Perhaps nowhere has this been truer than in contemporary society. Countless magazines and other print media outlets, as well as television programs and Internet sites, are devoted exclusively to such areas as wealth and entertainment, to the tune of billions of dollars annually. The wealthier and more “successful” one is, the greater the popularity he enjoys; all others are left to stand back and admire.
Judaism, however, has always considered very different characteristics in determining greatness – specifically, Torah scholarship and nobility of character.
Consider that according to the Talmud (Horiyos 13a), while a kohen (priest) is accorded precedence over a Levite, a Levite over an Israelite, and an Israelite over a mamzer (the product of incestuous relations or adultery), this order of rank is valid only when all of these were equal in other respects. If a mamzer is a scholar and the kohen gadol (high priest) an ignorant person, the learned mamzer actually takes precedence over the ignorant kohen gadol.
Based purely on ancestry, the kohen ranked highest among the Jewish social groups, due to the special service he performed in the Holy Temple. However, the true determinant of Jewish rank was Torah scholarship, which elevated even the mamzer, as well as the convert (who lacked any Jewish ancestry) above all others.
So clear was the Jews’ emphasis on scholarship and piety that even Josephus Flavius, himself no supporter of the sages, could, in his Antiquities of the Jews only speak of them (“Pharisees”) with begrudging admiration: “Now, for the Pharisees, they live simply….They follow the conduct of reason….The cities give great praise to them on account of their entire virtuous conduct, both in their actions and their teachings.”
The basis for this wide distinction between societal values boils down to one simple question. Do we see this world as an end unto itself or as a means to a nobler, more spiritual end? For observant Jews, the choice has always been the latter.
This material world is characterized by our sages as merely an antechamber to the World to Come. To the religious Jew, the things of this world possess no true value – not ancestry, not notoriety, not military or political might, not even wealth. All of these are temporal and not deserving of one’s true focus. In fact, Jews have always valued their Torah to such a degree that it was the sages, not the rulers or nobility, who truly held sway over the people.
The world in which we live bombards us continuously with a foreign value system, one that places primacy on fleeting, external criteria rather than the eternal spirituality of God’s Torah. Our goal must be to combat that message through continued spiritual aspirations and growth. The Jew must overcome the world of make-believe for the World of Truth.