Human Dignity

We walked into the auditorium on Friday morning to a talk on Kevod Habriyot (Human Dignity). Like with all the other talks, I had no idea what to expect. Would it strike a chord? Would I relate? And the answer ended up being 1,000 times, YES.

Adrienne explained that in Judaism there should be no fake advertising – your insides should match your outsides. This doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t take care of our appearance. It means that we should work on our insides just as much as we work on our outsides.

This brought me back to the first night when she said that you can’t feel your soul unless you use it. We can work out, get cosmetic enhancements, try on 10 different outfits each morning, and pile on the makeup, but if we don’t work on our insides, and on our souls, we will never be truly beautiful.

After Shabbat dinner, our group met for reflection time. We opened up to each other about what we were hoping for from this trip and how we felt so far. Slowly, slowly women started opening up. We were vulnerable with each other in a way that I don’t think I have ever been with my best friends or even family. There was so much admiration, compassion, understanding, and love in that room.

Less than a week ago many of us were strangers. Our faces and a little bit of our stories from our pre-trip meetings were familiar, yet we didn’t even know many of each other’s names. In this short time, we have grown comfortable enough to share our vulnerabilities and support one another in such an uplifting way.

We’ve been exercising our soul and it shows.