B

eing a witness in a criminal trial 
is a serious responsibility. What 
that witness says, or doesn’t say, 
has a decisive impact on the life of the 
person who stands accused. When the case 
is a capital trial, the weight of the witness’ 
words becomes enormous.
Given these high stakes, 
the Talmud teaches that 
the court needs to make a 
declaration to the witnesses 
to inspire them to tell the 
truth. This declaration 
includes reminding the 
witnesses that every human 
being’s life is precious. It is 
pointed out to the witnesses that when God 
created humanity, He did so by fashioning 
a single man and woman, to give us an 
appreciation for the preciousness of human 
life — to teach us that one life is an entire 

world, and that “whoever destroys one life, 
destroys a world,
” and “whoever saves one 
life, saves a world.
”
The witnesses are also told to reflect on 
the statement from the Talmud that every 
person should have an awareness that 
“the world was created for me” (Sanhedrin 
37a). Think about that for a minute; it’s 
an extraordinary declaration — that God 
created the world for you, and that if you 
were the only person on Earth, the entire 
creation of the cosmos would nevertheless 
be justified.
It’s not just an astounding statement, 
it also gives us pause for thought. Surely, 
thinking of ourselves in these terms leads 
to extreme arrogance and literal self-
centeredness, which are antithetical to 
Torah? Indeed, we know that humility 
is one of the Torah’s core values. The 
Rambam points out that while, with other 

character traits, a person should follow the 
middle path, when it comes to humility, 
a person should go to the extreme and be 
extremely humble.
Rashi, in his commentary to the Talmud, 
has an answer to this problem. He explains 
that the statement: “The world was created 
for me” is to instill within the witnesses 
an awareness of their own greatness and 
preciousness before God, which, in turn, 
will inspire them to tell the truth, because 
to lie and perjure themselves in court is 
beneath them.
Rav Chaim Shmuelevitz applies this 
lesson more generally. He says one of the 
most important ways to inspire ourselves to 
do good in the world and be better people 
is to believe in our own inherent greatness 
and our own preciousness in the eyes of 
God. An awareness of our own greatness 
inspires us to become even greater and to 
hold ourselves to the highest standards of 
ethical behavior. From such a perspective, 
wrongdoing is simply beneath our dignity.
Rav Shmuelevitz connects this idea to 
this week’s Torah portion, Shemot, which 
describes how Egyptian slavery began 
only after the death of Joseph. As viceroy, 
while he was alive, Joseph’s position and 
status in Egypt would have protected the 
Jewish people from oppression. Once he 
passed away, however, that barrier was 
removed, and the mass enslavement could 
commence.
Interestingly, though, the Torah seems to 
imply that it wasn’t just Joseph that averted 
the onset of enslavement. The verse says: 
“
And Joseph died and all his brothers and 
all of that generation.
” (Shemot 1:6) The 
Ohr HaChaim points out that Joseph’s 
brothers, and in fact that entire generation 
of great leaders, were held in such high 
regard by the Egyptians that enslaving the 
Jewish people at that time wasn’t an option.
But, Rav Shmuelevitz takes it one 
step further. He says the Jewish people 
themselves were their own bulwark against 
enslavement. They had in their midst 
people of greatness who inspired them with 
a sense of their own self-worth, their own 
inner greatness and, therefore, made them 
invulnerable to subjugation.
The connection to Rashi’s comment 
about charging the witnesses with a sense 

Chief Rabbi 
Warren 
Goldstein

SPIRIT
A WORD OF TORAH

“The World Was 
Created for Me” 
— Now What?

36 | DECEMBER 23 • 2021 

