Silent Heroes

Me and my big mouth. Once again, I got myself into another pointless debate/argument with a person who didn’t want to be convinced of any other reality but the one she knew. Even though my husband interjected many times with statements like, “Racheli, you’re wasting your breath,” I just couldn’t stop! Once that Iraqi blood gets heated up, it’s like a train going at full speed- you just can’t stop it all at once! What was the point of our pointless conversation? She was trying to show me how being religious takes all of my power away, and I was trying to show her that if anything, I am more empowered than ever!
 
It got me thinking…whom do we look to in western society as the powerful ones? Let’s look at one of my friend’s examples of female empowerment- Oprah. Yes, I agree she has a great show, and she gives out spectacular gifts to her audience. She also does have a nice magazine (though I never read it, but the cover looks nice).  And, she seems to have several charitable organizations, like a school for girls in Africa.  I would be confident to say that many women consider her a positive female role model. She came from nothing and beat the odds to build herself quite the successful empire.
 
How about Bill Gates or Warren Buffet? They are admired for their tremendous wealth and charitable donations as well. Let’s look at another, more questionable kind of role model- the sports hero or the rock star. So they make an obscene amount of money. Is this a valid reason for us to admire them? Because someone can make an impressive three point shot, or do some fancy moves on the football field? Are they heroes for doing so?
 
My question is: Why does society look up to these people? What have they done that has been of such tremendous benefit to the world? Have you, dear reader, benefited from your favorite actor’s moving performance? Has he improved your life in such a vast way that he deserves to be looked up to? Have you gone home after a movie and suddenly your marriage turned around? If anything, I think it could do the opposite! After watching completely unrealistic romantic scenes with impossibly beautiful actors like Angelina Jolie, how many men are running home to their wives with total love and admiration for them?
 
Back to my point. Again, we suffer from the backwards messages of our society. We are forced to go to school, study hard, try to get into a good college, but all the while we are shown through the media that if you want to make it big, school is not the way to go. So forget about school, move to Hollywood, wait in endless lines for casting or modeling tryouts, then get your self esteem crushed as they tell you everything that’s wrong with the way you look. Then, head over to the nearest bar to drown out your sorrows, and follow it with a revamped lifestyle of bulimia/anorexia. Or, if you want to be a famous sports hero, forget about getting into advanced classes in high school, and settle for the lowest level math so you can spend hours and hours on the football field, deluding yourself into thinking that you’re that one-in-a-million Tom Brady. What happens when you’re not picked in the draft? You’ve managed to get through college with a C- average, taking classes that will do nothing for your future, and then what? Where are you left?
 
Who are the real heroes? They are the mothers, the fathers, the teachers, the people trying to make a positive change in the world. The real heroes are nurturing the next generation, doing their best to mold them into caring, ethical, sharing human beings. If you’re a mother trying to shelter your children from the garbage that threatens to engulf them, be proud of yourself – you’re a hero. It’s not easy to cook, clean, do dishes, do laundry, do homework, carpool, go food shopping, iron, get up at night to take care of the baby, and if you work, wow- you’re a Superhero! To all the fathers out there who strive to make an honest living, be an example of upstanding character as a man, a husband, and a father, Mazal Tov! You can call yourself Superman!
 
So we have our local superheroes, but we also have international superheroes! Just like The Justice League, these superheroes travel the world, trying to save as many lives as they can. Of course, you know some of those heroes I am talking about- Rav Arush, Rabbi Brody, and their entire team that works day and night to support a life-changing cause. The best part is that anyone and everyone is invited to be a part of their team. By handing out one CD, such as Saving Lives, you, too, can play an instrumental part in changing a person’s life. You can literally rescue them from death, G-d forbid! And, by changing that person’s life, you have reset the course of his life and the lives of literally everyone around him. His family will be positively affected, the children will grow up with a more positive consciousness, their adulthood will be vastly improved, and on and on.
 
Through one simple act of sharing a book or CD, we cannot imagine the far-reaching effects we have put into action. Like throwing a rock into a lake, the concentric circles keep expanding until we cannot see them anymore. The Talmud states that for a transgression, we receive a finite punishment. But, for a mitzvah, we receive an eternal reward.
 
Now, more than ever, we all need to take initiative and reach out to those around us. There is no “I am okay, my family is okay. Everything around me is great, so I don’t need to worry about those people I don’t know.” WRONG. We are all judged as one unit. A perfectly kosher man could go to Heaven and be asked why he ate pork. Shocked, he would vehemently deny such an accusation. However, if he didn’t do anything to help his fellow man lead a Torah lifestyle, then he is just as guilty. Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan explains this concept beautifully in his book, “Reaching Out”.
 
As a proud member of Emuna Outreach, I invite you to join in our mission to save lives. I can personally say that my life was saved after being introduced to Rav Arush’s books and Rav Brody’s books and cd’s. Even if you only buy a few cd’s, just know that those cd’s will change the lives of those who listen to them. Whatever you do to help those around you will help tilt the scales of good and evil in the world. Every positive action has tremendous weight these days. Don’t miss another moment to positively influence others! Through our efforts together, may we all merit to see the coming of Mashiach, the end of pain and suffering, and the rebuilding of our Holy Temple, Amen!