Reputation

Fregt nit rofe, nor dem khoyle, goes a popular Yiddishism.  It means, “Don’t ask the doctor ask his parents.” So what if the sign says, “”professional"? What matters is who stands behind the sign.

A person’s reputation stands as the paramount description of them. “A good name is better than most precious of oils,” remarked king Solomon. A well-deserved name outlasts a person’s life. Why else are there some who more life in death than some who work in our midst? The good name they created by the mitzvot they have done transcends life.

There is a great illustration of this in the Torah. Eve’s sin was not in listening to the serpent in the garden, it was convincing her mate to eat the forbidden fruit. In doing so Eve destroying the great trust man and woman held for each other. Once violated, a good name is difficult to restore. “What does he think of me now Eve might have wondered.

There are others who hunger for accolades: they run after the press. “Vaulting ambition which o’erleaps itself,” wrote Shakespeare of the damage caused by self-aggrandizement. Hillel put it well, “a name made great is a name destroyed."  People who seek a good reputation for its own sake find it about as easy as grabbing onto a fistful of jello. Reputations are achieved through deeds, not desire.