Rabbi Boteach: "Never fear being hated"

Rabbi Shmuley Boteach gave an inspiring message to his son on the day of his Bar Mitzvah last week. Although the message was geared to his son, it's applicable to virtually all of us on many levels. It's been adapted into a WorldNetDaily column titled "Never fear being hated," and here are some of the money quotes:

What does it mean to be a Jew, Mendy? It is the courage to be different. Benjamin Disraeli, the celebrated British prime minister, expressed that difference in response to an anti-Semitic parliamentarian's derogatory reference to him as a Jew: "Yes, I am a Jew and when the ancestors of the right honorable gentleman were brutal savages in an unknown island, mine were priests in the temple of Solomon."

You now become a man Mendy, and you have a choice as to what kind of man you will be. Small men want to be loved. But big men are prepared to be hated. Small men tailor their actions to suit the multitude. But big men will do the right thing no matter how much it inflames the masses.

Abraham Lincoln was detested by both South and North as he fought for the highly unpopular cause of emancipation. Winston Churchill was loathed in Britain for speaking out against Chamberlain's fictitious peace with Hitler. And Martin Luther King Jr. was cut down by an assassin's bullet as he pointed out the injustices practiced against black Americans. No great man or woman has ever lived who was not prepared to be hated.

Do not the make the mistake on your Bar Mitzvah, Mendy, as you bask in the adoration of family and community, that popularity is virtuous. On the contrary, as you steel yourself to become a man, prepare yourself to practice justice whatever the consequences.

While the rest of the world will strive to be loved, you strive to be holy. Do what's right even it costs you friendship. Do what's virtuous even if it leaves you lonely. Seek to impress not your fellow man, but none but God alone.

How many Jewish students did I meet in my 11 years at Oxford who were afraid to be different, terrified to stand apart. They would arrive at the university with their yarmulkes and quickly take them off. They weren't just abandoning God, they were betraying themselves, displaying weakness and a desire to be part of the pack.

Pretty powerful stuff. It's easy to recognize this weakness in politicians who sell out at the drop of a hat or some sleazy "slip and fall" attorney who would sue his own mother for a 30 per cent contingency fee. The difficult thing is to see where we (me, myself, I...) fall short of doing the right thing out of fear of being disliked or hated (by the wrong crowd). The desire to be loved is a powerful drug and corrupts the best of us. The guy who doesn't fear to be hated has a real shot at greatness.

Be sure to read the entire piece.