Parshas Lech Lecha
By Rabbi Dovid Zauderer
Did you ever wonder how much our thoughts are really governed by truth, logic and reason, and to what extent they are influenced by the environment and by what others around us are saying?
A sociologist in the 1950’s named Solomon Asch designed a fascinating experiment to determine the answer to this question.
Dr. Asch’s experiment was conducted on a large college campus. Seven individuals were brought into a room and told that they were to be tested on their perception, on how well they were able to judge sizes. Of these seven people, only one was really being tested, but not for perception. The other six were assistants, paid by Dr. Asch to try to confuse the real subject of the test. But he, of course, didn’t know that.
The seven people sat down in a room. On the wall was a chart on which two lines were drawn. One line was ten inches long, while the other was twelve inches. The lines were close to each other, and it was quite obvious that the twelve-inch line was longer.
Each person was then asked which line was longer. The six assistants were asked first. Each one confidently stated that the ten-inch line was the longer of the two. When the actual subject was finally asked his opinion, the study found that in 60% of all cases, he would agree that the ten-inch line was longer than the twelve-inch line.
What happened to a subject who didn’t agree, who belonged to the “independent thinking†40% who still insisted that the ten-inch line was longer? The six hired assistants would laugh at him, ridiculing his obvious mistake. The more the subject would insist, the more the assistants would tear him down. The study found that under such pressure, another 30% would finally admit that the ten-inch line was longer than the twelve-inch line.
This study tested both college students and professors. It demonstrated conclusively that under enough social pressure, nine out of ten people could be convinced that a ten-inch line was longer than a twelve-inch line. In the end, they would even defend their conclusion vigorously.
When interviewed later, the subjects had all sorts of excuses: perhaps it was the angle from which they viewed the chart, or their eyes hurt that day. They were very uncomfortable when told that they had been duped, but duped they were. Think of it! Only one person out of ten was able to uphold his conviction that a twelve-inch line is longer than a ten-inch line.
Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan ZTâ€L writes about Asch’s experiment in his wonderful collection of essays titled Encounters, and adds the following key point:
“We have the advantage of hindsight. We know both the design and the results of the study, and can confidently assume that we would never have been so duped. But is that so? Unfortunately, most of us do belong to the 90% who give in. Otherwise, it wouldn’t be 90%. We tend to think as our neighbors think, to believe the things our friends believe. Very few of us have taken an unpopular stand among our friends, or have stood up for our convictions in the face of strong facial pressure. Very few of us are able to oppose the crowd.â€
And we thought we were all true “independent thinkers†…. Bah Humbug! The reality, my friends, is quite the opposite.
As the Spanish philosopher Ortega y Gasset once put it, the majority of people "march through life together, along the collective path, shoulder to shoulder, wool rubbing wool, and head down".
Now I have always maintained – although I can’t actually prove it – that if the subject of Dr. Asch’s experiment had been a Torah observant Jew he would never have been duped into believing that a ten-inch line was longer than a twelve-inch line – not even once!
And I say this because for the past 3500 years it has been pounded into the collective conscience of the Jewish people to believe in G-d and His Torah - and to stay with the truth and do the right thing - no matter what others might say, or how unpopular it might be.
In fact, the very first law in the Shulchan Aruch (the “Code of Jewish Law†that was compiled by Rabbi Joseph Karo in Safed, Israel in the year 1555, and that Jews have been following and living by for centuries) states: “One should not be embarrassed and ashamed [to do the right thing] in front of those who scoff and poke fun at himâ€.
All this, of course, is the legacy of our great forefather Abraham, who is described in this week’s Torah portion (see Genesis 14:13), as the “Hebrew†(in Hebrew, Ivri), which means “from the other sideâ€. The Midrash Rabbah explains that this is referring to the fact that Abraham originally came from the other side of the Euphrates, or that the entire world was on one side theologically – worshipping idols etc. – while Abraham was on the other side preaching ethical monotheism to anyone who would listen.
Now more than ever, we, the physical and spiritual descendants of that first great “Hebrew†and true independent thinker Abraham, need to stand up for G-d and morality – even if we are all alone doing so - proclaiming true Torah values in a “morally-challenged†world.
http://www.torchweb.org/torah_detail.php?id=589