Who are we?

Ahaz began the discussion today with a question.

Ahaz: Rabbi, we have had very interesting discussions in the past weeks on why we live and how we live. But still this one question stays unanswered within my mind: Who are we?

Rabbi: Thank you, Ahaz, for this important question. We need to have a clear understanding of who we are before we go any further. Let us try to clarify your question before we attempt an answer. When we ask who we are, we are not talking about the identity of our race or culture or community. We are talking about the whole of the human race. We may rephrase your question as “What is a human being?” or “What is mankind?” In order to answer this question, we need to identify a human being and distinguish one from something that is not a human being.

 Asking what or who about something, we are actually seeking its meaning or definition. We need some elementary understanding of how we define something. If I ask you what a puppy is, you will tell me that a puppy is a young dog. You use two words to define a puppy: young and dog. I am familiar with a dog. So you help me understand what a puppy is by relating it to something I am already familiar with. But all dogs are not puppies. Only some dogs with the characteristic of being young are puppies. So, to define something, we use a familiar term, such as dog, and a limiting term, such as young.

What if I don’t know what a dog is, and ask you “What is a dog?” Then you will have to define it with a term of wider scope and a limiting term, such as “A dog is a carnivorous animal”. Then I may ask “What is an animal?” If I keep on asking such questions, you will have to keep on widening the scope of the term you use. But this is not a never-ending process. Soon you will reach the widest scope, beyond which you cannot go any further.

Now let us come to our question, “What is a human being?” You may begin answering “A human being is an animal”. Next question: What is an animal? You answer: An animal is a living being. Next question: What is a being? Well, it looks like we have already reached the widest scope.

We have another door to go further. Instead of asking “what,” we may ask “What is it made of?” Thus we may ask, “What are all the beings made of?” This leads to the question of “What are the basic materials out of which all beings have formed?” Wise people in various lands believe that fire, air, earth and water are the basic materials out of which everything else have formed.

Our forefathers asked the question of what a human being is made of, and they concluded that a human being (Adam) is formed from earth (Adamah). We read the story of how God created the first human being by breathing life into earth. Thus our forefathers defined human being as living earth.

But we are not the only beings made of earth. All living beings on the earth are also made of earth. So how do we distinguish the human beings from the other living beings on the earth? In the hymn of creation we see how God created all the living beings in a certain order. The plants were created on the third day. The fish and birds were created on the fifth day, and the animals on the land were created on the sixth day. Finally as the crown of creation, human beings were created. Thus we see the order of creation from simple to complex. Our forefathers thus saw human beings as the most complex living beings on the earth.

Our forefathers also answered another important question: What is the role of mankind in relation to the other living beings? Let me explain what I mean by this. If someone asks you, “Who is Esther?” you may answer, “Esther is a young woman”. You may also answer “Esther is the daughter of Jonathan.” In this second answer, you see Esther as a part of a family, and try to say how she is related to the others in the family.  In the hymn of creation, the world is compared to a farm, and God to a farmer. What is the role of human beings in this system? A human being is a part of the farm along with all the animals and plants. But unlike all the other animals and plants, human being is a representative of God. The human being, as the visible form of the invisible God, takes care of the farm on behalf of God. Mankind serves as a mediator between God and the world.

Let us say, we ask this question “What is a human being?” to this tree which is giving us shade now. If the tree can talk, it will say that a human being is its God. If we ask the same question to God, what will be God’s answer? God might say that a human being is a form of earth taking care of everything else on the earth on behalf of God.

Ahaz: Please allow me to summarize what I have learned today. The question “Who are we” may mean “what we are made of” or “how we are related to the other beings”. For the first question, our forefathers believed that we are made of earth. For the second, they believed that we are mediators between God and the world, and we are responsible to take care of the world on behalf of God.

Rabbi: Thank you, Ahaz. That is what our forefathers believed. But we have the freedom and the responsibility to continue their exploration, and develop better insights. We should not and need not be satisfied with their answers. Following their example and lead, we need to come up with better answers.

It was a very enlightening discussion. 

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