This week I noticed Facebook was prodding me to check out my "year in review." I looked closer and realized Facebook had compiled what they considered my 20 biggest moments of 2013.
So, what were these moments? Well, the "biggest moment" was a picture of President and Michelle Obama dressed as chassidim. Why was this a great moment? Because it received the largest amount of "interaction" - i.e., likes, shares and comments.
Likewise, the other 19 episodes of note were the next most popular posts. Essentially, Facebook was selecting my defining moments based on public reception.
And indeed, as a society we place a lot of emphasis on publicity and popularity. The more publicity, the better! The more I had a good year, the more people are talking about me, the more people like me, and then I have an even better year... and so on and so forth.
Pharaoh was like that, too.
In this week's Torah portion, G-d instructed Moses to, "Come to Pharaoh." It would seem more correct to say "Go to Pharaoh," but the Zohar explains the deeper meaning behind the language.
Moses is not simply being told to walk over and have a visit with Pharaoh. He's being instructed to confront Pharaoh's very essence, the source of evil, and he was afraid. So G-d reassured him, "Come to Pharaoh," let's go together, I'll be with you. Together we'll uncover the evil that is within Pharaoh - the ego.
The ego is the root of evil.
An infant is born with its fists clenched, but when we pass away, our palms are stretched out.
The baby is making its debut into the world. It's determined to conquer and succeed. By the time a person passes on, he or she recognizes that riches and fame don't accompany us to the next world. We have only the good deeds and kindness we've done throughout our lives.
As we grow up, and progress through life, we become more and more aware of our sense of self and our ego, which is often idolized in our culture. We can all use a reminder, every now and then, like in this week's Torah portion, that the ego can lead us violently astray.
Our greatest moments of 2013 were not the public ones; they were the ones nobody knew about or paid much attention to.
Donate to an education foundation, you'll get lots of public credit. Leave work early to study with your child who's really stressed about her math test, and no one will know. But it counts, and counts a lot.
Spend time after hours chasing down the information you need to make a presentation a success, you'll get lots of appreciation, maybe even a bonus. Run to the store minutes before Shabbat to get your wife the last ingredient she needs, no one will know. But you'll be getting credit with G-d, no doubt about it.
In 2014, let's try to create lots of "greatest moments." Not the public kind. The real kind.
Sandy wrote...