A quintessentially Jewish idea— that it can be a high honor to be a loser
When Rabbi Motty Berger of Aish HaTorah spoke about Akeidas Yitzchak, he would describe a conversation between a father and son about the meaning of life. The son would ask his dad whether there was anything in life worth dying for. “If not,” asked the son, “why did you bring me into this world… to die?”
His point was that since death is inevitable, when a parent gives life to his child, he is essentially bringing him into this world knowing that somewhere down the line that child will be wrenched from it. Why would a parent subject his beloved child to that – unless there are things in this world that are precious enough to make it worthwhile to eventually experience death.
What makes life truly worth living is that there are things in life for which we are willing to give up life itself, rather than part with those things.
Rabbi Berger’s story came to mind when I read an excerpt from the speech that the longtime Illinois congressman Henry Hyde, a conservative Republican, would give to each year’s GOP freshmen. He’d tell them:
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