Reply To: A question about being self- centered

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RSRH
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If this is something that bothers you, you may benefit by reading the works of R. Samson Raphael Hirsch. In his view, our whole purpose – the reason why God singled out the Jewish people, and the reason why we were given the Torah – is so that we will ebenfit others and the whole world through our conduct. Just as God is maleh chessed, so too, we must be maleh chessed; just as God used his creative power to bring create human beings so that they might benefit from acting properly in this world, so too, we must use our abilities to benefit the world around us. This is what is meant by Hashem’s bracha to Avraham that his children will be a bracha – we are tasked with being a positive force for the world around us; to act not for ourselves, but for others.

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– R. Samson Raphael Hirsch, Horeb: A Philosophy of Jewish Laws and Observances 247-48 (Dayan Dr. Isidore Grunfeld, transl., ed., 1968).