What Would You Do If You Weren't Afraid?
Discover a Life Filled with Purpose and Joy Through the Secrets of Jewish Wisdom
Book Edition Details
Summary
What if the ancient echoes of wisdom could illuminate the path to your true self? In "What Would You Do If You Weren’t Afraid?" Michal Oshman, a guiding light for leaders in global enterprises, blends age-old Jewish teachings with her rich experience in corporate culture to forge a novel blueprint for personal growth. Oshman's journey through anxiety and depression, anchored in her Jewish roots, becomes your map to navigating life's modern-day quandaries—be it heartbreak, career challenges, or the intricate dance of parenting. This book isn't just about coping; it's an invitation to uncover the fearless life you were meant to lead, empowered by the knowledge that every answer lies within you. Let Oshman’s heartfelt insights and practical advice transform your everyday struggles into stepping stones towards a more fulfilled existence.
Introduction
In the corridors of Facebook's London office, a simple question painted on the wall would change everything: "What would you do if you weren't afraid?" For Michal Oshman, a successful Israeli executive who had seemingly conquered every challenge life threw at her, this question exposed a profound truth she had been running from her entire life. Despite her impressive military service as a commanding officer, her string of university degrees, and her senior positions at prestigious companies, fear had been her constant, unwelcome companion. Born into a family shadowed by Holocaust trauma and her father's work as Israel's top forensic pathologist, Oshman had learned early that the world was a dangerous place where death seemed more likely than life. Yet beneath the surface of anxiety and carefully constructed success lay something deeper—a spark of hope that refused to be extinguished. When traditional therapy failed to heal her wounds and medication offered only temporary relief, Oshman found herself drawn to an unexpected source of wisdom: the ancient teachings of Judaism. Through the mystical traditions of Hasidism, she discovered principles that had guided Jewish communities through centuries of persecution, exile, and renewal. In her journey from paralyzing fear to purposeful faith, readers will explore how timeless spiritual wisdom can transform modern lives, how embracing brokenness leads to wholeness, and why the courage to be authentically ourselves becomes our greatest strength in an uncertain world.
Breaking Free from Ancient Chains
The Hebrew word "mitzrayim," meaning Egypt, translates literally as "narrow straits" or "boundaries." This linguistic revelation unlocked something profound for Oshman during a Passover celebration that would redirect her entire life's trajectory. While the biblical story of Jewish liberation from Egyptian slavery had always seemed like ancient history, she suddenly understood it as a deeply personal metaphor. The Israelites' physical bondage in Egypt represented every person's internal chains—the limiting beliefs, destructive thought patterns, and self-imposed restrictions that keep us trapped in cycles of fear and limitation. Oshman's own "Egypt" was a prison built from childhood trauma and generational suffering. Growing up with grandparents who were Holocaust survivors meant that genocide wasn't a historical event but a living reality in her daily experience. Her grandmother's nighttime screams about Nazis, her compulsive food hoarding, and her inability to feel safe created an atmosphere where survival took precedence over joy. Combined with her father's work examining victims of violent crimes, Oshman's childhood was saturated with evidence that the world was fundamentally dangerous. The revelation that everyone carries their personal mitzrayim offered both comfort and challenge. Comfort in knowing that feeling trapped by circumstances, genetics, or past experiences was universal; challenge in recognizing that liberation required action, not just understanding. The ancient story wasn't about a one-time historical event but about the ongoing human struggle to recognize our internal bondage and make the conscious choice to break free. For Oshman, this meant acknowledging that while she couldn't change her family history or erase traumatic memories, she could choose how much power those experiences held over her present life. The process of identifying and escaping personal mitzrayim became a framework for transformation. It required honest self-examination to recognize which thoughts and beliefs served as prison walls, courage to challenge long-held assumptions about safety and success, and faith that a different way of living was possible. This wasn't about positive thinking or denial of real challenges, but about distinguishing between genuine threats requiring attention and imaginary fears that paralyzed growth and joy.
Discovering Soul and Purpose Beyond Fear
Traditional Western psychology had taught Oshman that she was essentially the sum of her childhood experiences—a product of trauma and conditioning. But Jewish mysticism introduced a revolutionary concept: the neshama, or soul. This divine spark within every human being represented an essential self that existed before experiences, beyond circumstances, and independent of external validation or failure. The neshama was described as a flame constantly flickering upward, naturally inclined toward growth and transcendence despite being held down by the material world. This understanding reframed everything. Oshman's anxiety wasn't evidence of fundamental brokenness but rather her soul's natural yearning for something greater than mere survival. The restless dissatisfaction she felt despite outward success wasn't ingratitude but her neshama calling attention to unfulfilled purpose. Instead of viewing her emotional struggles as problems to be solved or symptoms to be medicated, she began seeing them as navigation signals from her deepest self, pointing toward areas requiring attention and growth. The concept of the soul also provided a different framework for understanding identity. While society encouraged defining oneself through roles, achievements, or even past traumas, the neshama represented an unchanging essence that transcended circumstances. This didn't mean ignoring the impact of experiences or dismissing the need for healing, but it offered a foundation of inherent worth that couldn't be destroyed by failure or enhanced by success. The soul's purpose wasn't to achieve perfection but to grow through engagement with life's challenges. Viktor Frankl's discovery in Nazi concentration camps that humans could find meaning even in the most horrific circumstances aligned perfectly with Jewish wisdom about the soul's resilience. When people connected with something beyond their immediate circumstances—whether through love, service, or spiritual practice—they could endure and even transform suffering. This wasn't about minimizing pain or promoting false optimism, but about recognizing the human capacity to find purpose and maintain dignity regardless of external conditions.
