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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