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of Narcissism, subtitled, 
American life in an age of 
diminished expectations. It 
was a prophetic work. In it, he 
argued that the breakdown of 
family, community and faith 
had left us fundamentally 
insecure, deprived of the tra-
ditional supports of identity 
and worth. He did not live to 
see the age of the selfie, the 
Facebook profile, designer 
labels worn on the outside 
and the many other forms of 
“advertisements for myself,
” 
but he would not have been 
surprised. Narcissism, he 
argued, is a form of insecurity, 
needing constant reassurance 
and regular injections of 
self-esteem. It is, quite simply, 
not the best way to live.
I sometimes think that 
narcissism and the loss of 
religious faith go hand in 
hand. When we lose faith in 
God, what is left at the center 
of consciousness is the self. 
It is no coincidence that the 
greatest of modern atheists, 
Nietzsche, was the man who 
saw humility as a vice, not a 
virtue. He described it as the 
revenge of the weak against 
the strong. Nor is it acciden-
tal that one of his last works 
was entitled, “Why I am So 
Clever.
” Shortly after writing 
it, he descended into the mad-
ness that enveloped him for 
the last 11 years of his life.
You do not have to be 
religious to understand the 
importance of humility. In 
2014, the Harvard Business 
Review published the results 
of a survey that showed that 
“The best leaders are humble 
leaders.
” They learn from 
criticism. They are confident 
enough to empower others 
and praise their contributions. 
They take personal risks for 
the sake of the greater good. 
They inspire loyalty and 
strong team spirit. And what 

applies to leaders applies to 
each of us as marriage part-
ners, parents, fellow-workers, 
members of communities and 
friends.
One of the most hum-
ble people I ever met was 
the late Lubavitcher Rebbe, 
Rabbi Menachem Mendel 
Schneerson. There was noth-
ing self-abasing about him. 
He carried himself with quiet 
dignity. He was self-confident 
and had an almost regal bear-
ing. But when you were alone 
with him, he made you feel 
you were the most important 
person in the room. It was an 
extraordinary gift. It was “roy-
alty without a crown.
” It was 
“greatness in plain clothes.
” 
It taught me that humility is 
not thinking you are small. It 
is thinking that other people 
have greatness within them.
Ezra Taft Benson said that 
“pride is concerned with who 
is right; humility is concerned 
with what is right.
” To serve 
God in love, said Maimonides, 
is to do what is truly right 
because it is truly right and 
for no other reason. Love is 
selfless. Forgiveness is self-
less. So is altruism. When we 
place the self at the center of 
our universe, we eventually 
turn everyone and everything 
into a means to our ends. 
That diminishes them, which 
diminishes us. Humility 
means living by the light of 
that-which-is-greater-than-
me. When God is at the center 
of our lives, we open ourselves 
up to the glory of creation and 
the beauty of other people. 
The smaller the self, the wider 
the radius of our world. 

The late Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks 

served as the chief rabbi of the 

United Hebrew Congregations of the 

Commonwealth, 1991-2013. His teach-

ings have been made available to 

all at rabbisacks.org. This essay was 

written in 2016.

Whole-Heartedly
S

cholars suggest the 
problem of assimi-
lation is a modern 
phenomenon and for the Jew, 
freedom was a mixed blessing.
Jews in Russia, for example, 
asked whether they should 
support the czar or 
Napoleon; one rabbi 
responded, “The czar 
may take your body, 
but Napoleon will take 
your soul.” Without 
the external threat of 
antisemitism or the 
artificial barriers of the 
ghetto, Jews had the 
freedom to embrace 
Judaism or abandon it.
This dilemma is not 
so modern.
Moses’ final speech 
demonstrates this. 
Moses tells the people who are 
about to enter Canaan: “You 
shall be tamim, whole-heart-
ed, with the Lord your God” 
(Deuteronomy 18:9-13). But 
what exactly does it mean?
The word first appears in 
the Torah as a description of 
Noah’s moral virtue. It is paral-
lel to the adjective tsadik. Noah 
is described as a “righteous 
man; he was tamim, blameless, 
in his generation” (Genesis 6:9). 
In a world filled with corrup-
tion, Noah was an individual 
of unimpeachable integrity.
The second time is with 
Abraham. As a prelude to the 
commandment to circumcise 
himself, Abraham is told by 
God, “I am El Shaddai. Walk 
in My ways and be etamimi” 
(Genesis 17:1).
The 19th-century commen-
tator Samuel David Luzzato 
understood the word to con-
note obedience and loyalty. 
Abraham is commanded to fol-
low the path and be committed 
to God. He is to be tamim.

With echoes of the morali-
ty of Noah and the loyalty of 
Abraham, we can now under-
stand Moses’ words before his 
death. He says, “When you 
enter the land that the Lord 
your God is giving you, you 
shall not learn to imitate 
the abhorrent practices 
of those nations. Let no 
one be found among you 
who consigns his son or 
daughter to the fire or 
who is an augur, a sooth-
sayer, a diviner, a sorcerer 
… but you, you are to be 
tamim, whole-hearted 
with God” (Deuteronomy 
18:9-13).
Moses urges the people 
not to succumb to the 
temptations of idolatry. 
Like Noah, who defied 
the immoral norms of the 
society around him, and like 
Abraham, who answered to a 
uniquely Divine command, the 
Israelites are urged to retain 
their uniqueness as a people.
To survive as a distinct 
nation, they must be counter 
cultural. For if the Israelites 
only do what their neighbors 
do, say what their neighbors 
say and believe what their 
neighbors believe, they will not 
remain Jewish for long. They 
must be tamim, undivided in 
their loyalty to God and to 
God’s ethical demands.
The same is true today. The 
challenge we face as modern 
Jews is to be tamim, to uphold 
the standards of morality even 
when others do not, to follow 
the path of God even when is 
it is unpopular and to use our 
freedom to contribute a unique 
Jewish voice to society. 

Rabbi Lee Buckman was the head of 

school at the Frankel Jewish Academy. 

This article originally appeared in the 

JN on Aug. 16, 2007.

Rabbi Lee 
Buckman

Parshat 

Shoftim: 

Deuteronomy 

16:18-21:9; 

Isaiah 51:12-

52:12.

