“Do not scorn any
person….for you have no person without his hour.” (Avos 4:3) The Rambam
interprets Ben Azzai’s dictum as follows: It is wrong to mistreat anyone who
may be of lowly status because the time will certainly come when such person
will rise to a position enabling him to seek revenge. This mishna does not imply that it would ever be otherwise acceptable to
malign or mistreat another. It simply provides an additional reason to avoid such behavior, namely, that the
perpetrator may well find himself one day at the mercy of his victim.
The Talmud
Yerushalmi relates the following relevant incident: Some Jews were once abusing
a lowly swineherd named Diocletion. Consequently, Diocletion rose to become emperor
of the Roman Empire, and, recalling his previous humiliation, he devised a plan
to exact retribution against the Jews. Accordingly, he formulated severe
decrees and pogroms. The chachamim
thereupon appeased Diocletion, narrowly averting catastrophe. Similarly, the
people of Gilead banished Yiftach only to eventually turn to him for help and
leadership in their hour of need. (Shoftim 11:1-11)
What interests me
most in this mishna is not the
revenge aspect but the concept of a person rising from humble status to a position
of greatness. I have not come across any mishnaic commentary that explains what mechanisms other
than hashgacha pratis may operate. However,
it is instructive to peer into the lives of three contemporary individuals,
each of whom rose from relative obscurity to achieve genuine fame and glory in
times of massive upheaval and war. In so doing, it may be possible to unravel
this mystery.
Tuvia Bielski: 1906-1987
As is generally
well known, Tuvia Bielski, together with several younger brothers of his, led a
band of Jewish partisans who hid in the forests of Belorussia during the Nazi
occupation of World War II. From 1942 until 1944, they endeavored to save as
many Jews as possible from the jaws of death by creating the closest thing to a
safe haven deep in the forests. For the most part, they left direct military
confrontation to the Russian partisan forces, while developing a remarkable
infrastructure for the benefit of all refugee men, women, and children. A school,
hospital, nursery, field kitchens, bakeries, various skilled workshops, a shul
and a mill all existed deep in the forest. In addition, they provided tailoring
and cobbling services for nearby Russian units. Of course, they resorted to
forced requisitioning of food and supplies from local villages, as needed. It
is estimated that Bielski saved the lives of 1,200 Jews.
Contrast this heroic
existence with snippets from the relatively humble life Tuvia led both prior to
and after the war. From 1927 to 1928, he served in the Polish army and achieved
a rank of corporal. After discharge, he rented a mill to add to his family’s
income, but it proved to be inadequate for their needs. After the war, he moved
to New York and ran a small trucking business for 30 years. He died nearly penniless
in 1987.
Oskar Schindler: 1908-1974
A Czech
industrialist, Schindler joined the Nazi party in 1936 and was soon recruited
to serve as a spy for their military intelligence services (Abwehr). He arrived
in Krakow in October, 1939 on government business, but, ever the opportunist,
he shortly struck out on his own. By the end of 1939, he had acquired a local
enamelware factory then held in receivership, renaming it Deutsche
Emailwarenfabrik (DEF). As portrayed in Steven Spielberg’s landmark film, Schindler’s List, Schindler, who chose
to employ mostly Jews, gradually morphed from a highly successful,
profit-motivated entrepreneur to a dedicated savior of Jews. He personally
witnessed the destruction of the Krakow ghetto early in 1943 and was
traumatized. At that point, he resolved to do everything in his power to
protect his Jewish workers plus any additional Jews he could bring into his
factory. It is mind-boggling to even contemplate what courage and tenacity this
man had to hone in dealing directly with his fellow Nazis to achieve this goal.
Schindler, over time, used the vast wealth he accumulated to finance bribery;
black market purchases of supplies; additional construction costs of a co-op,
dining facilities, an outpatient clinic; plus several moves, all for the
benefit of “his” Jews.
By October, 1944,
in the face of advancing Russian troops, Schindler arranged and paid dearly for
the wholesale transfer of his entire Jewish workforce to the relative safety of
Brunnlitz, located in the Sudetenland. There, he established a munitions
factory but adamantly refused to produce artillery shells of any use. Instead,
and at great risk, he resorted, once more, to black market purchases – of finished
product – to fulfill production quotas. By war’s end, his vast wealth was
virtually exhausted. Like Bielski, Schindler saved an estimated 1,200 Jews.
