Mark: Integrity is defined as the quality of being honest and possessing strong moral principles. A person of integrity is often described as an individual who will consistently choose to do the right thing and make the correct ethical choices, even when no one is watching them or looking over their shoulder. In other words, a person of integrity has a clear and accurate moral compass, one that always indicates the proper way forward and the correct path to take.
Integrity is the quality that leads to a sense of righteous conduct. It is the descriptor used to best convey a belief in the trustworthiness and reliability of another’s character, no matter the circumstance or condition.
Frank, to begin, how would you apply the importance of this trait of integrity to those who serve in the medical profession? How might it apply to how we judge others, and how others might evaluate us?
Frank: Mark, you ask how I would apply the importance of integrity to the professionals in health care and to that I would answer that it is no different than how integrity is applied to any other line of work or personal relationship. Integrity displayed at work or elsewhere is of critical importance for a healthy society. Integrity can be summarized in one simple sentence, “It is the right thing to do.” The big question, however, is what does the word “right” mean? What may be right for some may not be right for another.
While on the faculty at Vanderbilt Medical Center, I served as Chair of the Medical Center’s Ethics Committee for fifteen years, and it was during these years that I was exposed numerous times to this issue of what is ethically and morally right and what was wrong. It is my belief that the answer to this question lies in the Still Small Voice that gives me the guidance I need to understand what is right and what is not. The God I believe in resides in my conscience which I call the Still Small Voice, and which is God speaking to me, helping me distinguish what is the right way to act. Integrity arises from within the soul in all of us and helps us know how to live our lives in an ethical and moral manner. Let me give you a personal example.
While serving in the Navy in the early 1970s, I was taking care of a patient who needed artificial sperm insemination to attain pregnancy. My patient arrived one morning having been prepared to ovulate and receive the donation. However, there was a problem. The sperm donor, a young Navy corpsman who had agreed to donate, was ill that morning and I was left without a donor.
For a moment, I thought a solution was for me to be the donor, however, the Still Small Voice within me spoke loud and clear. “Frank, this is not something you should do.” And so, I asked another physician who was working in the clinic that morning if he would agree to become the donor. He agreed and the problem was solved.
I am so glad I listened to my conscious, that Still Small Voice, which was God speaking to me. While there were no rules at the time for how to deal with this issue, in retrospect, becoming my patient’s donor would have been an unethical act, one that several physicians, in more recent times, who became their patient’s donor without them being aware have been severely criticized and even imprisoned.
Mark, I would love to hear your thoughts on all this.
Mark: Frank, it is so inspiring to me that you cite the Still Small Voice within you that guides you in making the right choices and pursue the correct moral paths. I take great comfort in the wisdom of our tradition from whence this concept was born and then subsequently shared with the world. That sense of integrity, because it is directed by a force that is both embedded within each of us, and yet is also beyond our own biological selves, is a unique and sacred treasure that our Jewish faith developed and then shared with all of humanity. That very phrase, the Still Small Voice within us, comes from the Hebrew Scriptures. It is found in the Christian Bible as well. It appears in the First Book of Kings, chapter 19, verses 11 and 12. It is the incredible way in which our prophetic tradition continued to develop the idea that every single human soul is created “Betzelem Elohim”, quite literally in God’s very image.
Therefore, when we act with integrity, when we display it in our own ethical conduct and model it in our own moral choices— when we choose to do the right thing, even when no one is looking— we are harnessing the power given to us by our Creator in the most noble fashion. We are reflecting that Divine light within us; we echo that message conveyed to us by that Still Small Voice.
The Jewish Observer is published by The Jewish Federation of Greater Nashville and made possible by funds raised in the Jewish Federation Annual Campaign. Become a supporter today.
All Abrahamic faiths cherish additional sacred texts that help us listen to that voice and to harken to its moral codes and messages. For the Jewish people, the Torah, the Talmud, and the Midrash all amplify the resonance and the clarity of that voice to us. The prayer book operates to a great degree in the same fashion. And, of course, that is the ultimate aspiration of those called to serve as rabbis: They—we— are the amplifiers of that Still Small Voice, even when its message is unpopular, insistent, and difficult to hear, because we are reminded of the right way to act, and to answer, even when the righteous choice of action is not the easiest course to take, or the most convenient option to take.
“Yosher” is the Hebrew word for “straightness” or “uprightness,” or “integrity” or “what is right.” It reflects living a life aligned with ethical conduct and righteous action. It honors our Creator in the noblest sense, by honoring God’s creation fashioned in the Divine image.
We should all strengthen our character and model our behavior with an unwavering sense of integrity while we still have the chance to do so.
Rabbi Mark Schiftan can be reached at mschiftan@aol.com Dr. Frank Boehm can be reached at frank.boehm@vumc.org
