Self-Sacrifice – It Doesn’t Really Kill

On a freezing winter night as Napoleon lay under his warm covers, he was overcome by a sudden bout of thirst. Considering that he would have to leave his cozy conditions and go outside to fetch some water, in order to satisfy his craving, he contemplated ignoring his nagging discomfort, but was quickly overcome by a powerful sense of shame.

“Napoleon! You have become all but lazy,” he said to himself. “There is evidently no difference between you and the common yokel.” With that, he tore himself out of bed and proceeded out the door to fetch himself some water.

By the time he walked to the well across the field, he thought to himself: “Bonaparte, you really ought to be embarrassed of yourself. You are so weak you’d do anything to avoid a little discomfort. Have you no willpower to prevail over a tad of thirst? There is obviously no difference between you and the ordinary Joe.” He immediately retuned to bed without touching a drop of water.

Upon relating this story, the Chasidic master of Lublin, (The Chozeh) concluded: “This is what I call strength of character.”

When asked to give an informal talk to a group of religiously uncommitted Jews, I elected to focus on “self-sacrifice” as the topic of discussion. Noticeably perplexed, the facilitator asked why I chose this subject. “These are not religious people,” he argued, “are you trying to blow them away?” My answer was rather simple: “I chose this topic because it captures the essence of Judaism.”

There is no mistaking that self-sacrifice is not a very popular creed in Western culture. It is arguably the very antitheses of everything our society admires and encourages. The idea of seeking-out and indulging in as many gratifications as possible is inculcated into the human psyche from the moment of birth.

Wherever we turn we are introduced to new forms of entertainment and pleasure that play right into our base instincts. We are repeatedly reminded how much we need and “deserve” it. We are virtually driven to consume.

Pleasure and possessions have in fact become the predominant means by which we Americans measure success; the very definition of success. Our economy and our society have become dependent upon this very drive. We are programmed to want more, need more; not be able to survive without more, more, more!

Moreover, beyond what might be perceived as the product of primitive human emotions for joy and satisfaction, this hedonistic mind-set has been turned into an urbane ideology vis-à-vis moral, political and economic existence.

Consider for a moment the words of Adam Smith, father of modern economics (Capitalism), in his path breaking work The Wealth of Nations: “It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest. We address ourselves, not to their humanity but to their self-love, and never talk to them of our own necessities but of their advantages,” (Smith, p. 14, Modern Library edition, 1937). Can the adulation of this phenomenon and its narcissist qualities be more clearly stated?

These sentiments have been echoed over the years by economists, statesmen and pundits of both the right and left sides of the political spectrum. In face of the current economic crisis, deliberation over the pros and cons of Capitalism has come to the fore.

“You can call it greed, selfishness or enlightened self-interest,” asserts Professor of economics, Dr Walter Williams, “The bottom line is that it’s these human motivations that get wonderful things done. Unfortunately, many people are naive enough to believe that it’s compassion, concern and ‘feeling another’s pain’ that’s the superior human motivation. As such, we fall easy prey to charlatans, quacks and hustlers.”Now that’s a mouthful.

Before I lose you, let me state that this discussion is by no means meant as an attack on Capitalism. I personally know of no better economic system, and am certainly not advocating such. Besides, some of my best friends . . . However, while it may be hard to deny the virtues of Capitalism and it’s handmaiden “Consumism,” if I may coin the phrase, in terms of economic advantage, we ought to examine the effect of this system, when left unchecked, on our individual and collective character.

While capitalism is clearly superior to feudalism, communism, socialism or any other system one could name in creating wealth, there are nonetheless major downsides, not the least of which is the fact that it plays to our very base instincts and requires people to stay perpetually hungry for more.

It is not hard to understand that continuous pandering to our animalistic dimension is not going to produce a very pretty result. Does our skyrocketing level of divorce, road rage, crime and depression, have anything to do with this? I’ll leave it for you to decide.

Still, I think we could at the very least agree, that the Bernie Madoff’s of the world are not created in a vacuum. While Madoff is obviously a lowlife and a scoundrel, he could never have succeeded in wreaking all that havoc if not for the supportive economical environment. The same is true with regards to the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac fiasco as well as the Enron debacle. Not to mention Charles Keating from the notorious S&L crisis and the many other corporate scandals.

The undeniable truth is that Capitalism runs on greed. Who would know this better than the Chairman of the United States Federal Reserve. On July 17, 2002, the presiding Chairman, Alan Greenspan, told a Senate banking committee in Washington that “‘infectious greed’ had gripped the business community during the 1990s and that too many corporate executives sought ways to harvest some of those stock market gains. The result,” he said, “was a tendency on the part of chief financial officers and chief executive officers to artificially inflate reported earnings in order to keep stock prices high and rising.”

Dr Greenspan said he had been “really, deeply distressed” to discover that accountants were signing off on dodgy figures, because he had previously banked on their integrity. ”I was wrong,” he said. “The incentives overcame the good judgment of too many corporate managers.”

He added: ”It is not that humans have become any more greedy than in generations past, it is that the avenues to express greed have grown so enormously. . .” “History cautions us that memories fade. It is incumbent upon us to apply the lessons of this recent period to inhibit any recurrence in the future.”

The short of it is that free market economy, like all good things, can be a blessing or a curse. The blessing is obvious: it breeds prosperity and higher living standards for the greater masses, raising thereby their quality of life on all levels.

The curse, on the other hand, is that it thrives in an environment of selfishness and self-indulgence and tends to actually foster it, if only indirectly. When Capitalism is combined and subservient to higher purpose, such as religion, it is a true blessing. When it becomes an end onto itself, however, it can easily run amok and become a real curse.

It is clear that for Capitalism to be kept in check it requires a modicum of self abnegation and self-discipline. It must be channeled and counterbalanced by higher authority and focus, so that one is not allowed to become the center of all existence, which is the root of all evil.

Animal sacrifice was an essential part of the service that took place in the Temple, yet the Temple is not only a physical structure that existed in a given time and place, it is rather an ongoing phenomenon that occurs within each one of us.

The sacrifices discussed in this week’s Torah portion, Vayikra, and throughout much of the book of Leviticus, are about the sacrifices that each of us must perform within our very own sanctuary – with our very own animal instincts and desires, in order to reach a higher level of consciousness.

It is not a coincidence that the Hebrew word for sacrifice is Korban from the word Karov, which means to get close; to get closer to our spiritual G-dly-self. The quintessential objective of Judaism is to teach us to distance ourselves and ignore some of the demands of our animal-self – to give up a little of our independence to our Heavenly Maker, which is what Judaism refers to as Self-sacrifice.

The latter is, perhaps, the greatest challenge of our generation and culture – a culture that teaches to view ourselves as the center of all existence. We must overcome this secular notion and learn to perceive ourselves as subordinate to our Heavenly Creator, to worship the Almighty not the ‘all mighty dollar’.

Through our personal sacrifices we will become better people and make the world a better place spiritually and physically, even economically – a world ready for Moshiach when all our wealth and resources will be used for kindness and holiness. May it be speedily in our time.