Welcome to Emotional Wellness Daily.
We left off in the previous class with the concept that we need to look for a spiritual source for self-worth because the external sources that the world gives us, in the end, do not bring self-worth.
We can look to the Mishna in Masechet Avot 3,14 as a great source for the feeling of importance and self-worth. It says, Man is dear. He was created in the image of God. Every man is dear. And not enough is that man is dear, (which means he has self-worth). It was told him, as the pasuk says, man was created B’Tzelem Elokim/in God’s image. God didn't hide this secret. Every human being was created in the image of God. We are not animals; we have a soul. It then says, talking to the Jewish people, Dear are the Jews, they have a higher level, they're children of God. And they were told that as well, as the pasuk says, “You are children of God.” Furthermore, the Jews are endeared because we received the Torah. But every human being has inherent self-worth because he was created in the image of God.
Many great rabbis have said that Darwin destroyed the world. Darwin was worse than Hitler because he was the one that removed man's endearment. Darwin took away our self-worth because if man evolved from a monkey, man lost his self-worth, and that is so sad. Without Torah, without a religion and without belief, self-worth is greatly lacking. That's what we have to base our self-worth on. It's something that might not be stressed enough.
There is an unbelievable Bet Halevi, not found in his sefarim, but quoted in a Torah journal called Yeshurun.
There is a pasuk in Yeshaya where Yeshaya breaks the Jewish people into four categories. The first one says I belong to God. The next one is a lower level called Yaakov. The next one is, his hand is to God. And the lowest one, which is our focus, is called, He has the title of Jew. What does that mean?
He says, there are Jewish people who lived their life like goyim. They didn't say kaddish even once in their life. But those Jews will have one thing to say in the future- We remained Jews and didn’t assimilate. We never fulfilled one mitzvah but we still get the title Jew.
The Bet Halevi was a great Rosh Yeshiva, and a great rabbi of a city. He was a Gadol Hador. He was not giving out leniencies. But his words can be taken to give yourself self-worth and value. He says further, “You cannot imagine what tremendous merit this will be for them, that they did not assimilate, and they kept the title Jew.”
Unbelievable. Of course, we're not saying that this should be a way out, to say, “Okay, I don't have to do anything.” Of course not. But rather that everything else is icing on the cake. Everything else is extra. I'm walking around as an identifiable, proud Jew and I don't hide it. That is something that gives us tremendous self-worth. Besides feeling this for ourselves, we have to give this over to our children, to show them what it means: How lucky you are, how proud you should be that you are an identifiable Jew. That's something that without religion and spirituality, you can't get to. And that's why our religion is good for our psyche.
Have a wonderful day.