Friday, May 31, 2019

Why Weren't You?

By Kwame Anthony Appiah, in May 5, 2019 issue of The New York Times Magazine:

The 18th-century Hasidic rabbi Zusha is supposed to have said that when he died and appeared before the heavenly court, they could ask him, "Why were you not as great as Abraham?" and he wouldn't be afraid; after all, he wasn't given Abraham's intellectual gifts. They could ask him, "Why weren't you Moses?" and he wouldn't be afraid; he didn't have Moses' skills as a leader. The question that frightened him was this: "Why weren't you Zusha?"

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