Over two hundred years of exile and slavery in Egypt almost destroyed the Jewish people. What has two thousand years of exile wrought?
Dealing with the daily challenges and traumas of life in exile has lowered the eyesight of a people who have been called to keep their eyes focused on a much higher purpose and directed towards a much loftier vision. It has made many of them feel unworthy of anything other than exile.
As is the case around the world, Israel is experiencing a deep and traumatic crisis in leadership and direction. One has lost count of the number of cases involving corruption and wrongdoing that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's name has been linked to. The minister of defense, the IDF Chief of Staff and the heads of the police department are all under threats of removal from office. The Tax Authority is being investigated for corruption and there are persistent rumors of misdealing in the Ministry of Justice and the Supreme Court. The rot is spreading quickly.
Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak Kook predicted that if secular Zionism becomes disconnected from Judaism's eternal vision, then it would crumble and disintegrate. The shell of this protective acorn would be destined to decompose. Yet, its disintegration would release the healthy seed to take root and begin to blossom and flourish.
The darkness seems to be creeping into every corner of this land, and a sense of morose and hopelessness seems to be gripping every heart. Throughout the land there is a foreboding sense that this people has lost the strength to surge forward through history.
That perception is utterly mistaken.
Over three thousand years ago, a young Moshe (Moses) ventures out of Pharaoh?s palace to explore the state of his people. He sees a Hebrew slave being beaten almost to death. After looking around and seeing that ?there was no man around?(Exodus 2:12), he intervenes and kills the assailant. Later, he encounters two Hebrew slaves fighting each other. When he tries again to intervene, he is chastised by one of them and reference is made to the killing of the Egyptian slave-master. Moshe escapes to Midyan when he realizes that "the thing is known." (Exodus 2:14)
Our sages explain that "the thing" that became known was not just the fact of the dead Egyptian, but also an answer to a question that was perplexing Moshe for a very long time. How low had this people sunk? Were they incapable of raising themselves to achieve liberation? After seeing that there was no man who would be "man enough" to stop the murderous beating of a fellow Hebrew, and that two Hebrew men would refuse to be reconciled, he began to believe that this people was beyond salvage.
So, Moses escapes to Midyan and he is not heard from for over sixty years. In his despondency, he escapes into anonymity.
It is only after the age of eighty that he is confronted with the burning bush on Horev, the mountain of G-d. Moshe makes a determined decision to investigate this mystery (Exodus 3:3): "And Moses said: 'I will turn aside now, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt.'" With that determined step out of anonymity, Moshe receives a clear message that just as this small burning bush was not to be consumed, the people of Israel, his people, were not to be consumed by the fires of slavery, either. Moshe is clearly being told not to lose faith in his people. They are capable of, and destined for, greater things.
In the midst of the darkness that has permeated sectors of this land, I have been looking for hints of the burning bush around us. To my great relief, these hints are everywhere to be found. This week, I attended the wedding of Yoni and Bat-Ami. Many of the important rabbis of the religious-Zionist public were in attendance; yet, the main focus of all who attended was "the burning bush" in the middle of the hall.
The circles within circles of dancers were filled with a frenetic energy that would not be extinguished. The band stopped playing, yet the dancing continued. The food was served and removed, and still the dancing continued. That dancing was celebrating the new couple, yet it was also a reaffirmation of faith and determination, an antidote to the darkness in the air. Every individual in the hall could not help but be drawn to the warmth and healing power of this fire that would seemingly not be extinguished. It was an assurance that the vision of this people has not died. While in the corridors of power this vision may have been clouded over by the enticements of position and prestige, the healthy heart of Israel is still beating.
These last couple of weeks, the Old City of Jerusalem has been inundated with hundreds of young participants of the Birthright program, many of them visiting Israel for the first time. There were groups organized by the Orthodox NCSY movement, the Reform Kesher organization, the Conservative movement, Chabad, Young Judea, B'nei Akiva and many others. In a most dramatic way, we were able to discern the flames of that burning bush in almost every one of those young people's eyes. Another confirmation that the exile may have dimmed the fires, but it would not and could not extinguish that eternal flame.
Throughout the country, the Bayit Yehudi centers run by Ma'ayanot HaYeshuah and the OU Israel Center have been inundated by calls and requests from Israelis from all walks of life yearning to discover more ways to express the Jewish flame burning in their soul. Again, these are sparks from that unquenchable burning bush.
All these are mere sparks, but together they become the flame of that burning bush. In the cold eyes of the cynical and the doom-sayers, such a flame will only be smothered by the heavy blanket of the forces of mediocrity .Yet, history has proven time and again that the direction of history and destiny is determined by the few with passion and vision, not by the many who may have lost their sense of direction.
Israel's battered and faltering leadership will continue to sputter and spew pronouncements, but the healthy part of this country is reaching and yearning for much more. The burning bush is indeed eternal.
