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Parshat Vayechi
1998
To quote Alan Dershowitz " . . . The word chutzpah has both a positive and negative connotation. To the perpetrator of chutzpah, it means boldness, assertiveness, a willingness to demand what is due, to defy tradition, to challenge authority, to raise eyebrows. To the victim, it means unmitigated gall, nerve, uppityness, arrogance, hypocritical demanding."
In va'yechi, this week's Torah portion, I feel that Jacob recognizes both the positive and negative qualities of chutzpah, of passion, of anger. Before he dies, Jacob speaks to each of his sons with a message appropriate to their deeds and personalities. To Simeon and Levi, he declares: Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce and their wrath for it was cruel. I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel.
Rashi comments: Even when reproving them, Jacob curses their anger, not them. Ramban points out that Jacob HAD to curse the use of their anger for two reasons. Firstly, because they put the name of G-d in Jeopardy as the people may have thought Simeon and Levi's actions were commanded by G-d and secondly, because Simeon and Levi used deceit when dealing the Chamor and Shechem after they raped Dinah.
However, as Nechama Leibowitz points out, Jacob does not deal with the motive of their anger on account of the way their sister, Dinah, was treated. Therefore, it appears that the Torah does not outrightly condemn the display of extreme zeal. On the contrary, if Jacob truly believed that the quality of zealousness was so dangerous, then he would not have scattered and dispersed those who display it throughout the nation.
On the other hand, as stated in Akedat Yitzchak, Jacob utters a truth which Aristotle has publicized in his Ethics. That is, "anger and temper,though undesirable qualities may sometimes prove useful in arousing the heroic in man." Or, in other words, anger in extremes is detrimental, but in moderation can be useful. Jacob wanted the qualities of anger and passion to be dispersed among all the tribes of Israel - as a little spread everywhere would prove useful, but if concentrated in one place would be dangerous.
As Hillel professionals, we must posess some of the passion and zeal that Simeon and Levi had, we must fight against Dershowitz's claim that American Jews don't have enough chutzpah, that we "are not pushy or assertive enough for our own good." Daily, we keep alive in us the anger and passion we feel against anti-Jewish and anti-Israel sentiments on campus, against our students assimilating and interdating. We constantly are taking these passions and creating positive programming from them.
Our students, too, are full of passion. Sometimes, though, they do not know how to apropriately channel their energies. We, as professionals, empower our students and teach them to use their passions in a positive way - to create programs, committees, and groups that address their specific concerns.
Dershowitz sees the goodness of chutzpah. Jacob saw the goodness of spreading around zealousness and passion. Hirsh states "The Holy One, blessed be he, did his people a kindness by scattering the tribes of Simeon and Levi among the rest of the House of Israel so that all members could share some of that badly-needed courage and zeal and Jewish pride." We, too, keep up our courage, zeal and Jewish prode, while at the same time empower our students to do the same and together with Hillel as the foundation, we can keep alive Jewish life on campuses, as we too, are spread out across the nations.
Prepared by Debbie Rubenstein, Director, University of Connecticut Hillel
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