When someone asks me, "Who are you?", how should I answer?

When someone asks me, "Who are you, Zvi?", how should I answer?

Do I tell them that I am a Rabbi of a small but homey synagogue in Venice, California?
That's true, but also inaccurate.  After all, it's only a small part of my "living", and besides,
I don't consider what I do to put food on the table the sole definition of "me".
Indeed, it doesn't even say "Rabbi" on my birth certificate.

Perhaps, I should say that I am happily married to a wonderful woman for the past 29 years, blessed
with 5 lovely children, 4 boys and a princess, 2 exceptional and devoted daughters-in-law  and 2 delicious grandchildren (kein ayin hara).
But, does that mean I wasn't anyone until I got married?

Maybe I should try a trait which is more intrinsic, say, like, "I'm a 5' 6 1/2" male with deep brown eyes, a salt-and-pepper beard, and almost no hair on my
head!"
Nah-- that emphasizes the physical, and I'm so much more than that.

No-- I should answer that I am an eternal soul, called Zvi Boruch the son of Eliyahu, of blessed memory,
which currently resides in Zvi Hollander's body.  I am not my body, I am not my brain, or even my mind.  All
of these are tools that my soul, I, use to navigate this world.  They all make up who I am.  But, in my essence, I am a eternal  part of the Almighty,
a member of that group who stood before Him at Sinai.  I must never forget that.

In my perception of oneness, I mistakenly feel separate from the All.   In my essence, I'm part of Him, and
"ain od milvado", He is everything, of which there is nothing else.  Even in my uniqueness, I'm connected.

Alas, the question "Who are you?" never elicits answers like this.  It has become a kind of verbal short-hand for "What do you do?" or "Where do you live?" or
"To whom are you married?"  The danger is that I begin to believe the short-hand. 

I have been given a multiplicity of characteristics, physical and spiritual, social yet unique.  I must remember that all of them make up who I am. 
And since my Creator has given me all of them, I need to serve Him with all of them, too.




How poignant, then, that the fundamental offering in the Bais Hamikdash, the Holy Temple in Jerusalem was the "olah", literally, the "elevating" offering.  This offering was available for all mankind.
It was called an "elevating" offering since it directs us symbolically to contemplate our higher calling.  How significant that all of this offering, every part, is consumed in the fire of G-d's Holy Service!