Dear TBZ community:
In 1955 Martin Luther King gave a sermon titled The Death of Evil Upon the Seashore. He ended his sermon with a story of a visit he and Coretta took to the southernmost point of India. As he tells it, one evening they went out to the farthest tip of the beach. They sat together surrounded and “enthralled by the vastness of the ocean and its terrifying immensities.”
Facing west, they watched the sun descend into the sea “like a great cosmic ball of fire.” Then, just as it was almost out of sight... they turned around and saw the moon rising out of the same sea, “its radiant light shining supreme.” Dr. King realized: Isn’t this what always happens in life?:
“We all have experiences when the light of day goes out and we are left standing in some dark and desolate midnight—moments when our noblest dreams are shattered and our highest hopes are blasted; moments when we are the victims of some tragic injustice and some terrible exploitation. During these moments our spirits are almost eaten away by gloom and despair; we feel that there is no light anywhere. But ever and again, when these moments come, we find ourselves taking the eastward look, only to discover that there is another light which shines even in the darkness.
This would be a miserable, terrible and unbearable world if God had only one light. But we can be consoled by the fact that God has two lights—a light to guide us in the brightness of the day when hopes are fulfilled and circumstances are favorable and a light to guide us in the darkness of midnight when frustrations are real and the slumbering giants of gloom and hopelessness are on the verge of rising up in our souls. Therefore we never need to walk in darkness.”
For us, during this time of transition, from one administration to another and from awaiting a vaccine to awaiting to be vaccinated, I imagine that many of us have felt moments of despair —moments when we have felt that there is no light to be found, anywhere. In these moments, we can look to the east and discover that there is another light which shines even in darkness.
Last week, what should have been a simple, perhaps even boring day of counting the electoral votes to confirm President Biden and Vice-President Harris, became a day of utter darkness, of violence, anger and horror. Next week, as the Presidential Inauguration approaches, we hold hope and we begin to see the light starting to shine.
We know that this darkness, that has been fomenting for a long time, will not magically disappear on January 20. And although we may fear that there is darkness still to come, we have the capacity in the midst of darkness to find light.
I imagine that the people of Israel, as the story is told in this week’s parasha Vaera, were also holding and experiencing this kind of tension. God speaks, through Moshe, and tells the Israelites that they will be liberated from slavery, but the text tells us that they were not ready.
Exodus 6:9
וַיְדַבֵּ֥ר מֹשֶׁ֛ה כֵּ֖ן אֶל־בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל וְלֹ֤א שָֽׁמְעוּ֙ אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֔ה מִקֹּ֣צֶר ר֔וּחַ וּמֵעֲבֹדָ֖ה קָשָֽׁה
But when Moses told this to the Israelites, they would not listen to Moses, their spirits crushed by cruel bondage.
Thirteen century French commentator Chizkuni, explains:
“but they did not listen (accept) what Moses had said to them;” they were too afraid to accept what Moses said to them on account of the recent worsening of their condition as a result of Moses’ intervention and Pharaoh’s reaction to this. Pharaoh had succeeded at this stage in making the people forget their dreams of freedom or at least improved conditions, by burdening them with additional hard labour” (as translate by Sefaria)
Pharaoh’s success in making the people forget their dreams of freedom, shuttered their eyes from looking east and seeing the light that exists even in the darkness. It took time, and lots of miraculous acts, to convince not just Pharaoh to liberate the people, but to open the eyes of the Israelites so they could see, in the light, that they deserved freedom; that they could walk away from bondage.
It has been a long four years of darkness and it has been especially a long year—yes, almost a year of this pandemic. The path ahead for us will continue to be hard and challenging. This will be a time of reckoning for our country, one that will bring and stir up perhaps more pain and reveal more darkness. There is a long journey to accountability, reconciliation and unity. But our dreams and hopes are not shattered, and we can not allow them to be shattered. Instead our dreams and hopes, shining like a moon in a dark winter sky, must continue to guide our path.
“Hope is not naive, and hope is not an opiate. Hope may be the single greatest act of defiance against a politics of pessimism and against a culture of despair. Because what hope does for us is it lifts us out of the container that holds us and constrains us from the outside, and says, "You can dream and think expansively again. That they cannot control in you."
At this time of confusing feelings and experiences for many of us, holding onto hope and optimism can help us move forward. The people of Israel did leave Egypt. The people of Israel did journey along a hard and challenging path. But the people of Israel kept their eyes on the light ahead, because they knew the Promised Land beckoned, perhaps not for them, but for their generations to come.
I invite you to join us tonight for Shabbat Nariya, Rav Tiferet will share with us words of Torah in honor of Martin Luther King Day. I also invite you to join us for a special Boker Tov TBZ (our daily TBZ morning practice of prayer and gratitude) in honor of Inauguration Day led by TBZ members. (See the information below).
As last week, I continue to hold the verse from Psalm 30:6:
בָּ֭עֶרֶב יָלִ֥ין בֶּ֗כִי וְלַבֹּ֥קֶר רִנָּֽה – We may lie down weeping at nightfall, but joy comes in the morning.
May joy come in the morning after this dark and long night.
May this Shabbat bring renewal and blessings to all of you and your loved ones.
May we find strength, courage, and patience, and open our hearts with generosity.
May all those who are ill find healing.
May we have a joyful and restful Shabbat!
Shabbat Shalom,
