The early Hasidic Master Rabbi Simcha Bunim of Przysucha said that every person should move through the world carrying two slips of paper, one in each pocket. On one slip of paper should be written: “The world was created for me.” On the other: “I am but dust and ashes.”
Although this teaching is often shared — perhaps too often, it bears thinking about this week for two reasons. First, the origin of the dust and ashes line appears in this week’s Torah reading, Genesis 18:27. Second, although the teaching is often shared, it is often shared in ways that leave out what is perhaps the most important thing to know: when to take out which slip to be reminded of its insight regarding who we are. That, too, can be understood from this week’s reading.
Abraham declares to God, “I am but dust and ashes,” and then begins to challenge God and God’s definition of justice prior to the destruction of Sodom. In fact, one could understand Abraham’s claim to be that if God were to kill the innocent with the guilty, God would no longer be God at all! Pretty strong for a guy who says he is but dust and ashes. And that is the point — both regarding Abraham and regarding how we can all know when to read from which slip of paper.
Prior to mouthing off to God, Abraham feels that he is nothing. That is perfect. He feels his limitations, but they do not paralyze him. If anything, they create the context of humility, which allows him to transcend them. It is precisely at his moment of grandeur – when Abraham must relate to God as if the world was made for him and that Abraham’s understanding of justice is superior to God’s – that he must also appreciate his own nothingness. The latter awareness is the correction which assures the ethical deployment of the former.
Conversely, it is precisely when we feel we are nothing — when we are feeling powerless, unable to meet the challenges we face, depressed about the reality in which we find ourselves – that we must reach into the pocket that reminds us that, ultimately, the world is ours and was created for us. Trusting in that reality reminds us of the eternal truth that all of us have more within us — more agency and ownership — than we often allow ourselves to believe. Trusting that truth points us to new possibilities.
Abraham was the “nothing” who corrected God. He would also be the one for whom the world was created, and who was prepared to reduce his love for Issac to nothing as a subject of that same God. We may not often find ourselves in either of those positions, but we are all Abraham in our own way.
Each slip of paper is ours. Since we all experience both highs and lows, each is always there for us — sometimes even at the same time. We are each one person, and we each have two pockets. It’s not about which is the right pocket or the better pocket. It’s about allowing each paper to shape the possible excesses of living fully into the other. And when we do that, as for Abraham, most anything becomes possible.
Listed for many years in Newsweek as one of America’s “50 Most Influential Rabbis” and recognized as one of our nation’s leading “Preachers and Teachers,” by Beliefnet.com, Rabbi Brad Hirschfield serves as the President of Clal–The National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership, a training institute, think tank, and resource center nurturing religious and intellectual pluralism within the Jewish community, and the wider world, preparing people to meet the biggest challenges we face in our increasingly polarized world.
An ordained Orthodox rabbi who studied for his PhD and taught at The Jewish Theological Seminary, he has also taught the University of Pennsylvania, where he directs an ongoing seminar, and American Jewish University. Rabbi Brad regularly teaches and consults for the US Army and United States Department of Defense, religious organizations — Jewish and Christian — including United Seminary (Methodist), Yeshivat Chovevei Torah (Modern Orthodox) Luther Seminary (Lutheran), and The Jewish Theological Seminary (Conservative) — civic organizations including No Labels, Odyssey Impact, and The Aspen Institute, numerous Jewish Federations, and a variety of communal and family foundations.
Hirschfield is the author and editor of numerous books, including You Don’t Have To Be Wrong For Me To Be Right: Finding Faith Without Fanaticism, writes a column for Religion News Service, and appears regularly on TV and radio in outlets ranging from The Washington Post to Fox News Channel. He is also the founder of the Stand and See Fellowship, which brings hundreds of Christian religious leaders to Israel, preparing them to address the increasing polarization around Middle East issues — and really all currently polarizing issues at home and abroad — with six words, “It’s more complicated than we know.”