humanity of all people. Altruists are
more accepting of people different
from themselves. The values they
prize most – justice, equality, and
respect – are applied to all people,
not just to people in their group
or those with whom they have
previous ties.
This worldview becomes a yard-stick
that determines moral choic-es.
Humanistic values become so
ingrained that personal risk does
not prevent altruists from doing
what they believe to be the right
thing. This moral code is most often
learned from caretakers, particular-ly
parental figures.
Dr. Daniel Bateson, a social
psychologist, wrote an important
book, Altruism in Humans, based
on many years of extensive theo-ry-
testing laboratory experiments.
His research demonstrated that
empathic concern for others in
need is the most important moti-vator
for altruistic behavior, and
that empathy-induced altruism is
far more pervasive and widespread
than has been recognized.
Similar conclusions were reached
by Dr. Abigail Marsh, professor
of psychology and neuroscience,
who studied living kidney donors
– people who donated a kidney to
a complete stranger. Donating an
organ during one’s life is a most
stringent manifestation of altruism:
a voluntary act, which entails a sig-nificant
personal cost, intended to
benefit a stranger. What motivates
such behavior? Not surprisingly,
Dr. Marsh found that extraordinary
altruists are highly compassionate,
and that their commitment to help-ing
extends to complete strangers.
Similar observations have been
made by researchers who stud-ied
rescuers of Jews during the
Holocaust. Most German citizens
during the Nazi era were bystanders.
They neither helped the extermina-tion
program, nor tried to hinder it.
Bystanders tend to see themselves
as people who are weak on agency,
believing they have limited control
over life’s circumstances. In terms
of group identity, they see them-selves
as members of an exclusive
group, and feel close ties to their
own self-defined group but no
regard for those who fall outside
their group. However, a small group
of Germans and other non-Jews
risked their own lives and those of
their families to rescue Jews who
were often strangers. What made
them take such great risks without
any expectation of reward?
Years ago, I met Dr. Eva
Fogelman, a NYC psychologist who
founded and directed The Jewish
Foundation of Christian Rescuers.
Her book, Conscience and
Courage: Rescuers of Jews During
the Holocaust, was nominated for
the Pulitzer Prize. She found that
rescuers represented a wide range
of people who were very different
from one another. They were of
different nationalities, different
social classes, different political
affiliations, different occupations,
and different genders. Some were
very religious, some were atheists,
and some non-practicing Christians.
But there was one similarity:
They all had similar humanistic
values. The core characteristics
they shared were caring, courage,
independence of mind, resilience,
and respect for differences between
people. Humanistic values, accord-ing
to Fogelman, were instilled in
them during childhood. In her
words:
“Learned altruistic behavior, see-ing
all people as equal, gave the
rescuers the ability to transcend
the propaganda against the Jews
and to see them as human beings
just like themselves. They took
the responsibility to help because
they knew that unless they did
something that person would die.”
Dr. Samuel Oliner, a sociology
professor, founded and directed
The Altruistic Personality and
Prosocial Behavior Institute. He
co-authored a book with his wife,
Dr. Pearl Oliner, The Altruistic
Personality, Rescuers of Jews in
Nazi Europe. The Oliners and their
team interviewed more than 400
rescuers honored by Yad Vashem in
Israel – the center dedicated to the
memory of the Holocaust. They too
tried to analyze the motivations of
rescuers of Jews in Nazi-occupied
Europe.
Like other researchers, they
found that typical to rescuers was
empathy for the common humanity
of all people. Rescuers were more
accepting and respectful of people
different from themselves. They also
believed they had some power to
influence events occurring around
them and were not completely at
the mercy of fate.
The Oliners, like Fogelman,
found that parental influence was
a major factor. Kindness, toler-ance,
and independent thinking
were practiced by caretakers and
developed in altruists. These values
became a yardstick that determined
altruists’ behavior.
On a roots trip to Poland with my
family, we visited the site of Oskar
Schindler’s factory near Krakow.