Leading with Wisdom and Repair
The Jewish concept of tikkun olam—repairing the world—provided Oshman with a framework for leadership that went beyond personal advancement to encompass service and justice. This principle suggested that everyone had both the opportunity and obligation to improve their immediate environment, whether through small acts of kindness or systemic change. Leadership, from this perspective, wasn't about commanding others but about taking responsibility for the wellbeing of one's community and using whatever influence one possessed for positive impact. In her corporate career, Oshman learned to apply another crucial concept: tzimtzum, or divine contraction. Just as God was said to have made space for creation by withdrawing some of His infinite presence, effective leaders needed to know when to step back and make room for others to grow. This was particularly challenging in competitive environments where visibility and self-promotion often seemed necessary for advancement, but Oshman discovered that making space for others' contributions often enhanced rather than diminished her own effectiveness. The principle of being a "mensch"—a fundamentally decent person—became her leadership philosophy. This Yiddish term represented someone who acted with integrity regardless of personal cost, who considered others' wellbeing in decision-making, and who took responsibility for creating positive environments wherever they found themselves. Being a mensch meant leading by example, addressing difficult conversations with compassion, and maintaining ethical standards even when expedient shortcuts were available. Perhaps most importantly, Jewish wisdom taught that meaningful leadership required embracing rather than hiding vulnerability. The tradition celebrated broken hearts as more complete than perfect ones, recognizing that struggle and failure often produced greater wisdom and empathy than uninterrupted success. This perspective enabled Oshman to approach leadership challenges not as threats to her credibility but as opportunities to demonstrate resilience and authentic connection with others facing similar difficulties.
Return to Authentic Self
The Hebrew concept of teshuva, typically translated as repentance, literally means "return." This wasn't about guilt or self-punishment but about coming back to one's essential nature and highest potential. For Oshman, teshuva represented a ongoing process of alignment—regularly assessing whether her choices and actions reflected her deepest values and purpose, and making course corrections when necessary. This return to authenticity required releasing the various masks and personas she had developed to navigate different environments. From straightening her naturally curly hair to minimize emotional expression in professional settings, she had learned to contort herself to meet others' expectations of acceptability. But Jewish wisdom suggested that this kind of self-editing wasn't necessary for success and actually prevented the full expression of her unique gifts and perspective. The practice of daily teshuva meant treating each morning as an opportunity for renewal and growth. Rather than being weighed down by past mistakes or limited by previous self-concepts, she could approach each day as a chance to move closer to her authentic self and fulfill her particular purpose. This wasn't about perfection but about conscious evolution and increasing alignment between values and actions. The journey from fear to faith ultimately revealed that the two weren't opposites but could coexist. Fear remained a natural human response to uncertainty and danger, but it no longer controlled her decisions or defined her identity. Faith—in her own resilience, in the possibility of growth, in the meaningfulness of existence—provided a foundation that allowed her to engage fully with life despite its inherent risks. This transformation hadn't eliminated challenges but had fundamentally changed her relationship to them, enabling her to meet difficulties with curiosity and courage rather than paralysis and despair.
Summary
Michal Oshman's journey from paralyzing anxiety to purposeful leadership demonstrates that our deepest struggles often point toward our greatest potential for growth and service. Her discovery that ancient Jewish wisdom could address thoroughly modern challenges of meaning, identity, and resilience offers hope for anyone feeling trapped by circumstances, past traumas, or limiting beliefs about what's possible in their lives. The principles she explored—from recognizing personal "Egypt" to embracing brokenness as completeness—provide practical frameworks for transformation that don't require perfect faith or extensive religious knowledge. Whether someone is seeking to escape destructive patterns, develop authentic leadership skills, or simply find greater meaning in daily life, these time-tested concepts offer pathways toward genuine change. Most importantly, Oshman's story illustrates that the courage to be vulnerable and authentic, rather than being a weakness to overcome, becomes the foundation for both personal fulfillment and meaningful contribution to others' wellbeing.
Related Books
Download PDF & EPUB
To save this Black List summary for later, download the free PDF and EPUB. You can print it out, or read offline at your convenience.
By Michal Oshman
