What makes a good person?



Some people are born lovely. They are kind and caring, compassionate and considerate. It’s a combination of nature and nurture, no doubt, and it is eminently unfair. The rest of humanity, who find themselves struggling with an inner beast, obsessively self-absorbed and far less thoughtful of others, can only curse their misfortune. We live in a ruthless world; one in which the good get gooder, and the bad, get badder.

A counter-intuitive midrash informs us that Avraham, our wonderfully hospitable great-grandfather, would make it his business feeding ravenous guests he found roaming the Middle Eastern deserts. When concluding their meal he would encourage them to bless the Creator for their food. In the absence of their acquiescence, he would demand the exorbitant sum due – prices on par with the General Store in Timbuctoo. Without fail, the compromised guest would begrudgingly make the said blessing, preferring the small cost to their pride over the larger bill to their back pocket.

Odd. Is religion a mere game of charades? Does an insincere blessing have any value at all?

Avraham seems to have thought so. And I think this is why; being good has far more to do with what you do then how you feel. Not only that, but what you do, comes to define how you feel. Thus, a person born without a strong dose of empathy need not despair; vsit the sick, care for those with special needs, tend to the elderly – empathy will grow. One whose nature is miserly, need not preclude themselves from becoming a philanthropist; give of your time, resources and property – generosity of spirit will grow. One for whom sensing the Divine remains am unreachable target; pray, study Torah, do mitzvot – feelings will grow.

Avraham was a pedagogue who appreciated that goodness doesn’t only belong to the good, we can have it too.

Based on Lekkutei Sichot vol. 15 pp122-128

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Rose Coloured Glasses

Image
For the contemporary minded, there’s a deeply troubling introduction to a deeply troubling episode in Parshat Vayishlach. The tragic saga of Dina’s violation by Shechem, followed by the retributive massacre of the city, raises the eyebrow of the critical reader at a rate of something like twice per verse. Resolutions remains a touch out of grasp. What this a case of love or lust (see Bereishit 34:2-3)? Where Shimon and Levi even remotely justified in their vengeance? What was Ya’akov’s opinion on the matter? What outcome would Dina have wanted? Perhaps most perplexing of all is the introduction to the debacle – “and Dina, the daughter of Leah who had been born to Ya’akov, went out to see the daughters of the land.” Rashi, the foremost commentary on the Torah focuses on the superfluous rendition of her lineage and writes “due to her outgoingness she is labelled ‘the daughter of Leah’, for her mother too was an out-goer, [evidenced in the episode of the duda’im flowers (see B
Read more

Nocturnal Iconoclasts

Image
Dream interpretation seems somewhat out of vogue these days. Talmudic wisdom seems to have it that dreams are simply a concoction of what one experiences over the course of their waking hours (Berachot 55b). However, beneath the nightmare of thirsty sea-creatures meandering upon dry land, gulping from giant bottles of gurgling goop, there lies our most primal fears, anxieties and aspirations. Our subconscious lets loose as it weaves metaphors of childhood neglect (the thirsty sea creatures) which drives our insatiable appetite for approval at work (the giant bottles of gurgling goop). Obviously, this matter requires copious therapy if its seemingly far-fetched significance is to be fully unravelled. No different are the dreams that abound in Genesis. The colourful characters of the Bible were as iconoclastic in their sleep as they were in their waking hours. Jacob dreams of ladders, angels and sheep, Joseph dreams of stalks and stars, the butler and baker dreams of wine and b
Read more

The Price of Inspiration

Image
How do we look when we are uninspired? Do we let go of the values that define us, throwing in the proverbial towel, or hang on to them for dear life, praying for our next spiritual uplift? Inspiration, by definition, is short-term. It’s a burst that needs endless replenishment. Important, but not reflective of our real selves. What’s truly worth our time and energy is identifying   and shaping our lowest common-denominator, the person we are when our role models are on holiday and our texts don’t speak to us. Midrash on Parshat Vayechi tells us that Yaakov wished to reveal the date of the final Redemption to his children, yet he reneged in the last moment. What was the rationale for the change of heart? Knowing the potential date of Redemption is inspirational, it gives us the push we need to keep up our commitment, knowing that we only have a short distance still to cover. However, the very notion of the final Redemption is one of a fundamental change to reality. A c
Read more