The rescue mission of Oskar
Schindler, a German who saved
around 1200 Jews, is a good exam-ple
of heroic altruism. In one of the
last scenes of the film, Schindler’s
List, as Schindler prepares to flee
from the allies, the Schindlerjuden
give him a gold ring, engraved with
the following quotation from the
Talmud: “Whoever saves one life
saves the world entire.”
Schindler gave hundreds of Jews
the ultimate gift – the gift of life. We
see time and again how one person
can make a difference. In one way
or another, each one of us can make
some difference. Give what we can.
Share what we have.
Meip Geis, the secretary of Anne
Frank’s father, Otto Frank, was one
of the Dutch citizens who hid Anne
Frank, her family, and four other
Dutch Jews from the Nazis. She
risked her life to smuggle food and
supplies to their secret apartment
for over two years, tried (unsuccess-fully)
to bribe the German police to
free the group when it was captured,
rescued Anne’s diary, and invited
Otto Frank, the sole survivor of the
eight hidden people, to live with her
family after the war. Despite being
awarded numerous medals, includ-ing
the Yad Vashem Righteous
Among the Nations medal, Meip
resisted the title of hero:
“I don’t want to be called a hero,
because no one should ever think
you have to be a special person
to help others,” she claimed. And
elsewhere:
“Even an ordinary secretary, or
a housewife, or a teenager can –
within their own small ways – turn
on a small light in dark rooms.”
There are always people in dark
rooms. Fortunately, each of us can
find ways to turn on lights that
can illuminate other people’s dark
corners.
The Hebrew term, “Tikkun Olam”
– meaning repairing or mending
the world, is a good summary of
what altruism is all about. Tikkun
Olam does not necessarily entail big
actions. It entails a humanitarian
commitment to working toward a
more just society, working toward
the alleviation of the suffering of
people in need – regardless of their
religion, ethnicity, or nationality. As
the Roman philosopher Seneca
said:
“Wherever there is a human
being, there is an opportunity for
a kindness.”
Altruism is actually a significant
concept in essentially all of the
familiar world religions – a central
goal and a moral imperative. One
of my first mentors, philosopher
Martin Buber, introduced me to his
“I –Thou” paradigm, which convinc-ingly
asserts that human existence
is fundamentally relational rather
than individualistic. The research I
did years ago for my doctoral disser-tation
about different types of “love”
convinced me to view altruism as
a form of love.
As Erich Fromm, another human-istic
philosopher and social psy-chologist
who had a significant
impact on my thinking, said in his
wonderful book, The Art of Loving:
“What does one person give
to another? He gives of himself,
of the most precious he has, he
gives of his life... He gives him
that which is alive in him; he gives
him of his joy, of his interest, of his
understanding, of his knowledge,
of his humor, of his sadness – of
all expressions and manifestations
of that which is alive in him... He
does not give in order to receive;
giving is in itself exquisite joy.”
For society to function, we must
find ways to help and support each
other. And helping
others can become an import-ant
source of meaning. American
poet, Emily Dickinson, summarizes
the powerful impact of perform-ing
small acts of kindness in a
brief poem:
If I can stop one heart from
breaking,
I shall not live in vain;
If I can ease one life the aching,
Or cool one pain,
Or help one fainting robin
Unto his nest again,
I shall not live in vain.
Opportunities to reach out and
help others always exist and are
worth capturing. We can each
choose our own ways of mak-ing
a difference, try what Emily
Dickinson poetically describes as
stopping one heart from breaking,
or easing one life the aching, or
cooling one pain. Our own small
ways can help make a world that
often feels harsh and unkind, a bit
more welcoming.
* Dr. Nurit Israeli was the invit-ed
speaker at the North Shore
Towers Upstanders Club’s First
Anniversary celebration. This
article is based on her talk.
October 2021 ¢ NORTH SHORE TOWERS COURIER 25