Yitro: The Reflectors

How involved are Jews in society? Check out these statistics:
 
Percentages of Jews in the following industries –
Film Writers: 48%
Film Directors: 43%
Textile producers: 39%
In one major city:
Doctors: 42%
Lawyers: 48%
 
One final statistic: out of 38 national Nobel Prize winning writers and scientists, 14 were Jewish.
 
We probably don't find these numbers too surprising. The involvement of Jews in society is well documented. What might be a shock is that these facts are not from the USA today but are the percentages of Jewish participation in Germany during the 1930s. And the city is Berlin. And the Jewish population of Germany at that time was approximately 1%.
 
We know too well how these statistics were used and misused by the Third Reich. However, the focus of this article is not how the Nazis twisted these facts and directed their anti-Jewish propaganda until they created a Holocaust. The question I would like to focus on is why is it that the Jews are so disproportionate in their involvement in all aspects of society, both in 1930 Germany and in 2014 America?
 
When Hashem told Moses to lead the Jewish people out of Egypt, Moses continually refused until Hashem gave him an ultimatum, so to speak. Moses’ refusal is a little puzzling. Why did Moses put up such a fight? Shouldn’t he have grabbed the opportunity to help redeem the Jews from Egyptian bondage?
 
The commentators explain that Moses had a major concern which was the underlying cause for his initial noncompliance. He understood that actions taken by most people are usually tainted with personal interests and biases, and Moses felt himself far from pure in his personal motivation. This lacking caused him concern that these self-interests would make the Exodus less than perfect. His imperfections would translate into a less than perfect redemption. And this lacking would ultimately mean that the Jews would only be redeemed for a limited period of time. However, Moses reasoned that if the redemption was done directly by Hashem or some other leader who was greater than himself, the redemption would be eternal.
 
Interestingly, the humility that Moses exhibited was the very factor why Hashem chose him. Since Moses was only concerned about being a conduit for Hashem’s message to the world and wanted no personal credit, he became the messenger through which Hashem both redeemed us and gave us the Torah. In short, through his self-negation Moses became the ultimate reflector of Hashem’s light and holiness in this world.
 
Similarly, at the giving of the Torah the Jewish people accepted upon themselves to be a “Kingdom of priests and a Holy nation”. Their life mission became to reflect the Divine light in this world. Just like Moses, we became mirrors of Hashem’s light in this world. But here’s the catch. On a certain level, the Jewish people have no reality of their own. They are like the moon reflecting the Divine light represented by the sun (which is a primary reason the Jews are compared to the moon). When we reflect Hashem’s light we are truly a “Holy nation” mirroring His radiance in this world. But if we are not mirroring His light, we are going to reflect some other source of energy. Whether it is Hollywood, Wall Street, or Capitol Hill, the Jews are going to imitate the activities around us. And we will often do it better than the nations we find ourselves living with since we are “good mirrors”, we reflect whatever special qualities we sense around us.
 
Whether in Germany in the 1930s or in the USA in 2014, we are powerful conductors and reflectors of light. We mirror whatever is exciting and innovative in the world around us. Ultimately there is no greater, more beautiful light than that of Hashem Himself and our main purpose is to help bring that luminance in the world. Of course, we can reflect the good in society but our main purpose and function as His people is to reflect the Creator’s light for all of mankind.
 
May we merit using our ability to mirror the all of the good and blessing of Hashem’s presence in this world and may the world be filled with His illumination and radiance very soon.
 
 
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Rabbi Dovid Charlop is on the teaching staff of the Neve Tzion Yeshiva in Telzstone, Israel.