Dealing with the daily challenges and traumas of life in exile has lowered the eyesight of a people who have been called to keep their eyes focused on a much higher purpose and directed towards a much loftier vision. It has made many of them feel unworthy of anything other than exile.
As is the case around the world, Israel is experiencing a deep and traumatic crisis in leadership and direction. One has lost count of the number of cases involving corruption and wrongdoing that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's name has been linked to. The minister of defense, the IDF Chief of Staff and the heads of the police department are all under threats of removal from office. The Tax Authority is being investigated for corruption and there are persistent rumors of misdealing in the Ministry of Justice and the Supreme Court. The rot is spreading quickly.
Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak Kook predicted that if secular Zionism becomes disconnected from Judaism's eternal vision, then it would crumble and disintegrate. The shell of this protective acorn would be destined to decompose. Yet, its disintegration would release the healthy seed to take root and begin to blossom and flourish.
The darkness seems to be creeping into every corner of this land, and a sense of morose and hopelessness seems to be gripping every heart. Throughout the land there is a foreboding sense that this people has lost the strength to surge forward through history.
That perception is utterly mistaken.
Over three thousand years ago, a young Moshe (Moses) ventures out of Pharaoh?s palace to explore the state of his people. He sees a Hebrew slave being beaten almost to death. After looking around and seeing that ?there was no man around?(Exodus 2:12), he intervenes and kills the assailant. Later, he encounters two Hebrew slaves fighting each other. When he tries again to intervene, he is chastised by one of them and reference is made to the killing of the Egyptian slave-master. Moshe escapes to Midyan when he realizes that "the thing is known." (Exodus 2:14)
Our sages explain that "the thing" that became known was not just the fact of the dead Egyptian, but also an answer to a question that was perplexing Moshe for a very long time. How low had this people sunk? Were they incapable of raising themselves to achieve liberation? After seeing that there was no man who would be "man enough" to stop the murderous beating of a fellow Hebrew, and that two Hebrew men would refuse to be reconciled, he began to believe that this people was beyond salvage.
So, Moses escapes to Midyan and he is not heard from for over sixty years. In his despondency, he escapes into anonymity.
It is only after the age of eighty that he is confronted with the burning bush on Horev, the mountain of G-d. Moshe makes a determined decision to investigate this mystery (Exodus 3:3): "And Moses said: 'I will turn aside now, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt.'" With that determined step out of anonymity, Moshe receives a clear message that just as this small burning bush was not to be consumed, the people of Israel, his people, were not to be consumed by the fires of slavery, either. Moshe is clearly being told not to lose faith in his people. They are capable of, and destined for, greater things.
In the midst of the darkness that has permeated sectors of this land, I have been looking for hints of the burning bush around us. To my great relief, these hints are everywhere to be found. This week, I attended the wedding of Yoni and Bat-Ami. Many of the important rabbis of the religious-Zionist public were in attendance; yet, the main focus of all who attended was "the burning bush" in the middle of the hall.
The circles within circles of dancers were filled with a frenetic energy that would not be extinguished. The band stopped playing, yet the dancing continued. The food was served and removed, and still the dancing continued. That dancing was celebrating the new couple, yet it was also a reaffirmation of faith and determination, an antidote to the darkness in the air. Every individual in the hall could not help but be drawn to the warmth and healing power of this fire that would seemingly not be extinguished. It was an assurance that the vision of this people has not died. While in the corridors of power this vision may have been clouded over by the enticements of position and prestige, the healthy heart of Israel is still beating.
These last couple of weeks, the Old City of Jerusalem has been inundated with hundreds of young participants of the Birthright program, many of them visiting Israel for the first time. There were groups organized by the Orthodox NCSY movement, the Reform Kesher organization, the Conservative movement, Chabad, Young Judea, B'nei Akiva and many others. In a most dramatic way, we were able to discern the flames of that burning bush in almost every one of those young people's eyes. Another confirmation that the exile may have dimmed the fires, but it would not and could not extinguish that eternal flame.
Throughout the country, the Bayit Yehudi centers run by Ma'ayanot HaYeshuah and the OU Israel Center have been inundated by calls and requests from Israelis from all walks of life yearning to discover more ways to express the Jewish flame burning in their soul. Again, these are sparks from that unquenchable burning bush.
All these are mere sparks, but together they become the flame of that burning bush. In the cold eyes of the cynical and the doom-sayers, such a flame will only be smothered by the heavy blanket of the forces of mediocrity .Yet, history has proven time and again that the direction of history and destiny is determined by the few with passion and vision, not by the many who may have lost their sense of direction.
Israel's battered and faltering leadership will continue to sputter and spew pronouncements, but the healthy part of this country is reaching and yearning for much more. The burning bush is indeed eternal.