Equal Opportunity Mitzvot

Recently, Whoopi Goldberg, co-host of a popular chat show, entered the worldwide debate on racism and commented, “The Holocaust isn’t about race — it’s about man’s inhumanity to man.”  

Typically, each co-host tries to outdo the other in the perpetual game of Chicken on how extreme a statement can be made to get views, likes, shares, and ratings without getting fired. The co-host tried to deflect the fact that the Nazis saw us as an inferior race.  
 

When you look at the average salary of people of color and the jobs they do, their financial and social position in western society is inferior.  
 

It touches a nerve.  It also reveals that there is Divine justice for people in “subordinate” positions, such as a female secretary, a male butler, or a black janitor. 

Path of the Just 

The Ramchal warns us: Be careful of your deeds. In this world, you can have servants, while in the Next World you can be a servant. 

We can be rich in this world. We can be influential. We can be white and male, meaning that we can have those things that the world assumes all white males have. We can have female servants. We can have black servants.  

It doesn’t matter.  If we do not live our lives the way Hashem commands, we are in for a surprise.  After 80 or 90 years of them washing our socks, we can spend eternity washing theirs.  Hashem chooses who will occupy what position on the financial and social ladder in this world. We determine whether or not we will use it to serve Him.  

If we choose to serve Him with Torah and mitzvot, constantly trying to improve our deeds, we can move up in the Next World. If not, then in the Next World we become servants of those who did.  

Hashem judges people based on what they do and not what they look like. There is no class system in heaven. You don’t get favors because you have money or know people. Everyone is put here in a world that is filled to the brim with gold and diamonds. Baruch Hashem, we all have plenty of time to fill our sacks with massive amounts of untold wealth – not gold and diamonds, but mitzvot.  
 

This wealth is for everybody. No communist, socialist, or capitalist government has ever made such wealth and opportunity so equally available to everyone regardless of race, sex, or finances as Hashem does by offering each one of us His mitzvot.  

Rabbi Hillel and the Chofetz Chaim had very little financially. Yitro was an African, probably a man of color. Esther was an orphan, the daughter of exiles. They all rose to greatness by choosing mitzvot – none of which were denied them. Their color, sex, or financial situation didn’t stop them.  
 

Seeing the Signs   

We live in a world with a vast sky and a large sun. Every night we can see thousands of stars. In plain view is the greatness of our Creator. He created all of these.  
 

When we perform a single Divine Act, we connect to He Who creates and maintains the sun and trillions of stars and the sky above us.  

Bill Gates created some software in 1985. Jeff Bezos sells stuff online. How many of us would love to do a favor for these super-famous people who could help us in return?  
 

Of the first 11 employees at Microsoft, nine were men, all were millionaires, and none were black. Today, of the nine executive officers, eight are men, one is a woman, and none are black. Of the current seven officers at Amazon, six are men, one is a woman, and none are black. Do you still want to do them a favor if you don’t fit the profile? 

God rules over the 7 billion people on the earth He creates. He creates and owns the $1.4 quadrillion ($1,400 trillion) in assets the world has. He accepts mitzvot from everybody, regardless of race, gender, or color. 
 

How many of us would love to do Him a favor? He gives us 613 chances all the time. The commandments of guarding Shabbat, putting on Tefillin, guarding our sexual purity, and living in the Land of Israel are all equated with performing all the mitzvot.  

If doing something for someone famous who could help you sounds exciting, imagine how it feels to know that we can do something for the King of the Universe!  

Is Race Permanent?  

Are we white forever or black forever?  What happens when we complete our existence in this physical body and return to our eternal home? Do we return in a specific color? Is there flesh in heaven? 

In the World of Truth, is there room to discriminate based on the color of skin, which is no longer relevant? When we move on, we don’t take our money. We don’t take our friends. We don’t take the advantages that our color brought us in this lifetime. 

The spirit is beyond color. Anything we do to advance our spiritual status does not require color.  Before God, you can be white, black, male, female, Democrat, Republican, rich, poor, old, young, educated, illiterate. Everything you do is recorded and reciprocated by the Master of the Universe either in this world or in the Next World.  

In the world of Truth, our place is determined by our actions. Our actions are determined by the choices we make in this world.  A king in this world can be a servant in the Next World. A servant here can be a king in the Next World.  Looking ahead to the Next World, anyone can excel as much as anyone else. 

* * * 

David Ben Horin lives in Afula with his wife and children. Since moving to Israel in 2002, David has discovered Torah, writing hi-tech, hiking, coding ReactJS Apps, and hearing stories about the Land of Israel from anyone excited to tell them. Check him out on Highway 60 or email him your favorite Israel story at:  

david.ben.horin@spreadyourenthusiasm.com.