Any study of this
man’s life in the pre- and post-war periods, in contrast with the above, leaves
one absolutely bewildered and stunned. From approximately 1928 to 1938, he held
a series of decent but unremarkable jobs. As an agent of the Abwehr, he was
arrested by Czech authorities, in 1938, on espionage charges and briefly
imprisoned. By this time in his life, he was already beset by drinking problems
and chronic debt.
Schindler’s post-war
life was similarly pockmarked with epic failure after failure:
·
From 1945 to 1949, the Schindlers
got by on monetary assistance provided by Jewish organizations. In 1948, he
submitted a reimbursement claim for his wartime expenditures totaling
$1,056,000 to the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee. He received
only $15,000.
·
From 1949 to 1958, the couple lived
in Argentina, where they operated a chicken and nutria farm. The venture went
bankrupt in 1958, whereupon Oskar left his wife and returned to Germany.
·
Between 1958 and 1963, he engaged
in a succession of unsuccessful enterprises, including a cement factory. He
declared bankruptcy in 1963 and was stricken with a heart attack in 1964.
·
For the remaining 10 years of his
life, he subsisted on donations from Schindlerjuden, the Jews he had saved, the
world over.
Abraham Lincoln: 1809-1865
Our 16th
president, Abraham Lincoln, is unquestionably one of our greatest presidents.
He[E1] led the nation in
its highest moment of peril, the American Civil War. Throughout the bloody
conflict, Lincoln conducted the war, emancipated the slaves, and, in the end,
preserved the Union, each a remarkable feat. Unlike Bielski and Schindler, most
of Lincoln’s prior life and political rise was marked with success. However,
his career was so punctuated with setbacks that it is instructive to recount
them here:
·
In 1832, Lincoln purchased a 50%
interest in a general store in New Salem, Illinois. The business soon
floundered, and he subsequently sold his share.
·
He was then appointed to township
postmaster, where he compiled the worst efficiency record in the county.
·
Entering politics, Lincoln ran for
the Illinois general assembly. He lost.
·
In 1843, honest Abe ran for a seat
in the U.S. House of Representatives. He lost the Whig party nomination. However,
he subsequently won the nomination and the election in 1846.
·
While working on a committee in the
War Department, Lincoln cosponsored a bill to conditionally abolish slavery in
Washington, DC. The bill failed to garner any support within his own Whig party
and did not advance.
·
He opposed President Polk’s
Mexican-American War policies, but several resolutions he proposed were ignored
in Congress.
·
In 1849, under President Zachary
Taylor, he lobbied to be appointed commissioner of the General Land office. When
his efforts failed, Lincoln quit politics and resumed his law practice.
·
In 1854, Lincoln ran for U.S.
Senate and lost.
·
At the 1856 new Republican party convention,
Lincoln received some notable support to run as vice-president. However, he
lost out in his bid to William Dayton.
·
In the 1858 U.S. Senate election,
Lincoln and Stephen Douglas held a series of famous debates over the
institution of slavery. Though the Lincoln candidates won the popular vote, the
Democrats won more legislative seats, and the incumbent Douglas won
re-election.
Abraham
Lincoln unfortunately never returned to obscurity because, assassinated in
office, he didn’t live to experience a post-presidency.
How on earth could
such relatively mediocre men achieve meteoric success, however fleeting? Truth
be told, I still don’t know, leaving the mishna
in Avos an enigma. However, I strongly believe there exists a common thread
that enables an average or weak person to soar out of the clutches of his or her
“limitations.” That element is known as a sense of “self-worth.” In the
parlance of mental health specialists, there is a clear distinction between
self-worth and the more common term, “self-esteem.” As important as self-esteem
may be, it is predicated on achieving some success and sustaining it. The
moment one fails in some endeavor, that sense of self-esteem is punctured or
nullified. On the other hand, self-worth involves a positive estimation of one’s
core or essence, not one’s actions. Hence,
although I may have faltered, the error reflects something I did, not who I am. Everyone makes mistakes in life. In order to learn from them
and move on, it is crucial to hold fast to an ever-present sense of self-worth.
This, I believe, is a prerequisite for the phenomenon of catapulting an
ordinary person (including the aforementioned gentlemen) to extraordinary heights.
[E1]I
added this because you never actually say that he achieved greatness.
