Va'era 2013/5774: Hope for a good ending

Va’era 2013/5774

Hope for a good ending

George Orwell’s 1984.

Ray Bradbury’s Farenheit 451

Stephen King’s the Running man.

Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games.

What do all these stories have in common?

Worlds in which individual lives are relatively worthless in comparison to the so-called ‘greater good’.

Worlds where violence and fear are the main tools leaders use to pacify the population and keep power.

Worlds where the voice of the individual does not count for anything, because the noise of a twisted status quo, the power of fear and the instinct for survival, shut out the call for freedom, for compassion, for hope.

The Israelites, our ancestors in Egypt, exist in just such a world.  Moses thinks they do not listen to him, to the message of hope and freedom from God, since he is not a good speaker.  Three times he tells God that he does not speak well, that perhaps he has a speech disability.  But the Torah offers another explanation for why the people do not listen to Moses, a reason that Moses himself does not acknowledge.  The people do not listen for the same reason that the characters in all these stories of a scary future do not really listen – the noise of false reassurance, censorship, media and violence overrun the senses.

The Torah teaches, “The people did not listen to Moses due to bitterness of spirit and their hard labor.”  Pharaoh tears away their faith, their strength, all the trust and history they had built up after Pharaoh welcomed their ancestors to live in Egypt during the days of the famine, a famine through which Joseph, and Joseph alone, was responsible for saving Egypt.  It’s not surprising then that the people are not open to listening to Moses.  They are so disillusioned, so in pain, that they are unwilling to hear even good news. 

Rabbi Yehudah ben Beterah (Torah Temimah Vol. 3, page 13) asks the question:  Who would not celebrate when they receive good news? 

A good question, don’t we always feel positive and receptive on hearing good news? 

Ben Beterah argues that the people had lost their identity, turned ‘Egyptian’.

Rashbam teaches the people were stifled under even more difficult labor.

Ibn Ezra suggests our exile lasted so long, that our spirits were crushed.

Chizkuni sees fear in the people, fear of even the possibility of hope under worsening conditions, lest that hope be dashed.

What is it that we fear most?  What keeps us up at night?  What fears make us change our thinking and change our plans?  Which fears do not force us to change?  Which fears have we learned to live with?

Rabbi Harold Kushner in his book ‘Conquering Fear, “sometimes I stubbornly believe as an act of faith that God has made a world in which tragedy is real but happy endings heavily outnumber tragic ones.  I resolve not to let my fears of what might happen prevent me from anticipating with pleasure what I hope will happen.”

Let’s go back to all those stories where we began and test Kushner’s stubborn belief here.

In 1984, Winston Smith succumbs, gives in to belief and love of Big Brother, gives up himself, plagued by the fears the government uses against him in room 101.  Sad ending.

Farenheit 451, Guy Montag escapes, joins the band of free spirits, reconnects with people who love words instead of burning them, there is hope.  Happier ending.

The Running Man, a broadcast goes out that begins to bring down the authoritarian government, rebels fight back, expose the truth.  Happier ending. 

The Hunger Games, Katniss Everdeen leads the rebellion, the authoritarian government falls.  Happier ending.

Exodus from Egypt – happier ending, from despair to celebration, miyagon lesimcha, from slavery to freedom, me’avdut lecherut.

And so despite the fact that we often find ourselves walking in a valley of deepest darkness, ‘though I walk in the valley under the dark shadow…’, we keep hope alive knowing that the sun is just over the valley wall, and will rise.