Who Can Compare... to Us?

 Irena Sendler - a righteous gentile (Reuters)

‘Mi K’Amcha Yisroel?’  The Gemarah tells us these are the words written on God’s Teffilin (as it were). It loosely translates to ‘Who can be likened unto the Jewish people?!  That phrase is often used when a Jew - especially an observant Jew - makes a Kiddush HaShem. I recall one specific case where an Orthodox Jew found about $30,000 in cash hidden in the drawer of a desk he bought from someone. He went back to the seller, told him what he found and returned all the money to him. I heard a lot of people say ‘Mi K’Amcha Yisroel?!’ about that event.

I have always had difficulty when that phrase is used in this way. I ask myself, ‘Is there no gentile that would have done that’? Are we the only ones that would consider doing the right thing when the alternative would be keeping the money with no one the wiser?

For me the answer is obvious. While it might be true that a lot of people would have kept the money - I think it is pretty safe to say that keeping it would be just as likely for many Jews – even observant Jews. We do not have a monopoly on doing the right thing. And we ought not be patting ourselves on the back as being special for that. And yet that phrase is used so often it is as though we do have a monopoly on it.  

I mention this in light of a column by Jonathan Rosenblum in the latest issue of Mishpacha Magazine. He begins by telling us of a response made by multi billionaire Warren Buffet about how to evaluate one’s life: 

(Buffet) recalled the remark of a longtime friend of his, a Holocaust survivor, that every time she meets someone, she asks, “Would that person have hidden us?” Buffett noted that he knows people whom even their own children would not hide.

Buffett’s conclusion was that the quality of one’s life can be determined by how many people would risk their lives to save you from certain death. 

Jonathan then goes on to tell us his own story in this regard. First he quite rightly distinguishes what he did from what the righteous gentiles did during the Holocaust. They risked not only their own lives, they risked the lives of their entire family by hiding Jews. They knew full well that if they were caught they could be executed by their Nazi occupiers. Making those people even more remarkable is that many of them did not think they were doing anything extraordinary. In many cases not even telling anyone what they did long after the war. 

What makes that even more remarkable is that there were a lot more righteous gentiles who hid Jews at the risk of their own lives than we thought. Which we are only now finding out about 75 years after they did it. Often by accident for lack of their ever telling anyone.

Jonathan then tells us about taking into his home a Jewish family - refugees from the Ukraine. And then describes all the myriad kindnesses provided by the religious Jewish community in which he lives. Not only for this family but for any refugee Ukrainian family. 

Granted this is an example of the extent the Jewish people will extend themselves for a fellow Jew. But I have to ask again, are there no gentiles that would do the same thing? There too the answer is obvious. There have been many gentiles doing the same thing in Poland - taking Ukrainian refugee families into homes for as long as they need to be there. 

So again, while a lot of credit is to be given people that are willing to make those kinds of sacrifices, we do not have a monopoly on sacrifice and human kindness. The genuine pride Jonathan felt about what the Jewish community is doing is justified. But that does not mean we are the only ones doing it. 

Here is the real question. What if the family was not Jewish? Would he have done the same thing? Would his Jewish community provide the same help to Christian refugees as they do for Jewish refugees? I would hope so. But I’m not so sure.

But here is an even bigger question. How many Jews would risk their lives to save a non Jewish family from certain death? How many of us would have hidden a non Jewish family knowing they and their own entire family would be killed for doing so if caught?

This is the question I think we should ask ourselves when we say ‘Mi K’Amcha Yisroel?’ And compare  it to what the righteous gentiles did during the Holocaust. How many of us would have risked our lives and the lives of our families to save a Christian family if the tables were turned?