusual comment of Rashi, the classical medieval commentator on the Torah, on the famous first command to Abraham in the Sidrah this week. During the last two weeks our Torah reading has dealt with the first human species on earth, Adam and Noah. Today we begin the narrative of Abraham who is the first of the Jewish species on earth. God's first command is challenging. It sets the stage for a total physical and spiritual separation from Abraham's past in order to travel from Mesopitamia to Canaan and establish Judaism and monotheism. "Go forth and break away from your land, your birthplace, from your father's house, to when which I will show you." The tone of this Biblical passages one of self sacrifice, separation, risk, and little personal reward. Rashi, goes against the grain to make a remarkably unanticipated comment "go forth for your own pleasure and your own good." One would have thought that Rashi would have stressed the self sacrificing efforts of Abraham like the first speeches we will hear from victorious candidates next week. One would have thought that his comment might have been Even though you are comfortable in the home of your father, sacrifice your comfort and your situation for a greater ideal. But his comment does not say that. It very tersely and surprisingly reads "For your own good and your own comfort."
Rashi's insight is that the performance of a religious or dedication to a greater cause whether it be political or spiritual need not automatically exclude personal pleasure or benefit of one who performs the mitzvah. A principle which is so simple to be self evident? Not so no candidate would dare say this next week, even if it is self evident.
There are actually many recent scientific studies about altruism. Science has discovered in many documented studies that even altruism in subtle ways can be to the advantage of the one who's altruistic. For example one Israeli study discovered that while doing something for others, that noble act actually contributes to group survival, which also benefits the individual who belongs to the group. There is another study that noble altruistic actions makes the one who does them more physically healthy -- "For your own self and your own good."
Let's move from the arena of government politics to synagogue and Jewish community politics. Serving a synagogue, or any Jewish institution, in a lay or professional capacity does entail idealism and often a sense of mission.
The lay volunteer on the professional often foregoes the privacy of the private sector: time with family and personal pursuits, even financial advantages. On the other hand, the layperson / professional derives personal benefit beyond the sheer service. Largely psychologicalthe reward of people who are influenced by his/her service; the reward of status clergymen, for example, are consistently at the top of communal status ratings next to policemen and firemen. If the truth be told -- communal service -- whether lay or professional is not only being in the synagogue every night and incurring the wrath of spouses. It is also a chance to influence the decisions which impact the collective religious life of Jews, to make new friends and acquaintances and become integrated into the Jewish community. In short, it is even a door into 'macherhood'. What Rashi suggests is that self- sacrifice, altruism, and personal benefit can all be legitimate aspects of one package.
The most important, application of this insight is in our general approach to Judaism and especially the reasons we give our children for their continuing to be Jews.
How many times were you told in your youth: "We have to preserve our Torah out of respect to our ancestors who martyred themselves for it." That is the 'martyr motivation' that might have worried in my generation. Many of the younger generation are too far removed from our anonymous martyred ancestors to adhere to welcome that as their primary motivation for adherence to Judaism.
One of the prominent authors of Hebrew literature in the last century was David Frishman. Frishman lived in Poland, and Germany, was from a wealthy Jewish family. He became well acquainted with not only the Jewish culture and religion but with many of the European cultures and languages. He had a deep feeling for not only the humor and the greatness of Judaism, but also for some of its tragic aspects.
He wrote a short story called 'Hamitzvah' -- 'The Mitzvah', in which he portrayed the downfall of the martyr rationale to Judaism. There is a little known Jewish law from a time when infertility was thought to be that if a man is married to a woman for ten years and has no children with that woman, he is supposed to divorce her because she has not given him seed. Frishman writes of a young man in Russia who deeply loves his wife, but for one reason or other cannot bear children by her. The young man's father urges him to divorce the woman in accordance with the Halachah. Reluctantly and tragically he prevails upon his son, who still madly loves the woman. At the end of the story, the boy goes to the father still in shock and bewilderment over what he has to do. The father turns to him and says over and over again, Well, after all, what you have had to do is a mitzvah!
Frishman has conveyed beautifully the wrong approach to influence us of the levity of Judaism. Preserve Judaism not because you are blindly obligated to a past. Preserve Judaism because it is Judaism is for your benefit and your pleasure; Judaism can orient you in a cold world; Judaism can soothe you in times of pain and grief; it can enhance your enjoyment at times of great joy; it can instruct you with great insights into the art of living; it can teach you to discipline and control your life. Come to morning minyan not in order to fulfill 'Jewry Duty', but for your own joy and your own, you will start your day spiritually uplifted and intellectually stimulated. You will be able to tranquilize your heart and soul not with the swallowing of a pill, but with the chanting of words and melodies warmed over by centuries of living. You will put aside the world for those minutes as you withdraw into the serenity of early morning worship. In our involvement in synagogue life and our approach to religion, it is healthier to acknowledge, not only the altruistic, but the self-reward of our involvement.
So let's return to our theoretical political candidate. He might say "I am pleased that you have elected me to serve you and the people of this state. And I like the power. I am gratified that you have appointed me as your servant; and I relish the limelight." But of course no candidate would dare acknowledge that altruism and self promotion can be combined. Only that great Rashi, in his bold comment on God's call to Abraham, acknowledges that.