Shammai, the wise teacher of old, antagonist of Hillel said, "Be sure to greet every person with a joyful face." Avot 1:16 Why? Why bother putting on a happy face for people? Two reasons. The first is that they deserve as much cheer as you do. What we want when we go to the bank is not have a sour, unforgiving person snarling at us. Or a person madly leaning on their horn from behind at the intersection. We want a world where people treat us with dignity, equanimity. Others want what we want. Even more, they deserve what we deserve. Another part of this equation is that we are God’s flock. We are a covenanted people bound to God first through the ancient Patriarchs of the Torah and then again at Mt. Sinai. That means we have a special relationship to our Master and must therefore represent Him in a way that befits our connection. When we "act out" we betray the trust in that relationship. The world will always know us as "Jews" and that is why we have ...
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