Welcome to the Judaism community on Codidact!

Will you help us build our community of learners? Drop into our study hall, ask questions, help others with answers to their questions, share a d'var torah if you're so inclined, invite your friends, and join us in building this community together. Not an ask-the-rabbi service, just people at all levels learning together.

Review Suggested Edit

You can't approve or reject suggested edits because you haven't yet earned the Edit Posts ability.

What did the Kotzker mean by "If I am I…"?

~~Frequently attributed (e.g. by [Aish](https://www.aish.com/quotations/286954861.html) and [Chabad](https://chabad.org/4287676)) to _R. M'nachem Mendl_ of Kock is:~~
> If I am I because I am I, and you are you because you are you, then I am I and you are you. But if I am I because you are you, and you are you because I am I, then I am not I and you are not you.
I'd like good evidence or a strong argument supporting what he meant by this (or that he never said it at all). Two possibilities that come to mind are:
1. If my actions are based on my looking out for only my own well-being, then I am merely myself and not truly part of the community.
2. If my actions are based only on my concern for what others think of me, then I have no real existence of my own.

Frequently attributed (e.g. by [Aish](https://www.aish.com/quotations/286954861.html) and [Chabad](https://chabad.org/4287676)) to [_R. M'nachem Mendl_ of Kozk](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menachem_Mendel_of_Kotzk) is:
> If I am I because I am I, and you are you because you are you, then I am I and you are you. But if I am I because you are you, and you are you because I am I, then I am not I and you are not you.
I'd like good evidence or a strong argument supporting what he meant by this (or that he never said it at all). Two possibilities that come to mind are:
1. If my actions are based on my looking out for only my own well-being, then I am merely myself and not truly part of the community.
2. If my actions are based only on my concern for what others think of me, then I have no real existence of my own.

kotzker-rebbe quotations

Communities

Review Suggested Edit