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He [Rabbi Akiva] used to say: Beloved is man
for he was created in the image of G-d. It is a greater love that it was
made known to him that he was created in the image of G-d, as it is
stated, ‘For in the image of G-d did He make man’ (Genesis 9:6). Beloved
are the Children of Israel for they are called children of the L-rd. It
is a greater love that it was made known to them that they are called
children of the L-rd, as it is stated, ‘You are children to the L-rd your
G-d’ (Deuteronomy 14:1). Beloved is Israel that they were given a
precious utensil (the Torah). It is an greater love that it was made
known to them that they were given a precious utensil, as it is said,
‘For I have given you a good possession; do not forsake My Torah’
(Proverbs 4:2).
Before we begin
examining the statements of our mishna, I would like to make a simple
observation regarding its structure. “Beloved are we that we have X. We
are even more beloved that we have been told we have X.” It is often not
sufficient to be granted a gift or a talent. That gift may very well go
unnoticed and unappreciated if nobody informs us we have it.
It is a known phenomenon
that people often do not recognize their own talents. (Even more curious
is that they often pretend they possess ones they don’t particularly
have. People are far quicker to deny their weaknesses (which they’re
quite strongly aware of) than admit their strengths.) Perhaps we become
so accustomed to our talents we fail to fully appreciate just how truly
blessed we are. Or perhaps we subconsciously deny them for we realize
that with great talent comes great responsibility. Or perhaps we have
only vague ideas about our abilities to begin with (which says a lot
about how well people know themselves), and only when they are clearly
defined and spelled out do we really begin to understand just whom we
are.
Regardless of the
reasons, however, there are certain things in life which G-d wanted to
make absolutely certain we would not overlook. There are certain human
and Jewish qualities which G-d insisted that we recognize: that every
human being is fashioned in the image of G-d, that we, the Children of Israel,
are G-d’s children, and that we are the bearers of His precious Torah.
These are the true “gifts” G-d has granted us, giving our lives purpose
and direction. We may want to deny our humanity or pass through life
unaware of the potential we have to be godlike beings. But G-d never lets
us forget just whom we are. Certain things in life are just too precious
to be denied.
Pardon my saying
it, but I feel R. Akiva had a particular need to tell his fellow Jews
just how blessed they are. Jews are a relatively insecure people (that
was an understatement). 😉 Do we feel “gifted” with
our special role to mankind? Do we proudly carry our heritage? Or do we
look over our shoulders — fearing that our Gentile neighbors will not
approve of our peculiarities? Perhaps we lack the requisite
self-confidence because of a long (and continuing) history of
Antisemitism. We’re too afraid of being different — and of standing for
our own principles. And most tragic of all, there are those (especially
in the past two centuries) who have bent over backwards to refashion
Judaism in more “respectable” fashion, discarding anything which might
raise eyebrows among the neighbors.
Unfortunately, such
behavior does not earn the approval of our Gentile neighbors. The results
are in fact usually quite the opposite. Our neighbors are not flattered
by our attempts at imitation and currying favor. They view it as an
intrusion, that their culture is being invaded and watered-down by
outsiders. Their reaction will be to remind us that we are but sojourners
among them (as G-d promised us) and a not-fully-welcome foreign entity.
We would command a lot more respect if we would show that we stand for
something — and demonstrate that our principles are more important to us
than conformance or even acceptance in the eyes of the Gentiles.
We now turn to R.
Akiva’s first statement: “Beloved is man for he was created in the image
of G-d.” This statement was clearly not directed at Israel alone, as our
Mishna’s second two, but to all mankind. All humankind is fashioned in
G-d’s image. We are all endowed with a godly spirit, an innate drive to
do good and accomplish. We possess a human conscience — which stirs us to
compassion and goodly acts, and which nag at us if we act wickedly. We
are all granted free will — the independence of spirit to choose good
over evil, soul over body. And we are all beckoned by G-d to rise to its
challenge.
(Incidentally, it
goes without saying that being fashioned in the “image” of G-d does not
mean that we “look like” G-d. G-d is incorporeal; He has no physical
form. This is the third of Maimonides’ 13 Fundamental Principles of
Faith, and the Torah likewise states: “…for you did not see any image on
the day G-d spoke to you at Horeb…” (Deuteronomy 4:15). Rather, we
“resemble” G-d in that each of us has an independent soul — and the free
will to choose to follow its dictates rather than those of our bodies.)
There is an
interesting distinction here. Every human being has a soul, granted. But
let’s say he ignores it, he does not follow the promptings of his
conscience. What happens then? King Solomon wrote: “G-d has made man
upright, but they have sought many complications” (Koheles 7:29).
Eventually, his conscience — his soul — will be stifled and will cease to
function as a vital force. The longer a person follows his own selfish
and animalistic desires, the more his conscience will ebb away. He will
become deadened to the challenges G-d has set before him, and he will
lose all sense of guilt and shame over his behavior.
At that point, such
a person’s soul will die. The Talmud states: “The wicked even during
their lifetimes are called dead” (Brachos 18b). Beating hearts and
functioning nervous systems do not living beings make. Certainly high
IQ’s have little or nothing to do with it. If a person has no sense of
purpose, if he is completely unresponsive to the prompting of his
conscience, he has no soul — and he is dead as far as G-d’s master plan
for the world is concerned.
The Jews are
different.
In R. Akiva’s
second statement, he states that we, the Children of Israel, are the
children of G-d. This of course implies an especially close relationship
— we’ll discuss this more fully G-d willing next week. But there is
something much deeper. A parent (under normal circumstances) never
completely forsakes his child, and never entirely forgets that his child
is his. When G-d told us we are His children, it contained an implicit
promise that He would see to it that we never lose the divine spark of
godliness within us. G-d does not allow us to totally forget who we are.
He made our consciences and our connection to Him just so much stronger,
and He promises that any Jew, no matter how remote and distant he seems
from spirituality, is still deep down a Jew. (Jews have always had a very
healthy guilt complex, genetically preserved and passed on by our Jewish
mothers over the centuries…) 😉
In Yiddish we refer
to this spark of Jewishness as the pintele Yid — the miniature Jewish
heart which beats in every one of us. Except under the most extreme
circumstances, a Jewish soul never entirely dies. G-d, in granting us the
ultimate privilege of being His children, does not — cannot — allow us to
shirk that honor. We cannot just forget it all and decide to live like
everyone else. Our sense of guilt and calling would never totally abandon
us, and we would never feel entirely fulfilled and at peace with
ourselves any other way.
For this reason, no
matter how distant a Jew appears from G-d and Judaism, there is always
something to build upon. Even if he denies it, fights it, joins cults,
country clubs, converts out, marries out, or cries atheism and evolution,
deep down he knows he is a Jew — and a child of G-d. And he knows he can
and eventually must return to his Father’s home. And G-d, in His infinite
love and patience, knows this too.
(Based in part on
the commentary of the Tiferes Yisrael to this mishna.)
Text Copyright ©
2004 by Rabbi Dovid Rosenfeld and Torah.org.
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