Dancing Off the Plane
I felt like dancing off that plane after sitting in cramped quarters on a six-hour flight to Los Angeles. But after exiting the airport into beautiful fresh air, I felt it was all worth it. I had come to this city in honor of my nephew’s bar mitzvah. And my husband and I took advantage by arriving a day early to enjoy sunny LA.
Honor in a Funny Way
As we were driving down a well-known street in the area, I saw many yellow stars embedded in the cement. I wondered aloud what they were, and my husband enlightened me that inside each star was the name of a well-known personality. Having your name put into a star is considered a tremendous honor.
Is This Really Honor?
I was a bit flabbergasted by this apparent show of honor. Someone that is held in high esteem is honored by having their name put in the cement to be walked upon?
A name on the sidewalk to be trampled on is considered an honor?
And once again I was struck by the difference between how the world shows honor versus the way Jews show honor.
The Differences
We are Hashem’s children, and Hashem loves us so much. We are too noble to put our names on the ground like that. And I am talking about simple people like myself. How much more so those whom we respect, such as our elders, our talmidei chachamim and our gedolim.
Even if it is in a pretty yellow star, even if it shimmers and shines, even it glows in the dark or has real diamonds embedded in it, if it’s on the ground, it’s no place for the name of a precious Jew. We Jews are well aware that we are created b’tzelem Elokom, and we know that we can never let ourselves be trampled upon. This certainly holds true for the names of our elders and rabbanim, those to whom we show great respect.
We Look Up with Awe; They Just Look
Instead, the names and pictures and memories of gedolim and rabbanim that I honor, as well as my parents and grandparents, go onto a wall. I don’t look down at them in the cement. I look up at them as they gaze back at me. I like to feel as if they are looking down at me and saying, “Yes, you are doing what is right.”
It seems as if celebrities are meant to be gawked at. As they walk down the street, the crowd parts, and everyone stops and stares. These people are like artifacts in a museum: Look at them. But do not touch them!
But to us, what these people represent isn’t important. We don’t care whether they are in a star or not and certainly aren’t interested in hanging them on our walls.
When it comes to a rav or a rebbi, we don’t gawk at them as if they are museum exhibits. We want to cling to them. We don’t part for them; we run to be closer to them. We want to talk to them to imbibe their wisdom. We know that a talmid chacham or an elder is one step closer to Hashem. We turn to them for guidance, to listen to them and to internalize who they are and what we can learn from them.
In my dining room I have a picture of several gedolim of the past sitting around a table. When I sit at my table across from the picture, I don’t look down to see them; I look up to them.
And I realize that we are a noble nation, honoring with real respect what is authentic and genuine. We know where true value lies. It lies within those who live according to Torah, according to Torah hashkafah, with the knowledge that we were created b’tzelem Elokom.
Reprinted from https://theupliftmagazine.com/
Chevrah Lomdei Mishnah / The Society for Mishnah Study is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization dedicated to providing loved ones eternal merit through Torah Study and Prayer.
