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So, What are We Going to Do?
Prepared By: Rabbi Stephen Kahn
Shabbat Shemot - D'var Torah
January 9, 2015 - 19 Tevet, 5775
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Tomorrow morning we will begin reading the Book of Exodus and the story of Moses. Throughout the centuries, rabbis have asked why God chose Moses as the leader of the Hebrew slaves and as the individual to confront Pharaoh on behalf of the cause of liberty. Yet from all our sources there is no definitive answer to these questions. We simply do not know why God chose Moses.
Rabbi David Wolpe of Sinai Temple in Los Angeles posits the following as one possible answer:"We can only guess [it is] because Moses has an eye for injustice wherever it occurs. Whether between Jews or Jews and non-Jews, Moses always intervenes because he cannot stand to see cruelty. He can't stand to see that look on the face of somebody who oppresses someone else. The face that the theologian G.K. Chesterton says is the 'face that stands between us and the fires of hell.' That face of power combined with indifference.'"[1] One idea then is that Moses is chosen by God because of he has pure empathy toward those who suffer. But, as we learn in this week's portion, it goes deeper than that. Moses, for all his immeasurable empathy toward those who suffer teaches us a lesson in action through personal adversity. To be called by God to act at a burning bush is one thing. But, to overcome serious doubts and insecurities only to overcome them and fight for something for which he is willing to risk everything, is what makes him a hero to the generations! In the portion for this Shabbat, Moses' greatest fears of inadequacy become realized. The Pharaoh who is later described as a man with a "hardened heart," (in other words, a man who is the embodiment of pure evil) rejects Moses during their first confrontation. In response to Moses' plea, Pharaoh punishes the Hebrew slaves, by making life worse for them. Not only are the slaves required to produce the same amount of bricks but now they needed to find their own straw. In their anger at Moses, they complain: "May God look on you and judge you! You have made us obnoxious to Pharaoh and his officials and have put a sword in their hand to kill us."[2] In other words, the Israelites who have experienced unspeakable pain and agony for over 400 years cannot see beyond their own suffering to (at this point in the story) understand their own destiny. From his own anguish, Moses asks God, "Why, God, why have you brought trouble on this people? Is this why you sent me? Ever since I went to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has brought trouble on this people, and you have not rescued your people at all."[3] While God does not directly respond to Moses' query, it becomes very clear that it will be under Moses' direction and leadership of a very long and difficult process of plagues, anguish and suffering, that God's "miracles and signs" will activate and the process of liberation and redemption will begin. In this brief moment when Moses arrived at a crossroads of fate, faith and destiny, he teaches us about what it means to be a leader. True leaders cannot wait for divine intervention but must see themselves as the interventionist. From a profound sense of fear and failure, Moses decides that the cause itself is greater than his wounds, and so he immediately returns to confront the Pharaoh and pursue freedom and justice on behalf of the Hebrew slaves and their ultimate destiny to be a "Kingdom of Priests and a Holy People." He goes to the Pharaoh with an unconditional choice - end the cruelty, evil and enslavement or suffer the consequences. I believe it is no coincidence that we learn about Moses and his courage on this Shabbat following a week of terror and cruelty in France. While we all mourn the senseless loss of so many victims of demonic hatred this week - whether they were Jewish or not - the mental picture that the week ended with dead Jews in Europe is nothing new for our community. They were blameless victims, one and all, at the hands of pure evil. Like Moses confronting the Pharaoh, I want to suggest that we too are at a crossroads in the ongoing confrontation of our civilization - between good and evil; fear and hope and life and death. It is true that what we saw this week in Paris can only be understood within the larger context of Islamic extremism and terror throughout the Western World - from Hamas to Hezbollah; from Al Qaeda to the Islamic State; and, even in our own community where members of a Phoenix Serbian Church found their House of Worship vandalized with fascist symbols on their way in for Orthodox Christmas Services this past Wednesdaymorning. I believe we all have many critical decisions to make as to what we are going to do, as individuals, as a country and as Jews about this insidious evil? Are we ready to get out of our own collective toll that the pain and suffering from the two wars of these past years have had on the collective conscience of our