Editor's note: At the Spring 2012 Sinai Scholars Graduation ceremony, Sivan Markowitz shared her thoughts on this special course. The following is a transcript of her speech.
Good evening Sinai Scholar graduates. It is my honor and privilege to be here speaking to you tonight. This graduation tonight is to celebrate you, and your accomplishment. Each and every one of you has dedicated your time, effort, and every Monday night for almost the whole semester in order to be able to learn more about Judaism. You all decided that Judaism is important to you, and you devoted valuable time in order to understand what it really means to be Jewish.
In the brief time that I have had the chance to know you, I can honestly say that I have never met a group of such inspiring people. When I was presented with the opportunity to join the Sinai Scholars Class of Spring 2012, I gladly joined, thinking that I’ll have a chance to review concepts that had become rusty since I was first a Sinai Scholar (which was exactly a year ago), and possibly discover new ideas that I had missed the first time around. I could not have realized how much more was in store for me. I not only had the chance to learn and grow more in my Judaism, but also in being able to meet such amazing individuals.
In preparing for tonight, I came across and interesting insight that I’d like to share with you. In the Tanya, which is a collection of Jewish teachings written by the founder of Chabad Chassidism, Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi, there is a quote in the second chapter, taken from the book of Job, which describes the soul as “a part of G‑d above”, and immediately after it, Rabbi Schneur Zalman adds the following word: “mamash”. Now, for those of you that may know a little Hebrew, you know that “mamash” most commonly translates into “literally”. In modifying this quote, Rabbi Zalman changed the meaning from the initial interpretation that existed, which just implied the existence of similarities between the soul and its Creator, to a meaning that truly emphasizing the idea quite literally: every soul is mamash, an actual part of G‑d Himself. This reshaping of the meaning of how each soul is truly a part of G‑d came with two main repercussions.
The first is that the identity of the soul in relation to G‑d does not depend on accomplishments or failures, that all souls are a part of G‑d Himself, and as He is indivisible, so are the investments of Himself in His chosen creations, us.
Second, came the harder part. With the realization that each Jewish soul is an undiminished part of G‑d, comes the responsibility. Gone is the resignation to mediocrity, in its stead we have opportunity and accountability. We cannot resign ourselves to giving challenges a mediocre “best shot,” when we now know that we have so much potential within.
In becoming a Sinai Scholar, every single person here has risen up, and made the effort to live up to the G‑dly essence inside us. You’ve each begun, or for some, continued, on the path of taking initiative and responsibility towards becoming the best Jew you can possibly be. We each are able to accomplish this important mission by learning more, by doing mitzvos, by seeing that Judaism is not just something that we learn about conceptually, but it’s in every part of our lives- and we have the ability to reveal the G‑dliness, and using our G‑dly essence, reach the divine, here on Earth.
And so, to you all I wish a MAZEL TOV, and many congratulations on beginning your journey towards living a more meaningful Jewish life- and I wish you all great success and fulfillment through your learning, through achieving your goals, and through actualizing your inner potential to elevate and reveal the G‑dliness in your lives. Thank you.