3. [Good Will Hunting] Does Will Have A Moral Obligation To Use His Genius?

Dilemmas On Screen: A Jewish Perspective

Good Will Hunting is a movie about Will, a genius who is 20 years old. Will is an orphan, poor, a blue-collar worker with blue collar friends living in a rough neighborhood. He works as a janitor at MIT and secretly solves math equations on the blackboards of classrooms and he does so effortlessly. We also learn that he was physically abused as a child, and has trust issues due to abandonment.

Will has three principal relationships in the movie.

The first is with Gerald Lambeau, a gifted MIT professor. The Professor finds out Will is in trouble with the law, and comes to an agreement with the judge that Will can avoid jailtime on condition that Will (i) does math with the Professor, and (ii) sees a therapist. Professor wants to help Will actualize his potential, and is harder on Will, but still seems to care about him. The Professor is less interested in focusing on Will’s emotional well-being and does not like making excuses for Will even though Will had a rough childhood.

The second is with Will's therapist, Sean, played by Robin Williams. Robin Williams enters the picture because Will mocks all the therapists the Professor sets Will up with, so the Professor finally brings in Robin Williams. Therapist is able to get through to Will (very slowly, and with challenges). Therapist wants Will to follow his heart, to play his hand, and is softer on Will, but still challenges him and asks Will, what do you want to do with your life? Will doesn't have an answer.

The third is with Chuckie, Will's best friend, who is played by Ben Affleck. Chuckie is like family. Will tells Chuckie that Will is excited to raise their families together once they each get married, Chuckie tells Will that if Will is still around in twenty years, Chuckie will kill him. Chuckie says, “You don’t owe it to yourself; you owe it to me" to cash Will's golden ticket and get out of here and go make a better life for yourself. This is a major impetus for Will to make a real move.

This leads us into the following questions, namely:

1. Does Will have an obligation, seemingly a moral obligation, to actualize himself? If he does, is it because he owes it to himself? Or is it because he owes it to others?
2. How do we resolve (i) being true to what one wants versus (ii) actualizing one’s own potential, and even being an asset to other people? The Professor, and Robin Williams, and Chuckie all appear to agree that Will would be “copping out” by not using his talents. Is that true?
3. As an educator, mentor, friend – to what degree do you push a person, and to what degree do you let go and let the person figure out what he wants to do?
4. With respect to pushing Will – is the Professor manipulating Will, as Robin Williams claims? When does “pushing” become “manipulation”? Sometimes, education has to be subtle. Subtlety doesn’t automatically mean “manipulation” – when do you cross the line?
5. It’s true that Professor can be dismissive of Will’s emotional problems. How do we balance that? How long do we have to wait for people to get over their issues and start taking responsibility and making decisions?

I am excited to welcome Rabbi Jack Cohen to this episode to answer our questions. Rabbi Cohen serves as the Director of Jewish Education and Community Engagement for Hebrew Academy High School in Miami, where he strives to teach Jewish philosophy and character development in a way that is relevant and resonant to 21st century teenagers. He also coaches and supports teachers in the school and works to be an educational bridge to parents and the broader community.

Rabbi Cohen has been teaching and mentoring young people for over fifteen years with a focus on building educational ecosystems of growth opportunities that allow participants to choose their own adventure.

Prior to his current role, Rabbi Cohen served as Director of Education for Olami North America and prior to that, as Director of Education for Olami Manhattan. He maintains a close connection with his own mentors, Rav Beryl Gershenfeld, Rosh Yeshiva of Machon Shlomo and Machon Yaakov, and founder of MEOR, and Rav Immanuel Bernstein, renowned author and lecturer.

Rabbi Cohen learned in the Mirrer Yeshiva and Yad Saadia Kollel in Jerusalem. He holds a bachelor's degree in physics and philosophy from the University of Pennsylvania and a master's degree in education (EdM) from Harvard.

He publishes articles about life wisdom from Judaism regularly on his website, www.theExpressionOfLife.com.

He also has a podcast called "Breakthrough!", which is available on Spotify. It is recorded every week in Aventura, Florida in an interactive ask-what's-on-your-mind format, at the following link: https://open.spotify.com/show/5H5WermZNbhVRum1P6I4KG?si=ayecu9_LScebFsd-Li2iHg