Many Limbs, One Body

I was recently searching for a particular quote that I thought I remembered in the name of Abraham Lincoln. I did not find what I was looking for. But along the way, I discovered this precious gem: “I really don’t like that fellow. I must get to know him better.”

From President Lincoln I take away two things. First, not everyone is immediately likeable. With many people, it takes genuine effort to discover their good points. One must keep looking and getting to know them better. Second, the effort is worthwhile. The more we find to admire about those we meet, the happier we will be.

The higher our estimation of our fellow human beings the more Hashem’s world feels like a good place to us, and the greater our sense of His beneficence. The more we recognize the tzelem Elokim in others, the easier it is to become aware of it in ourselves. And nothing is more uplifting than knowing that we are in possession of a Divine soul.

Abraham Lincoln was not Jewish, and he was not speaking out of any sense of religious obligation. He was offering advice for a fulfilled and happier life, rather than a jaundiced, crabbed existence spent finding faults in others.