How does the movie Aladdin shed light on a Jewish text written by Rabbi Mordechai Kaplan? Well, they’re both thinking about how people handle power.
First, our students reflected on the way Jafar (the villan) sought out limitless power in the movie. We reflected on him being too greedy and forgetting that he is responsible to people other than himself.
What do you think would have happened if Jafar got all the power he wanted?
- He would have made a great big mess of everything and eventually weakened himself.
- He would forget that there are people and forces more powerful than him.
- He wouldn’t know what to do with all the power he had, and he needed to have a plan in mind of what to do with all the power.
- Unchecked power like Jafar’s comes from greed. People want more and more and more and more power, endlessly, regardless of what that actually gets them.
Then we jumped into one of the most challenging texts we have studied together this year, written by Rabbi Mordechai Kaplan.
All unchecked power, all unending cruelty [for generations], that uses people as game pieces does not only hurt the recipients of the cruelty. They also decrease the recipients’ tzelem Elohim (divine likeness) by denying their endless potential to live lives that are meaningful and holy.
We discussed the text one piece at a time and then put it all back together. First, we looked at the ways that individuals, our government, and our courts each serve as checks on power. Then we also talked through each of the bolded questions below.
What does it mean to use people as game pieces?
- Mess around with them
- Treat them harshly
- Not caring about their thoughts or feelings
- Pushing them around
- Only interact with them to get what you want
How can someone’s tzelem Elohim decrease? What does that mean?
- Ruin their reputation
- Not let them be responsible for their own lives
- Not let people do the things they love to do
Cycle:
- Unchecked power + Unending cruelty
- Means that we use people like game pieces
- Diminishes tzelem Elohim
- No lives that are meaningful and holy
What could we do instead?
- We could replace this cycle of generational cruelty with generational kindness.
- Increase tzedek by teaching it to your children. (We then connected this to the line of Shema that instructs us to teach our children about the commandments.)
Better Cycles
- Checked power + unending kindness
- Treat people fairly and like human beings
- Increases tzelem Elohim
- Fulfilled potential
OR
- Checked power + tzedek
- Treat everyone equally
- Increases tzelem Elohim
- Holy and meaningful lives
We closed our conversation by brainstorming, “Right now, I am responsible for participating in the kindness cycle by…”
- Calling out cruelty when I see it
- Step out of the cycle—make a kinder choice, even if someone is cruel to me
- Treat people the way I want to be treated
Wow! We can’t wait to see what they’ll teach us next. That was incredible.