January 13th: Shemot
THIS WEEK IN THE TORAH
Rabbi David E. Ostrich
A short supply of historical knowledge is more than just a pedantic concern. It can skew our thinking about our lives and bring about needless despondency. An example is the recent and persistent chorus about things being worse than they used to be. Our time is certainly unique—as have been all periods of history, but are our problems really the worst?
There is no doubt that we face real problems. The tragedies and calamities that humanity faces are dire and in many ways existentially challenging. However, it does not take a lot of historical knowledge to realize that humanity has been facing these kinds of difficulties for a long, long, long time. Take the Hebrews’ experience in Egypt. In Genesis, we are welcomed into Egypt by Pharaoh, and we find a tranquil place of refuge from the famine. However, after a few centuries, Egypt gets a “new king…who did not know Joseph,” and the Hebrews’ Egyptian experience turns into a nightmare:
“A new king arose over Egypt who did not know Joseph. And he said to his people, ‘Look, the Israelite people are much too numerous for us. Let us deal shrewdly with them, so that they may not increase; otherwise in the event of war they may join our enemies in fighting against us and rise up from the ground.’” So they set taskmasters over them to oppress them with forced labor; and they built store cities for Pharoah: Pithom and Rameses.” (Exodus 1.8-11)
Pretty soon, things get even worse as Pharaoh orders the Hebrew midwives to kill all the infant boys as they are being born. When the God-fearing midwives refuse, Pharaoh orders his people to seek out and murder all the Hebrew boys. “Every boy you shall throw into the Nile…”
One can make a list of our oppressors: Egyptians, Assyrians, Babylonians, Seleucids, and Romans in the ancient world, Crusaders and Inquisitors in the medieval world, and Cossacks, Nazis, Soviets, and terrorists in the modern world. However, we are not alone in our victimization. Many other ethnic and religious groups have suffered the plague of intolerance and violence. Hate and oppression are not new phenomena.
In recent years, many of us have learned about the shameful history of race massacres in early 20th Century America. The destruction of Tulsa’s “Black Wall Street” is just one example of mobs attacking Black neighborhoods and bringing hate, destruction, and death. Such terrible incidents are reminiscent of pogroms against Jews in Russia, the Turkish genocide against the Armenians, the Japanese “Rape” of Nanking, Idi Amin’s massacres of Ugandan Christians, and Myanmar’s Buddhist massacres of the Rohingya Muslims. However, things are different today. When the protests exploded after the public murder of George Floyd, the demonstrations were not met by White mobs and pogroms against Black neighborhoods. As despicable as it is to gerrymander and decrease the political power of minority groups, people of color in the United States can vote and hold office. As obnoxious as it is to prohibit volunteers bringing water to voters as they wait in long Georgia lines, those sweaty citizens can vote. There are real problems in our democracy, and we have a lot of improving to do, but anyone who says that “nothing has changed” or that “things are worse now” is not paying attention.
The same can be said for political divisions and political anger. Think back to the draft riots during the Civil War. Idealists in the North believed that the Southern insurgency needed to be stopped, but lots of the potential soldiers did not want to be the ones to fight the war. Of course, the Civil War itself is a pretty good example of terrible conflict within our country. Jumping forward, do not forget the violence and lack of trust which typified the early labor movement as workers pitted themselves against the Robber Barons and “Big Business.” Do not forget the foment of the Depression Era—with demagogues like Huey P. Long, Theodore Bilbo, and Father Charles Coughlin attracting large crowds and threatening democracy. Do not forget Senator Joe McCarthy’s “anti-Communist” crusade, the Civil Rights Movement, or the Anti-War Movement. Political fury is not a new historical phenomenon.
We humans have been fighting for fairness and tolerance and peace for a long, long time, and, though the challenges continue, we should realize that we have had some noticeable successes. While there is something in the human heart which is tempted to the Sitra Achra / the Dark or Impure Side, there is also something in the human heart which inclines to the Sitra d’Kedushah / the Side of Holiness and Good. Temptation tempts, our wills are weak, and the struggle for goodness and justice is continually necessary. The Bible’s “Golden Rule” and the similar teachings in religions all over the world were not given out of context. “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Leviticus 19.18) was included because we need the reminder.
The message of Exodus is particularly relevant. People will do evil, but God does not approve. In fact, God works through both miracles and human angels to make things right. God is the power through which humans understand goodness, fairness, and peace—and through which they work to achieve these blessed states. This, in the theology of Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan, is salvation, and this is the challenge for every generation.
I believe that we can face the dangers and tragedies of our time without losing hope. The challenges are great. The evil and injustice we face are real. The tragedies of our lives are terrible. But the formulas for bringing goodness into the world have been with us for thousands of years. God is with us in our struggles, and we can be angels.