Rabbi Meir Kahane- Parshat Nitzavim
GREATNESS VS. MEDIOCRITY
There is no more fundamental axiom in Judaism than the one that
decrees that man has free will, the ability, the right, and the obligation to
choose for himself the path down which he will walk his life. "See, I have
set before you this day life and good, and death and evil...therefore choose
life" (Deuteronomy 30:15-19).
Choose life. Choose to be great or mediocre, choose permanence or passing transition. It is an individual and a collective choice, an individual and collective decision for the Jew and the Jewish people. "For you are a holy people unto the L-rd, your G-d; the L-rd, your G-d, has chosen you to be His own treasure out of all the peoples that are upon the face of the earth" (ibid. 7:6).
Choose life. Choose to be great or mediocre, choose permanence or passing transition. It is an individual and a collective choice, an individual and collective decision for the Jew and the Jewish people. "For you are a holy people unto the L-rd, your G-d; the L-rd, your G-d, has chosen you to be His own treasure out of all the peoples that are upon the face of the earth" (ibid. 7:6).
It is a decision that faces the Jew, individual and collective.
A simple and so difficult decision. Shall I be great with all the difficulties
that come with it or shall I choose mediocrity? Shall I desire to be chosen and
special and carry out the sacrifices and the burdens that go along with
choseness, or shall I flee from greatness and desire to be as all nations and
individuals- all the other ordinary and transitory people who live and pass on,
leaving nothing behind except their own petty and narrow lives?
To borrow the language of the Rabbis, "To what is this
comparable?" To a woman who is beautiful and desirable and who is wooed by
two suitors. One is wealthy and can offer her comfort and security and prestige
but within a mediocre and myopic life of small-mindedness. The other not only
cannot offer her the comfortable life of material pleasures and security that
the first can give, but he also lives a life of difficulty and sacrifice. But
he has one thing that the other has not. He is a life of doing for people, of
vision and holiness. He has chosen greatness and permanence and the exciting
way of life that is truly chosen. The other suitor, with all his comfort and
security, is ordinary, narrow. His is not the life of the chosen but of the
commonplace. In short, the poorer suitor has chosen true life and offers it to
the woman he loves deeply- he wishes to grow with her, he loves her so much
that he yearns to give her greatness by his side.
So is it with the Jew, Knesset Yisrael- the Congregation of
Israel. The choice is before her. One suitor- the world- offers her the
opportunity to be like the nations, following their mediocre, petty, narrow
values. The "reward" will be apparent comfort and security. But the
price is the loss of opportunity to be holy and great and special. The destiny
that is offered is mere "ordinariness." The other suitor is the
Almighty and He offers difficulty and sacrifice. But with it there are two
rewards. Not only is Knesset Yisrael promised truth and nobility and greatness,
but even the sacrifice is beautiful because G-d, the suitor, will walk and
share it with her.
The choice is the same for both. The woman and Knesset Yisrael.
Will both be great and strong enough to choose life?
The Jewish Press, 1976
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