We can learn about what it means to be charitable and make the world a better one through the values of tzedakah and tikkun olam – but then it is up to us to take the texts that teach us such values and bring them to life through being charitable and just, doing what we can to transform our surroundings for the good.
There are many Jewish values rooted in the Torah (including tzedakah) that have had a tremendous impact on the world. And it is rather difficult to choose only one that has had and continues to have a deep impact. Each of us might have our own Torah “bumper sticker,” which is the phrase or text that we feel has had the greatest impact on the world. I have one of those bumper sticker messages that I hold onto and think about all the time. The text is found in the first book of the Torah, the Book of Genesis (Sefer Bereisheet). In the first chapter, a human being is created B’tzelem Elohim, which some translate as “in God’s image.” I like to translate this text to read “fashioned with a godly image.” The idea that each human being is endowed with godliness is so meaningful, so crucial and so important in defining the way that individuals are to treat one another. The concept that each of us has a piece of God within provides tremendous power and direction as to how we are to treat one another, no matter what religion, culture or ethnicity we stem from.
When we look at others and at ourselves in a godly way, we bring sanctity and humility to our world in a very special way. The Torah teaches us “from the beginning” that each person is divine, that each individual is unique, that each soul is precious. The Torah’s phrase “B’tzelem Elohim – fashioned in a Godly way,” has had and continues to have tremendous potential on having an eternal and divine impact on us and on others.
If we enable this message to have such an impact, then all of the other texts that we treasure and value will fall into place and have their own and equal impact on the world too!
Rabbi Micah Caplan is the spiritual leader of Congregation Or Chadash, a Conservative synagogue in Scottsdale.
