Candle in the Dark: A Call for Humility
By Dr. Yasmeen Abu Fraiha
Smol Emuni Conference
March 30, 2025
So first, I must acknowledge that it is very bizarre for me to be a part of this panel. What does a Muslim Bedouin Palestinian woman have to say about an inner-Jewish debate? When I was asked to come and speak in a conference for observant Jews on halakhic issues and the question of the tension between עם סגולה and בצלם אלוקים, I was quite stunned. How can I contribute? And even more, why do you need me here?
But my problem is that I don’t know how to say no, and I jump on every opportunity that I have to speak out and advocate against the devastating war in Gaza. And then I thought to myself: “Aha! You think you were chosen too!”
Well, yes. I do believe that we are all chosen by God. It starts from the very first sperm that wins the race to the egg, and continues with every day that we wake up alive. We are chosen to live and do good.
But what does it mean “to be chosen”? Does it mean that I’m better than everyone else? Does it mean that I have nothing to learn and nothing to be taught? Does it mean that I am always right, no matter what I do? Does it mean that I can never make mistakes? Does it mean that I cannot possibly cause harm?
And what exactly am I chosen to do?
Thinking a lot about this question made me realize that I know this tension more closely than I’ll ever want to admit -- obviously not from a Jewish perspective, but from a physician’s perspective. You see, we also think that we were touched by God, and we have the ability to decide who lives and who dies. This is a powerful motivational force, and without humility it becomes dangerous. Yes, the physician community does have a superpower, but with great power comes great responsibility, and every single physician has to make that choice – are you chosen because you are better, or to do better? Are you chosen to be above everyone else, or to lift others when you climb? This is basically the difference between Josef Mengele and Janusz Korczak – two physicians in the second World War – one chose to murder and torture in the name of some greater good, and one chose to die with his students when he could have saved himself.
And we don’t have to go too far back in history. In 1972, a 40-year long experiment called The Tuskegee Syphilis Study was terminated after decades in which doctors prevented Black patients from receiving a simple shot of penicillin to treat the disease. They wanted to learn about the natural progress of the disease. They were scientists, and they knew better. In Israel, doctors gave Ethiopian women sterilization shots to limit their birth rate. They thought they knew what was best for them.
What all of these doctors have in common is that they took an oath. They took an oath to treat everyone equally, to never cause harm, to seek justice, and stay humble. But their perception of “chosenness” was stronger.
Because the perception of “chosenness” is a slippery slope. Once you believe you are chosen, you deduce that you know better than others, that you ARE better. And the distance from that thought to actually causing harm, especially if it is for some perceived greater good, is very short.
In Israel, the Jewish “chosenness” perception became its ugliest expression – Jewish supremacy. Jewish supremacy in Israel causes Israeli Jews to believe that they can do no harm – so everything is allowed: killing more than 50,000 people in Gaza, more than 15,000 of whom are children, displacing millions, destroying hospitals, preventing entry of humanitarian aid, arresting and torturing thousands of civilians. Just two weeks ago, on March 18th at 2am, the Israeli army bombed Nasser Hospital in Gaza and killed more than 300 kids, women and injured patients. All in the name of a greater good, in the name of the Jewish people and Jewish safety.
And this did not start in October of 2023. Jewish supremacy has been part of our daily lives in Israel for decades – in the segregated civil systems, in the differences in citizenship and residency statuses, in the apartheid laws. If you are Palestinian, you are worth less, your life is worth less. It’s an Orwellian democracy: “all are equal, but some are equal more than others”.
Again, all is done in the name of the safety of the Jewish people. In your name!
Really? This is the “exemplary society” –חברת המופת – that is built in your name? This is what you were chosen to do? What about בצלם אלוקים? What about the belief that we are all equal, that we are all chosen by God?
I’ll end with words from my former teacher, Prof. Paul Farmer (may he rest in peace), who said: “The idea that some lives matter less is the root of all that is wrong with the world.”
We have to go back to the basic concept of humility – to remember that each and every one of us is a candle in the dark, and we must fight for equality and freedom. God created us all equal and free, and we must keep it that way.