country? Are we prepared to raise ourselves up and remind ourselves that we stand for something? Are we ready to accept, as Americans and as Jews, that there is a cause greater than our individual fears; values greater than ourselves? Like Moses are we willing to turn our pain into compassion? Are we prepared (mentally, physically and spiritually) to turn our indifference into action and sacrifice? Can we begin by acknowledging that life is not worth living unless we share a collective destiny of living in a world where all lives are of value and meaning? The South African writer, Alan Paton, tells the story of a man who falls asleep and faces God, (who he calls "The Big Judge"). God asks him, "Where are your wounds?" The man says, "I don't have any wounds?" The Big Judge then responds, "Why, was there nothing worth fighting for?" We are war-weary and therefore hesitant to take any more risks with our own lives or the lives of our people; we are fearful for the future yet reluctant to spend the time and effort to act bold. There are tens of thousands, if not more members of the Islamic State ready to terrorize. The events of this week were just a drop in the bucket. There are currently tens of thousands of Al Qaeda ready to attack. There are thousands of Hezbollah militants to the north of Israel with over 100,000 missiles, many of which are capable of reaching as far as Eilat pointed at the State of Israel; there are thousands of Hamas terrorists in Gaza and the West Bank planning the next attack on Israel. Meanwhile Iran continues to develop its nuclear program and the remainder of the Middle East is on the brink. There are also millions of refugees from Syria living in squander in camps throughout Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey right now. People without homes and hope don't build democracies; they blame democracies and are taught to hate us. What do you think will become of them? What I am telling you my dear friends is that we need to be like Moses! We need to become the kind of people - the kind of Jews - who understand too well that the evil we witnessed in Paris this week is not unique and that today's murders were not the end. It's no different from the evil which kidnapped our three boys last June or the kind of evil that killed four rabbis last month. It's no different from the evil which has beheaded journalists, raped pre-teen girls and instilled fear in the hearts of children. It's the same evil which we read about in our parsha this week - like Pharaoh, these people's hearts are hardened to the point of no return. There is no sense to this life if we choose to live in a world where we dream of peace and prosperity, freedom and justice, meaning, safety, hope and virtue and are not willing to actively engage in doing something to eliminate and banish those who embody the absolute and total antithesis of these values. We need to become people who know there is something worth fighting for and are willing and ready to give up something as important as life itself if we are to embrace the destiny which God has presented us. And while I cannot spend the time this evening to go into my own personal theology in any great detail, I want you to know that one of the most important tenants of my belief is that God isn't going to do this for us. Like Moses, we may feel wounded, insecure and incapable. Like Moses we indeed may feel powerless and depleted by past failures and mistakes. But like Moses, we must overcome these tensions of the heart and mind and be willing to undo this evil. Understandably we may experience feelings that we may never get to the "other side" of this evil. But let us be reminded, Moses prevails - he finds the courage and the strength to lead from dignity and his own sense that cruelty, hatred and evil must be defeated if freedom and justice are to prevail, no matter the short term struggle. Let us never forget, the Jewish People prevail because we have no other choice! "Moses knew his struggle...what is your's? On behalf of what cause, on behalf of who else besides yourself will you bear wounds? Who else's trouble will you take into your hear and your home? Who in need, who in fear, who bereaved, who bereft and who alone? On behalf of what purpose will you rise up and say, 'I am willing to be wounded because I know from my conscience, from my country and from my Torah that it is no worthy life if there isn't something worth fighting for?"[4] And so on this Shabbat I would end with this image... for the first time since World War II, the Grand Synagogue of Paris closed its doors for Shabbat worship this evening. I want us to think aboutthis image on this Shabbat as we worship here this weekend. I want you to contemplate the image of a Synagogue closed for Shabbat in Paris for the first time since World War II. Then, as Shabbat ascends on our community and our world, I want you to think about what this means and then ask yourselves, "What has our world become and what are we, if anything, going to do about it?" Shabbat Shalom |
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