Fame Isn't Everything

לע"נ ר' יואל בן ר' פינחס הלוי

When I was a kid, I once saw Truck Robinson on West End Avenue. I was in awe. TRUCK ROBINSON!! I approached him and excitedly asked for his autograph [which he gave]. You are probably wondering if "Truck Robinson" was an oversized automobile or a person. 

He was actually both. 

He was a power forward for the New York Knicks in the 80's. [I like to say that only two things stopped me for playing for the Knicks. 1] I refused to play on Shabbos or Yom Tov. 2] I wasn't good enough. But otherwise - I would have been a star!:-).] 

Anyway, we all need to admire people. It is a staple of human nature. There are numerous Orthodox people in the public eye who people look to as role models who had reached the pinnacle of success while remaining frum. WOW!! Rich, powerful, famous and frum!! The apex, the zenith, the YU Torah U'madda dream. 

Let me name some names - in the Trump administration we have David Freidman, Jason Greenblatt and of course Jared Kushner. Probably just about everybody reading this either knows these people personally or knows a thousand people who know them [as do I].    

These people are not my heroes. Not even close. It COULD BE that they are all tzadikim gmurim, paragons of righteousness and goodness. People of the highest ethical standards. Jews whose fear of Hashem and humility [עקב ענוה יראת השם] is their defining characteristic. MAYBE. Maybe not. In don't know them personally. But until I know otherwise I will assume that they are regular people with positive qualities and negative qualities - no different than me. 

We have to remember that the ideal people are those who are fluent in all of Torah. People who live every second li-shem shomayim. People who are constantly working to improve their middos. People who daven with dveykus. People whose entire lives are dedicated to bringing the Moshiach through their mitzvos and maasim tovim. People who are unfailingly generous with their time and money. Or at least people who actively strive to do so. 

If the aforementioned people are in those categories, then great. But since we don't know that they are - then while respecting and loving them as we do every Jew, our main reverence should be reserved for the true tzadikim. People are in awe of them because they are in the news every day and because from CNN to the NY Times, everybody is talking about them. 

But being famous is NOT A JEWISH VALUE. Nor is being well connected. Or powerful. Or even having the President of the USA as your shver. [A shver shver by all accounts].   

If there is a dentist in Long Island who davens 3 times a day and never misses his daily shiur and chavrusa then he might well be more worthy of our respect than famous people. Or an investment banker who shleps himself out of bed at 5:30 am to learn when he was up late doing his hatzala shift. 

And we love Yael Kushner as a Jewess and giyores and don't judge her but the average housewife in Teaneck who covers her hair and is the mikva lady 3 days a week, and finishes all of tehillim weekly is worthy of no less respect - maybe more.    

Or take Dennis Prager [whom we spoke about in a recent post]. He has good qualities but he is basically an OTD adult. He grew up in a religious home and is now a מחלל שבת בפרהסיא [by his own public admission]. I am not judging him. I will leave that to Hashem. But it disgusts me to see the way religious Jews fawn over him. Go to the YU Beis RIGHT NOW and every kid sitting there learning there is worthy of more respect as a G-d fearing Torah learning and observant Jew than Prager deserves. Having a radio show with millions of listeners is not a Jewish value. He promotes old fashioned Jewish values with great conviction  - all the power to him. Hashem will reward him. But we mustn't get carried away.  

Or take Ben Shapiro, another conservative thinker and speaker who has a huge following. He even wears his kippah unabashedly. I love that especially considering how many Orthodox people take it off in public [I even wrote him an email giving him a yashar koach]. He keeps Shabbos, kosher and is committed to a religious lifestyle. He is also remarkably eloquent, convincing, knowledgable, brilliant and frankly - quite a good looking guy to boot. He could one day be President. 

But he is not necessarily representative of Torah values. He is also not necessarily a talmid chacham [nor does he claim to be] or a tzadik. So of course he deserves respect for all of the good he does but does not warrant the "idol" status he has attained. Again - any avreich who sits all day and learns Torah מתוך הדחק - with great sacrifice, who life is dedicated to ruchniyus, who takes no interest in sports or pop-culture etc. etc. is on a much higher pedestal than any famous personality who does not. 

איש לפי מהללו-  Man is judged based on who he praises. Is it going to be Truck Robinson or the Chofetz Chaim? Joseph Leiberman [almost VP of the USA] or Rav Tzvi Meir Zilberberg?  Miss Israel [who keeps kosher] or Rebbetzin Kniyevsky?      

Let us not get carried away in our obeisance [whatever that means] to famous people. And let us give due respect to people who really earned it. First we have to define our core values and then strive to emulate those who embody them.

Sound good??

Bi-ahava rabba:-)!