The Holiday of Good Posture
In contrast to their image of the downtrodden Eastern European Jew, the Zionist fathers wanted to train the young in good posture to demonstrate Zionistic pride.
Today, this rejection of the Old Jew and embrace of the New Jew takes on a different form. It revolves around pride in the ingenuity of Israelis, their role in high tech, their dedication to helping in crises around the world, being the most moral army, and of course, pride in the IDF.
There is one more area, and that is the seat that Israel has at the table of nations.
We all want to feel validated. As a Jew in a non-Jewish world, we want to feel our worth vis-à-vis other nations.
The reality, however, as we've been taught over and over again since October 7, 2023, is that our inherent value does not come from any of the above. Despite all that Israel has achieved, it didn't earn us any points with the haters. Even today, nations who are generally supportive of Israel vacillate from day to day on how far they are really ready to go to stand up for Israel—for what is right and good.
The day of our Good Posture is next week: Sunday night, Monday, and Tuesday—the Holiday of Good Posture. On Shavous, we received the Torah at Sinai. We were charged by Hashem Himself to be the carriers of the tradition. Hard as it may be to digest, the Midrash says that the word Sinai also means Sinah—hatred. Hatred toward the Jews descended at Sinai when the Torah was given to us.
Why? Because people don't want to be reminded that they are falling short. People don't want a mirror of morality to be held up in front of them. But that is our mission, and that is what we have been charged with.
This is where we get our inherent worth as Jews.
Jews who respect themselves because of our inherent worth are respected by the world around us.
Let's respect ourselves. Let's connect with our inherent worth this Shavous. If they're going to hate us anyway, let's make it worthwhile. At least they'll respect us.
Good Shabbos and a Happy Shavous!
P.S. I hope you'll celebrate your inherent worth and learn more about the Torah with us this Holiday.
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