Nothing to Be Ashamed Of
I met a Jew who walked around bare-headed. I turned to him and asked, “Are you Jewish?”
He was affronted by my question and replied, “Certainly I am Jewish. I am a full-fledged believing Jew. Why does the Rav ask such a question?”
In response, I asked him to accompany me to the central bus station in Lyon. There I placed a kippah on his head. I told him, “Now I will show you a real Jew. Follow me.” The man followed me, his curiosity piqued. We walked together in the building of the bus terminal. From all sides, people stared, even pointing at him. Some shook their heads in amazement, while others did not hesitate to mock him to his face.
“What is the Rav doing to me?” he cried. “Everyone is looking at me in ridicule, scoffing at me for the strange way I look.”
- At an evening of inspiration in France. On the right, the Torah giants: The Admor of Gur, shlita, and HaGaon Rabbi Aharon Leib Steinman, shlita
Calm as a cucumber, I asked him, “Why didn’t they laugh at you yesterday? Why are they making fun of you only now?”
I answered my own question. “Yesterday, you milled about bare-headed, like the rest of them, people of foreign nations. They didn’t discern that you are different. But today, they discovered that you tricked them. They thought you were a gentile, and now they discovered that you are a Jew, an essentially different person. They are upset by your charade up until now.
“You must know that a sincere Jew behaves like a Jew when he is at home and when he is outside. If you feel a sense of belonging to the Jewish nation, you must be so proud of it that it shouts out of its own accord, among all of the gentiles in your environs. There is no point in trying to look like them in order to ingratiate yourself into their good graces. They only regard that as a camouflage to hide who you really are. You are deceiving them, but mostly, you are deceiving yourself.”
A similar incident played itself out when a man accosted me on the street with a greeting, “Shalom, Rabbi!” I took one look at him and continued on my way. The man was shocked at my cold shoulder and chased me, calling out, “Why are you Rabbis so impolite?”
“What did I do that you should say such a thing?” I demanded.
The man explained, “I turned to you, and said in lashon hakodesh, ‘Shalom, Rabbi,’ but you completely ignored me.”
“It’s true that you spoke to me in lashon hakodesh, but that is not proof of your nationality. Many gentiles nowadays say those words in order to mock the Jews. I assumed you were one of them, and that is why I didn’t respond.”
The man was visibly hurt. “But I am not a gentile. I am a Jew, just like you!”
“And why should I believe you? Because of your language? I already told you that many gentiles can say these words. But had you been sporting a kippah and behaving like a Jew, I would have realized you are Jewish and responded in kind.”
“The Rav should forgive me, but I am ashamed to go around with a kippah on my head,” he whispered.
“A true Jew is not ashamed of his Jewishness. He does not masquerade as a gentile outside his home. On the contrary; a genuine Jew is proud to serve in the army of Hashem. He stands staunchly in his Jewish dress, the uniform of the Torah Jew.”
I hope and pray that my words made their mark and this man will merit changing his attitude toward Judaism. This will effect an external change as well, and cause a kiddush Hashem.
