Who in history can we consider the best of humans?
For me, they are "The Righteous Among The Nations," the men and women who worked to save and protect Jews during the Holocaust. These people are great, not because of the fame, wealth or position they held during their lives, but simply for who they are. One of them was Leopold Socha, a Polish sewage inspector in the city of Lwów. During the Holocaust, he used his knowledge of the city's sewage system to shelter a group of Jews from German Nazis and their supporters of different nationalities. See link:
http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/
Those designated as "The Righteous Among The Nations" are GREAT for a myriad of reasons, all of which exemplify the most sacred of principles, the most cherished of human character traits. They:
For me, they are "The Righteous Among The Nations," the men and women who worked to save and protect Jews during the Holocaust. These people are great, not because of the fame, wealth or position they held during their lives, but simply for who they are. One of them was Leopold Socha, a Polish sewage inspector in the city of Lwów. During the Holocaust, he used his knowledge of the city's sewage system to shelter a group of Jews from German Nazis and their supporters of different nationalities. See link:
http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/
Those designated as "The Righteous Among The Nations" are GREAT for a myriad of reasons, all of which exemplify the most sacred of principles, the most cherished of human character traits. They:
- Rose above tribalism, be it based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, sexual orientation or any other social status.
- Displayed the essence of morality: altruism, unselfishness, a willingness to pay a personal cost, risking families, livelihoods, even their own lives, to benefit others.
- Walked the walk of the ethic of pluralism, respect for other ethnicities and religions, understanding toward minorities and appreciation of cultural diversity, meaning that no leader or party has a monopoly on the truth nor should be able to impose their views on the rest of society.
- Chose the moral high ground, refused to interpret scripture according to their own biases and prejudices or succumb to the separatism that divides the world into "us" and "them."
- Rejected a concept of survival through confrontation, conflict and violence.
- Believed in the principles of a universal morality, an astounding stand that allowed them to overcome the seemingly intractable problem of cooperation among different groups, a central problem of our social existence.
- Ultimately exhibited none of the loathed human characteristics, such as hatred, greed, cowardice, superiority complex, blaming others for our shortcomings, blind jealousy and the likes. Interestingly enough, we despise others for displaying these characteristics, but never see them when we look in the mirror!
- Were thus unique, the apex of honor and nobility; they, and their ilk, are the BEST humankind has to offer.
Please see below link for the names, numbers and other information of The Righteous Among the Nations - per Country & Ethnic Origin, as of January 1, 2014. It is important to note that the numbers of Righteous, standing today at a total of 25,271, are not necessarily an indication of the actual number of rescuers in each country, but merely the cases that were made available to Yad Vashem. Optimism and faith in all humankind reminds me to note that those countries with small numbers of designated Righteous may not have had the opportunity to ally themselves with this important group.
Hussein
