In last week’s Torah portion (Bo), the Israelites were freed from slavery. Yet, it did not take long before memories of their bitter slavery became blurred. Despite all the great wonders and miracles they experienced via G-d’s Mighty Hand, they were extremely distressed by every challenge they faced, so much so, that they lamented ever leaving Egypt.
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They cried to Moses, “Is it because there
are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us to die in the desert? What is
this that you have done to us - to take us out of Egypt?" (Shemot 14:11)
In contrast to the famous words, “Give me liberty or give me
death,” the Israelites, once having obtained liberty, cried, “Give me slavery!”
Servitude, after all, offers a sense of
comfort. Indeed, our own habits and routines are a form of slavery. We feel
safe because we know what tomorrow will look like: We went to sleep a slave; we
will wake up a slave. The burden of having to challenge ourselves is muted.
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Even after G-d split the Red Sea for the
Israelites and smote the Egyptians, they were overwhelmed by the challenges of
freedom. They recalled Egypt with nostalgia putting a new spin on
their former embittered lives: “If only we had died by the hand of the Lord in
the land of Egypt, when we sat by pots of meat, when we ate bread to our
fill!” (Shemot 16:3).
Pharaoh and his servants too, had short
term memories. They seemed to forget the ten plagues which devasted their land,
their animals and their people. Soon they too had regrets, they regretted
letting the Israelites leave Egypt. Who would serve them and further enrich
them?
My friends, we too like the Israelites and
the Egyptians, have to recognize when something is over, when it’s no longer
good for us. Not doing so is suicide on many levels, i.e., psychologically,
emotionally, spiritually, etc. Fear of change is nothing less than opportunity’s
assassin.
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If we don’t fight the fear of change in our
lives and abandon the comfort zone, we will always be crying to return to
Egypt. We will resort to choosing evil because we are more afraid to live than
to die. Most of the Israelites preferred to worship Egypt’s useless gods of
stone and to be slaves to certainty rather than to serve the Almighty in
freedom and uncertainty wherein each day demanded renewed faith.
Fear or faith? It’s time to choose. And
even though there are no guarantees that life will play out as we planned, a
person of faith will always be walking with a “flashlight” to illuminate life’s
dark moments for himself and all whom he encounters.
G-d did not give the Israelites enough
manna from heaven to stock up their freezers for six months. They had to
collect it each day anew (except Shabbat). If they saved it for the next day,
it rotted, produced worms and stank. It was an exercise in faith. Would the
Israelites fear tomorrow every night? Or would they sleep soundly and have
faith that G-d would provide for them again the next day? Faith is like a
muscle. Use it or lose it. Try and grapple the complexities of life on your
own. See what kind of person that will makes you. You will rot like the manna when
trying to overstock certainty.
The fate of a Jew IS uncertainty except for
the certainty that G-d is always with us. Unlike the Nile which irrigated all
of Egypt for millennia, its little neighbor Israel still must pray daily to
Hashem for rain.
Some Jews refused to leave Egypt due to
their lack of faith and fear of the unknown. They died in the plague of
darkness. Apropos, because their lack of faith robbed them of light.
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The Midrash relates that
the Red Sea did not automatically part when the Israelites reached the Red Sea.
The Israelites stood at the banks of the sea and wailed in despair. Then,
Nachshon ben Aminadav courageously entered the waters in faith and only when
the waters reached his neck did the sea part.
We have to stop sugar coating the bitter
past. We have to see it for what it is and move on. As Winston Churchill said, “If we open a quarrel between the past and the present,
we shall find that we have lost the future.
We are commanded not to return to Egypt. So
why are you looking backward? Lot’s wife turned to stone because she looked
back. Friends, there is nothing left for you there! “…For the Lord said to you,
‘You shall not return that way anymore.’”
"Don't
be afraid! Stand firm and see the salvation of Hashem that He will perform for
you today; for as you have seen Egypt today, you shall not see them ever
again.” (Shemot
14:13).
Shabbat Shalom!
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