>> Torah portion
?
till
Moses depicted
with a possible
biblical-era
IMAGINNAT.
Holiday Week at the DIA
tablet camera
Puppet-Making Workshops
The Cashore Marionettes present Simple Gifts, a beautifully
Parshat Vaera: Exodus 6:2-
9:35; Ezekiel 28:25-29:21.
S
elfie is Oxford Dictionary's
absolutely true)?
word of the year.
Winston Churchill, who was not a
As one report explained,
great fan of his political rival Clement
for whatever reason, 2013 has seen
Attlee, is reputed to have said, "Attlee
a tsunami of selfies, or self-portrait
is a very humble man:' After a pause
snapshots, on popular social media
he added with a twinkle, "Of course,
platforms such as Instagram, Facebook he has so much to be humble about."
and Twitter. The use of the word
Judaism has a very different approach
increased 17,000 percent
to the nature of humility, one
from last year!
that does not require denial of
Recently, in what was
one's qualities or accomplish-
described as "the most
ments. Humility is simply
powerful selfie of all time"
about not focusing on oneself;
Danish Prime Minister
being humble means being
Helle Thorning-Schmidt
aware of one's talents but at
took a selfie alongside
the same time seeing them
President Obama and
entirely as a gift from God,
British Prime Minister
a gift whose purpose is to be
David Cameron.
used to make the world a bet-
Unfortunately, the list
ter, holier place. Moses would
Rabbi S hneur have had no problem recog-
of selfies available of great
Silberb erg
Jewish leaders in history
nizing that he was indeed the
is relatively short. We can,
greatest prophet to have ever
however, try to do a thorough evalua-
lived; his humility was expressed in that
tion of a great Jewish leader to whom
he would take no credit for it, under-
we are introduced in the beginning of
standing that God could just as easily
Shemot — the Book of Exodus. Let's
have given that gift to someone else.
examine Moses' "self'
So honesty and humility don't con-
Suppose you were granted an inter-
tradict one another. In fact, honesty is
view with Moses. At some point you
the key to humility, because a truthful
might ask, "Is it true that you are the
evaluation will lead one to realize that
greatest prophet of all time?" What do
his wisdom, good looks, humor and
you think his response would be?
even his wealth are gifts from Above.
Here is the dilemma: On the one
Each and every one of us is a leader
hand, Moses is described as "very
in one form or another, whether to our
humble, more so than anyone else on
children, our colleagues, our friends or
the face of the Earth" (Numbers 12:3),
our coworkers. Leadership requires —
obligates — one to know and use his
in which case one would assume his
abilities and strengths; humility recog-
response would be to deny any great-
nizes that those qualities are gifts from
ness whatsoever.
On the other hand, Moses was also
God, in which case one never has the
the embodiment of truth, "Moshe Emet right to look down on another.
v'Torah'to emet" — Moses is true and
Were archeologists to unearth Moses'
his Torah is true (Deuteronomy 34:10), cell phone, it is safe to assume that
and the truth is that Moses was the
there would be no "selfie" on it. Moses
greatest prophet in history.
was the "anti-selfie," not by denial of
So what would Moses respond?
his abilities but by not focusing on
Can one be absolutely truthful and
himself to take credit for them.
completely humble at the same time?
Shneur Silberberg is a rabbi at Sara and
Is it arrogant to think — and per-
Morris Bais Chabad Torah Center in West
haps even say — that you may be the
Bloomfield.
very best in a certain field (even if it's
❑
constructed and awe-inspiring puppet performance.
Lecture Hall, Friday, 2 S 4 p.m.
Friday Night Live!
Claire Aebersold Er Ralph Neiweem perform music from
Walt Disney's Fantasia. Rivera Court, 7 G 8:30 p.m.
Storyteller Performance
Doug Berky combines masks, puppets, mime, drama and comedy
for Gems: The World's Wisdom Stories.
Lecture Hall, Saturday and Sunday, 2 G 4 p.m.
Now On View
Watch Me Move: The Animation Show, through January 5.
On Saturdays, buy one adult ticket and receive one free youth ticket!
Foto Europa: 1840 to Present, through April 27.
General museum admission is free for residents of
Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties.
DETROIT
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313 - 8 33 - 7 9 0 0
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December 26 • 2013
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