I am reading my kids the biography of Benjamin Franklin and am completely in awe of his accomplishments and morality; He would write down his flaws at the end of every day. Can you give me names of any Jewish role models in the last 400 years with similar credentials to share with my kids as well?

While we can find public figures of great character that may serve as Jewish role models for us, Judaism has had a predilection of anonymity with its greatest heroes.  The Talmud famously refers to the hidden thirty-six righteous of the world, whose anonymous righteousness ensures survival of humanity. One of the great motifs of Jewish literature over the past few hundred years has been the anonymous peasant who performs great acts of righteousness.  This impulse has been carried through today by Danny Siegel, who developed the concept of mitzvah heroes, ordinary individuals who do extraordinary acts of righteousness.  Some of his followers have established a Mitzvah Heroes Fund to promote such actions.

When looking for specific identifiable heroes let me suggest several culled from recent Jewish history.

Rabbi Yisrael Meir Kagan, also know as, the Hafetz Hayim

The Hafetz Hayim was an influential Rabbi and ethicist whose works continue to be widely influential in Jewish life. He was recognized as both an outstanding scholar and an extraordinarily righteous man. He refused to accept any rabbinical position and supported himself from a small grocery run by his saintly wife in the town of Radin where they lived. The Hafetz Hayim devoted himself to the study and teaching of Torah. A major reason for the enormous influence and acceptance won by the Hafetz Hayim was his utter and complete integrity.

Haym Salomon

Hero of the American Revolution.  Haym Salomon helped finance the War of Independence save the newly proclaimed United States. Though he came to America from Poland only 4 years before the Declaration of Independence, his patriotism was so strong that he suffered imprisonment. He subsequently became official broker to the Office of Finance of the Continental Congress, working with Robert Morris to maintain the public credit of the infant government.

Theodor Herzl

Generally credited with being the father of modern political Zionism, Herzl convened the first Zionist Congress in Basel, Switzerland, in 1897. A renowned journalist, he was so profoundly affected by the infamous Dreyfus trial in France that he became the foremost spokesman and activist for a Jewish homeland. His untiring efforts to convince kings and potentates of the justice and urgency of the Jewish claim to a homeland, as well as his untimely death in 1904 at the age of 44 make him a true Jewish hero.

Anatoly (Natan) Shcharanzky

As a Soviet Jew, Shcharansky petitioned to emigrate from the Soviet Union to live in Israel. He was arrested and accused of being a spy for the United States. President Jimmy Carter told the Russians that this was not true, but his government was intent on making an example of him and he was put on trial.  The viciousness and ferocity of the Soviet government's desire to quell the Jewish dissident movement was brought to the attention of the entire world by the way Shcharansky was treated. He was sentenced to many years in prison, but not before he made a number of statements in court, which made all of world Jewry proud of him. He showed his great courage when he said: "One would think I would be sorry, but I am not. I am happy because I have lived at peace with my conscience... I am happy that I helped people... I am happy to have witnessed the process of liberating Soviet Jewry. For more than 2,000 years, my people have been dispersed. Wherever Jews were, they would repeat every year, 'Next year in Jerusalem.' At present, I am as far as ever from my people ... and many hard years ... are in store for me. To my wife and my people, I can only say, 'Next year in Jerusalem.'"  Finally in 1988 he was ransomed from the Soviet Union and immigrated to Israel.

Rabbi Joshua S. Finkelstein