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Commentary
by Dr. Gerhard Falk |
Resentment
Against Achievement
We live in
an achieving society. This means that the U.S. and other capitalist countries
exert a great deal of pressure on each of us to attain those goals which in our
culture are deemed important. To that end some individuals are designated role
models whose conduct and attainments we are all encouraged to emulate.
Therefore,
highly successful business men and women are held up as culture heroes among us
and are given the same adulation, status and power which in other cultures are
reserved for those who are achievers according to the cultural requirements of
other societies.
For
example, military prowess is most important in Israeli society, so that all but
one of Israel’s prime ministers has been a military hero. That is even true of
Golda Meir, who risked her life repeatedly for the sake of her country. The one
exception to this rule is Shimon Peres, who was Meir’s secretary. He has no
military record and was therefore defeated every time he ran for that office. He
became prime minister only after the murder of Yitzchak Rabin because he
happened to be foreign minister at that time and therefore succeeded to that
P.M. job until the next election.
Among the
Eastern European Jews who lived in the shtetls (“small towns” and ghettos of
Poland, Russia, the Balkans and the Baltic countries the most important role
models were the most learned men (never women). These talmudic scholars were
called “sheyne leut”, meaning either beautiful people or important people.
The “sheyne leut” studied Talmud all day and were supported by the work of
their wives or their in-laws or both. They occupied a special place on the
eastern wall of the synagogue and were visible by their special clothes and
demeanor. The few wealthy Jews in these communities were also “sheyne leut”,
as is true among us and in the whole world.
Nevertheless,
the possession of wealth has never been the only criterion of social class among
Jews. Consider the admittedly unusual case of Albert Einstein. He was certainly
not known for his money. Yet, even today, so many years after his death, his
picture is recognized at once all over the world, as is that of Thomas Edison,
who was not Jewish but in fact a malicious bigot. Yet, both Einstein and Edison
were men of high social prestige because of their achievements. Evidently,
American values, however money driven, will recognize the achievements of the
exceptional contributor to the welfare of mankind.
Unfortunately,
achievement brings with it the scourge of resentment. Using the example of
Einstein once more, consider that in 1923, ten years before the Nazi
takeover, the Nobel prize winner and physicist Phillip Lenard told the German
physics society in a speech: “Relativity is a Jewish fraud which one could
have suspected from the first with more racial knowledge than was then
disseminated, since its originator Einstein is a Jew.”
Lenard,
surely not an ignoramus, called Einstein’s great theory Rechengetue, which may
be translated as calculation pretenses. He predicted that no German university
would ever teach “Jewish physics” but only “German physics”. He
evidently resented the competition.
Likewise,
Jewish achievers in other areas of science, the arts and humanities have always
had to deal with resentment against achievement. In this country the best
example of this kind of resentment is the denunciation of Henry Kissinger,
erstwhile Secretary of State. His “left wing” critics to this day label him
an “evil conspirator” and use other epithets all taken directly from the
Nazi book and from earlier sources. How dare an immigrant Jew become “rich and
famous”?
Of course,
this sentiment has not only confronted Jews. There are innumerable non-Jews who
have been the target of resentment of their achievements. One example is Philo
Farnsworth, who invented television when he was a 14 year old farm boy only to
have his invention stolen by RCA. (Ask everybody you know who invented
television and see how many people ever even heard the name. Yet everyone knows
the name of Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Edison. Why is that?)
Even among
us Jews there is resentment against achievement by other Jews. This is a
dreadful annoyance and even a dangerous one. Yet, we Jews pray every Shabbat,
“let foolish pride not divide us but let pride in one another unite us.”
The Tenth
Commandment prohibits envy and that for good reason. Envy has destroyed lives,
ruined reputations and led to so much suffering for the Jewish people over the
years. Let us remember that commandment and be happy at all we have achieved
Bimhayro v’yomanoo.
Shalom u’vracha.
Dr. Gerhard Falk is the author of numerous publications,
including Grandparents:
A New Look at the Supporting Generation (with Dr. Ursula A., Falk, 2002),
& Man's
Ascent to Reason (2003).
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