Bishvili nivra ha’olam. “The world was created for me.” That is how the Mishnah (Sanhedrin 4:5) says each individual should feel about herself based on the creation story. When a single human is killed, it is as if the whole world is killed, because the world started from one single person. Each person therefore has infinite value; each person contains the whole world; and each person has a divine spark, having been created b’tzelem elokim, “in the image of God.”
Now this notion can and should lead to great pride. Indeed, some hasidic masters taught that pride was actually a key ingredient for serving God. One can only be active and creative in the world if one believes that one has an essential, unique contribution to make, if one believes in one’s own infinite incomparable value. Self-confidence may be more important than any other attribute in the success of a person.
But pride isn’t the end of the story. What does it really mean to have been made in God’s image? If it means that each of us is great, how are we to interact with one another? After all, there is only one God above ruling over the world, but there are many of us little gods on earth. If we are like God, are we meant to rule over one another?
No. That is why God uses the plural when it comes time to create human beings. Na’aseh adam betzalmeinu. “Let us make man in our image.” Rashi says this plural verb teaches us about God’s humility, that He thought it necessary to seek permission and include the angels in His decision. And, says Rashi, it also teaches us about how we are to act toward one another, not haughtily assuming we can do it all ourselves, but humbly seeking each other’s advice and help, working together as a team, like God did.
How apt of Rashi to read these words, “Let us make man in our image” in this way! At the very moment when humans are being declared to be essentially like God – having been created in His image -- God is showing them what He is like, teaching them how to act like God. How does one act like God? Not by being a ruler. On the contrary, by being humble. By sharing responsibility, by working together, by generally seeking opportunities to act not as an “I” but as a “we.”
It helps to live with both these thoughts in mind at the same time. I am great and god-like, equivalent to the whole world, and capable of tremendous deeds, but I am also humble and limited; I need others to be complete. As God comments in the second chapter of the creation story, “It is not good for man to be alone.” Some midrashim suggest that male and female were initially created as one human and torn apart. We therefore seek each other and need each other like pieces of a puzzle.
With both these thoughts in our heads, we are on the one hand encouraged to take an active part in the world, and on the other hand, freed from the full weight of its responsibility. As Pirkei Avot says, “The work is not yours to finish, but neither are you free from abstaining from it” (2:16). Each individual is called upon not to do the whole job, but to play his or her unique part. We should be eager to act, but not anxious. We should feel at the very same moment that what we do matters, but also that our individual contribution is insufficient.
The world was created for me alone, but it was also created for all of us together.
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Rachel,
ReplyDeleteYour highlighting of the uniqueness of each individual communicated by the creation story and Rabbinic interpretation stimulated the following thought.
If each individual is unique then each can make a unique contribution to society. Indeed, Pirkei Avot advises that one should learn from every person. It applies to cognitive knowledge, emotional understanding, manual and practical skills, behavioral conduct, etc. Here’s something important I have learned from a young boy in Istanbul. When I visited Istanbul, years ago, there were beggars and hawkers calling out to tourist at every tourist site I went. After a while I stopped responding. At one point, a boy ran after me and said: Mister, you do not have to buy what I am selling, but at least you can tell me “no.” He demanded that I acknowledge his existence. I learned from him that every person should be acknowledged as a person. A grocery bagger is not just doing a job, he is an individual who deserves to be recognized. Next time you are at the supermarket and a bagger puts your groceries in bags, look at his name tag and say “Thank you, Antonio.” You’ll note the feeling of satisfaction on his face. Your 3 words have made the world a better place for him.