How much are you worth? Well, it really depends how you define worth! A great number of people have spent a great deal of human and financial resources calculating the composition of, prior to the decomposition of, the worth, or the worthlessness of, the human body.
The U.S. Bureau of Chemistry and Soils invested many a hard-earned tax dollar in calculating the chemical and mineral composition of the human body, which breaks down as follows: 65% Oxygen, 18% Carbon, 10% Hydrogen, 3% Nitrogen, 1.5% Calcium, 1% Phosphorous, 0.35% Potassium etc! The market value of these chemicals [depending on inflation] amounts to around a fiver!
Another study conducted by professor Ashenfelter in order to object to the raising of the speed limit by 10 kilometres per hour worked out that we are statistically worth $1.54 million. He claimed that by raising the speed limit “45 million hours were saved while 360 lives were lost, which averages about 125,000 hours per life. By taking this number and multiplying it by the average wage, the researchers calculated the value of a human life”.
Life Insurance companies have a different way of working out how valuable you are. They work out how much money you earn a year, what are your assets, how many people financially depend on you etc.
Unfortunately I think that the life insurance companies are the most accurate! You will find that most people define themselves as their job. The position they hold is who they intrinsically are. The values of life are just not what define you, rather the external things you do.
There is a particularly beautiful explanation tucked away in this week’s Parshah which addresses this very point. This week we read how all the Princes from each tribe came to bring their offerings. Being a prince of an entire tribe did not mean they were some aristocratic pompous prince, they were in this position where they represented a whole tribe because of their greatness. The word for prince – Nasi – comes from the same root as the word ‘to lift up’. They were elevated people of the highest order.
If we look at the way the Torah writes the names of each prince we will notice an anomaly. The introductory words for each prince’s offering always reads by first telling he was the prince of the tribe followed by his name. For example: “on the fourth day the prince of the children of Reuven – Elitzur the son of Shedai’ur”.
There is one exception to this rule, “On the second day Netanel the son of Tzo’ar – the prince of the tribe of Yissachar” – first his name then his position.
The true level of the prince of Yissachar was totally irrelevant to the position he held. He was intrinsically valuable not on account of the great position he held, but true self worth totally independent of any position.
The Hebrew name of a person is really a title which describes the essence of a person. When this precedes his job title, this means the true person is the main thing, the position he holds is just secondary, not vice versa. In English we put titles first – but the ultimate praise is to have your name first! Don’t think Dr Hibbert, Dayan Moshe, Rabbi Chazan! Rather – Hibbert Dr, Moshe Dayan, Chazan Rabbi!
We spend most of our day at our job but this is not who we are. A dentist does not want written on his gravestone, “He filled many molars. He drilled with great precision. He was an expect root specialist”. Neither does he want his tombstone to be a huge tooth! Behind the job that describes what we do are the ideals and morals that describe who we are. Behind the hours spent at work are the hours we invest in our family, friends and community.
Good Shabbos
Yaakov