A sence of entitelment Sermon; By Rabbi Denise L. Eger

In this week’s torah portion—Korach, Moses and Aaron’s cousin, challenges them for the leadership of the people. He along with Dathan and Abiram stir up quite a hornet’s nest of protest. They along with 250 other leaders of the tribes gather against God’s chosen leadership to demand a share in leading the people. They feel entitled to be the leaders saying “You have gone too far! For all the community are holy, all of them and Adonai is in their midst. Why do you raise yourselves above God’s congregation?” (Numbers 16:3).

Korach asserts his equality with his cousins. He asserts that Moses and Aaron are no more qualified than they are to be the leaders. He feels entitled to the leadership role of the Israelites. And yet, he has forgotten that Aaron and Moses are qualified to be the leaders because God has chosen them specifically for their task!
Entitlement is not just a Biblical issue. Not only was it prevalent in Korach’s time it is certainly still with us today. Many people operate as if they are entitled to money, or privileges. Some feel that just because of whom they are that the rules just don’t apply to them. Some believe they deserve reward or access to power or can break the rules because after all the rules don’t apply to everyone! Wink Wink…. Some believe they have deserved special treatment because of where they live or how much they earn or even who they know. And we all know people like that!
Just look at the recent situation of Andrew Speaker, the young man who went off to be married in Greece knowing he had a very serious form of Tuberculosis. When the Center for Disease Control contacted him on his honeymoon in Italy and told him to stay put and get to a hospital in Europe—Speaker felt entitled to come home. He felt entitled to disregard the rules and regulation. After all he was an attorney. After all he didn’t “feel sick”. So instead he flew to Canada and came across the border in a car exposing hundreds of people to his contagion. That is nothing short of hubris and yes, my friends, entitlement. He felt entitled to disregard the law and welfare of others to meet his own needs. He didn’t want to be treated in Europe even though he would be exposing others to his dangerous strain of TB. He acted selfishly, childishly.
And our headlines are filled daily with nothing but the Queen of Entitlement these days—Paris Hilton. Her antics speak volumes on her sense of entitlement. She drives with a suspended license and drives again while intoxicated putting others at risk as well as herself. This is entitlement. She snubs the court and feels that rules shouldn’t apply to her. She shouldn’t have to serve her sentence. And of course her sense of entitlement and that of her family was that she shouldn’t have to serve in jail. Then the antics she has pulled during her confinement and the way others have bent to her tantrums are nothing short of sinful. Paris Hilton is selfish. She wants to find a way to make sure that the system doesn’t apply to her. And because of her celebrity others are ready to kowtow to her sense of entitlement.
There are many other examples in our world today of the prevailing sentiment that the rules don’t apply to some. It was the case with Enron executives who could cook the books and believe they had no responsibilities to their shareholders or their employees. Entitlement infects a whole generation of people who believe that they should get something for nothing—they are entitled to free music and free movies downloaded over the internet. Others feel that they are entitled just because they show up.
Many people today don’t want to work their way up from the bottom. They believe that they are entitled to start at the top.
The problem with such selfishness is that it eats away at the core of the soul and the core of society. If everyone is entitled then chaos reigns. Our own country was built not on the sense of entitlement but that with hard work one could transcend the class boundaries that constricted most everyone in Europe! Yet today there is a whole generation that believes they shouldn’t have to sully their hands with such hard work.
Jewish tradition and our mitzvot always try to help humanize us and help us reach for the holy. Our mitzvot try to help us overcome our natural tendencies toward selfishness and self-centeredness and encourage us to have concern for our family and community. Our tradition tries to teach us a healthy balance.
One of my favorite Hasidic teachings says that every person should carry two pieces of paper, one in your right hand pocket and the other in your left. On one of the pieces, you write the verse “I am but dust
and ashes” quoting both Job and Abraham. On the other piece, you write a very different verse “Bishvili nivra haolam” -For my sake the world was created which is from the Gemarah.
There are times indeed when we feel and act as if the whole world was created for our sake—but this must be balanced by the knowledge of our human frailty and most importantly our humility. This is the Jewish guard against a sense of entitlement.
Our tradition teaches us that giving tzedakah regularly helps us to understand our communal responsibilities. This too is an antidote to entitlement. It is a reminder that our money and monetary resources are not ours but given to us by God. Thus we are required to give tzedakah—not only when we are moved to give. Judaism doesn’t have a sense of noblesse oblige –all of us must give and live up to the responsibility to care for our community and one another. And even the poorest person in town must give a percentage in tzedakah. This principle guards against the mindset that one is entitled to communal support.
There are many more examples of how our tradition teaches us to reject a sense of entitlement and move towards a balance of caring for the self while caring for others. When we do so we bring a tikkun a repair to the brokenness of our world and often we bring hope to others.
“Times change but people don’t,” said Granny Weaver as she ate lunch with her neighbor Delia in a downtown café.
“What’s that Granny? “asked Delia.
“See that couple over there? We’re sharing the same waiter except they’re being so demanding that he barely has time for anyone else. Look how they turn their noses up at everything he brings them.”
“Maybe their order isn’t to their liking.”
“Nonsense,” Said Granny Weaver, “I used to wait tables back in my day. They’re just trying to berate him into giving them a free lunch. Somehow they feel entitled to it.”
Just then the manager walked over and stood next to the waiter. The couple seated at the table continues to complain. The manager took a check from the waiter and motioned for him to move on.
“See what I mean?” Granny said.
“Is there anything else I can get you?” the waiter asked with his eyes downcast as he placed the check on the table between Granny and Delia.
Granny Weaver snatched the check before Delia could even look at it and pulled several bills from her purse. She handed everything over to the waiter and said, “Keep the change, dear”.
“But ma’am, that’s---“
Granny grabbed the young man’s hand and squeezed it. She looked him in the eye and said, “I know the kind of afternoon you’re having. And you’ve earned every dime of this. So you go on now and don’t argue with an old lady.”
The waiter blushed as he thanked Granny and walked away.
“Granny, that was awfully generous of you,” said Delia.
“Did you ever notice how a sour encounter can dampen your entire day?” asked Granny. “I just wanted to remind that young man his efforts didn’t go unnoticed. Put a spark of hope back into his afternoon. After all, a dollar is a dollar. But a dose of good feeling is so much more.” (Adapted from the Other 90% Robert K. Cooper Crown Business.)
Granny understood that the entitlement of the couple destroyed more than the profits of the café for the lunch hour—their behavior, their selfishness diminished the spark of holiness and humanity in the waiter. Granny’s kindness and understanding restored in a young man his dignity and hope.
When we refuse to bow down to those who feel entitled we restore a bit of sanity to our world and when we act with humility rather than demanding special privilege (which all of us do at times) we repair the fabric of the holy in the world.
On this Shabbat let us commit together to sharing a renewed commitment to the values of Chesed, loving-kindness and humility—anavah—so that the balance of our world can be restored!

Ken Yehi Ratzon