DECEMBER 23 • 2021 | 37

of self-worth as a bulwark
against false testimony and
corruption is clear. A person
who says to himself: “The
world was created for me”
is aware of his own inner
greatness, his God-given
potential; and this awareness
becomes a protective shield —
whether it’s protection against
subjugation at the hands of
others or protection against
stumbling into wrongdoing.
This deep, internal self-
esteem rouses a person to
achieve things that would
otherwise be unattainable. We
have a dramatic illustration
of this in the Torah. The
Jewish people in the desert
were instructed by God to
build a magnificent edifice
called the Mishkan — a
sanctuary for God’s presence.
The Mishkan was a complex
structure, made of all kinds of
precious metals, and requiring
a very high degree of skill to
assemble. Remember, this was
a nation of newly freed slaves
who seemingly had none
of the skills or experience
necessary to build such an
edifice. And yet people came
forward in droves to volunteer
their services.
The verse describes how
“every person was lifted up
by his heart,
” (Shemot 35:21)
which the Ramban takes to
mean they were inspired by
a feeling of confidence — by
the unshakeable conviction
that they could perform this
task even though they didn’t
know how to. And indeed,
they rose to the occasion,
taught themselves the art
of Mishkan-making, and
assembled the Mishkan
in all its beauty and all its
complexity. Their sense of
self-worth and of their own
limitless potential helped

them pull through.
The Torah says we are
created in God’s image; that
our souls are in some way
a reflection of the Divine.
The Midrash on Psalms
makes this connection more
explicit, drawing a number of
connections between the soul
and its Creator. The Midrash
says the soul fills the body the
way God fills the universe;
that the soul sustains the
body in the same way God
sustains the universe; that the
soul perceives yet cannot be
seen, just as God perceives but
cannot be seen.
And so we have within us
this God-given greatness, this
infinite potential, this Divine
dignity that comes with being
created in our Creator’s image.
We hold within us the reason
not just for our own existence,
but for all existence. And
we need to be acutely aware
of this fact, because being
aware of it will inspire us to
do good, to be great, to reach
heights we couldn’t previously
imagine. And being awake to
our own Divine potential, to
our own preciousness in the
eyes of the One who created
us, will help us avoid the
pitfalls that so often obscure
our own inner greatness, to
ourselves and to others.
There’s a light within us
that’s alive, that we can turn
on and shine out to the world.
And we need to know it’s
there. That awareness that
“the world was created for me”
can, with a healthy dose of
humility, be the driving force
for good in every aspect of
our lives.

Chief Rabbi Warren Goldstein, who

has a PhD. in Human Rights Law, is

the chief rabbi of South Africa. This

article first appeared on aish.com.

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