Please use this link to subscribe to our YouTube Channel. By subscribing and watching the video, you are helping support the InnerSelf.com website. Thank you.
In This Article
- The life lessons learned growing up in a home for at-risk youth
- How “They are just like you” shaped a lifelong worldview
- Jewish teachings from Rabbi Akiva and Hillel the Elder
- The dangers of discrimination, racism, and indifference
- Why compassion, empathy, and action can’t wait for tomorrow
They Are Just Like You: A Lesson in Humanity from a Retired Israeli General
by Elyezer Shkedy, author of the book: Who The F*ck Is Michael?!
I grew up in “Givat Hod” in Ramatayim, an institution in Israel for children at risk. My father ran the place along with the adjacent school, and our family lived on the premises.
The children came from different parts of the country, and they had considerable behavioral and educational gaps. Dad saw educational work as his life’s mission and went about it with all his heart and soul.
Living in Two Separate Worlds
Essentially, I lived in two worlds:
The first was the school in Ramatayim, where many of the kids came from well-established families from the surrounding area. It was the world of the morning hours.
The second world was at Givat Hod, where I spent the afternoons with the children in the institution, who came from a completely different environment. We played soccer, marbles, and spud, and we also “went at it.”
After those “battles,” the games we played during breaks at the school in Ramatayim were easy and simple, truly a piece of cake...
My classmates from the school in Ramatayim, who came in the afternoon to play with me at the institution, were rather frightened by the encounter with children who came from a world different than their own. But I lived and felt at home in both worlds.
Important Life Messages
It was mainly thanks to my mother and father, who put in my head from a very young age some simple but important messages:
“They’re just like you.”
“Be their friend.”
“Just be a human being.”
And really, the children from both worlds were my friends and I felt that they were just like me: those who had the good fortune to have parents, support, hugs and affection; and those with much less luck, who had come to the institution from a challenging background. I even stayed in touch with one of them over the years.
I believe that this worldview of my parents, and the unique way in which I spent my childhood, has influenced me throughout my adult life. This period shaped the way I look at the world and see the other, wherever I am.
A human being is a human being is a human being.
These principles are a cornerstone of the Jewish conception of morality.
In the book of Leviticus, the verse “Love your fellow as yourself” appears.
The great sage Rabbi Akiva, who lived almost two thousand years ago, said, “This is a great precept in the Torah.”
To me, this is not just a great precept in the Torah; this is the greatest rule in the Torah.
Hillel the Elder, who lived a few generations earlier, gave a practical translation of the verse “Love your fellow as yourself,” stating:
Whatever you find hateful, you must not do to your fellow.
This, according to Hillel, is the entirety of the Torah “in a nutshell.”
Why is this sentence so significant? Because five out of the Ten Commandments, which relate to the relationship between one person and another, are derived from this directly.
When you’re debating whether to do something or not, think about whether you’d like them to do something similar to you or talk to you like that. If not, just don’t do it and don’t speak like that to another person.
Hillel the Elder had another saying of three parts, which I find marvelous.
The first part: “If I am not for myself, who will be for me?”
The second part: “And when I am only for myself, what am I?”
And the third part: “And if not now, when?”
This sentence has been analyzed in-depth, and most interpretations see it as being focused on an individual and their personal development.
I see it a little differently.
I believe and feel that this sentence by Hillel concerns not only the personal development of an individual but also their attitude towards others.
If I am not for myself, who will be for me?
You must develop yourself, face difficulties and challenges, exhaust your abilities, and advance on your own, without waiting for someone else to do it for you.
And when I am only for myself, what am I?
I believe that this saying is about giving. Your personal development must not turn you into an egotistical, selfish, and apathetic person who thinks only of himself. You’ve accomplished, you’ve evolved, you’ve succeeded — great.
But...
If you are focused only on yourself and are not engaged in any kind of giving — of emotion, knowledge, substance, empathy, humanity, or attention and attentiveness to those around you, if you do not think about the other as well, see the other, show compassion towards them and help them — what are you? There is no real meaning and no value to your personal success.
And if not now, when?
Don’t postpone doing, nor postpone giving. What you can do now, don’t leave for tomorrow or next week or next year.
The greatest catastrophe in the history of the Jewish people throughout the ages, and in the history of mankind in general, was caused by insane racists who set themselves the goal of annihilating the Jewish people to the last of their sons and daughters, who formulated a systematic plan to achieve this goal, and who actually destroyed a very large part of our people.
My father used to say: On the way to the crematoriums in Auschwitz, no one cared about where people came from and whether they had a large kippah (yarmulke), a small kippah, half a kippah, a quarter of a kippah, or whether they were without any kippah.
We should understand this about ourselves and about people in general.
Try to be a human being. -- (Hillel the Elder)
I have devoted most of my adult life to protecting and defending the State of Israel from enemy states, terrorist organizations, nuclear threats, and other external threats. I dedicated this chapter of my life to defending the great miracle in the history of the Jewish people — the state we built and the society we established.
Racism, hatred, incitement, and discrimination can undermine the foundations that have been created, can destabilize them, and lead to the destruction of our humanity, mutual responsibility, equality, and morality.
Copyright 2025. All Rights Reserved.
Article Source:
BOOK: Who the F*ck Is Michael?
Who the F*ck Is Michael?: An Israeli Air Force Chief's Uncompromising Code for Achieving Greatness -- by Elyezer Shkedy.
In this debut bestselling book, Who The F*ck is Michael?!, Elvezer Shkedy distills over one hundred inspiring life stories and lessons on leadership, success, excellence, and the importance of hard work and personal responsibility, in what quickly became a staple reading material for companies, officers, and countless individuals nationwide.
For more info and/or to order this book, click here. Also available as a Kindle edition, an Audiobook, and an Audio CD.
About the Author
General (Ret.) Elyezer Shkedy was the fifteenth commander of the Israeli Air Force. During his service, Shkedy commanded numerous strategic operations, including the now-famous Operation Orchard airstrike on the Syrian nuclear reactor. After retiring from active duty, Shkedy became the CEO of the Israeli flag carrier airline El Al—the largest airline in the country.
Today, he volunteers as chairman and leader of over fifteen educational and social non-governmental organizations, and is the president of I Belong Israel, where he speaks about the importance of tolerance, leadership, and personal values.
Article Recap:
Drawing on a childhood lived between privilege and adversity, Elyezer Shkedy delivers a powerful message rooted in compassion and Jewish ethics: we are all human, and dignity belongs to everyone. Through timeless teachings and personal stories, he calls for empathy, giving, and urgent moral action—now, not later.
#TheyAreJustLikeYou #ElyezerShkedy #JewishWisdom #HillelTheElder #HumanEquality #CompassionFirst #WhoTheFckIsMichael #HumanDignity #AntiRacism #EmpathyMatters
