While we watch the Senate vote
to acquit and Mitt Romney’s courageous vote to convict, Kirk Douglas, otherwise
known as Spartacus to my son passed away at 103. As we watched the news, the
first sentences about Kirk Douglas could have been the first sentences about my
Grandfather. “Born in 1916 in upstate New York to Russian Jewish Immigrants…” Both men changed their name, Kirk Douglas
changed his name from Issur Danielovitch,
and my grandfather changed the family’s last name from Lifshitz to Lipson. Yes, my grandfather would have been 103 years
old. My grandfather’s parents arrived five years before Kirk’s parents did, but who's counting. However as I listened
to the news about Kirk Douglas’s passing, he was once quoted as saying that the
luckiest thing that ever happened to him was the courage his parents had to
leave Russia and come to North America. My grandfather (z’l) used to tell me
the same thing. While they might not have been the best parents in the world,
he always thankful for their courage to leave the miserable life they knew for
the unknown possibility of a new life, a life that could be worse or could be
better.
This
Shabbat we read from Parsha Beshallach This Shabbat is known as Shabbat Shira (Shabbat
of Songs) because of the "songs" or poetry in both the Parsha,
Beshallach, and in the Haftarah. In Parsha Beshallach, B'nai Yisroel finally
leaves Egypt. Pharaoh sends them out and they hurriedly leave. Three days
later, B'nai Yisroel arrives at the Yam Suf, the Reed Sea, which is along the
Mediterranean coast. With Pharaoh's army behind them, and the Sea in front,
B'nai Yisroel is trapped. Then the sea opens up, B'nai Yisroel crosses through
and arrives safely on the other side. The Egyptian army drowns in the sea as the waters come crashing down. Out of joy and relief, B'nai Yisroel
composes Shirat HaYam, the Song of the Sea. No sooner are they finished
celebrating, then they begin complaining about the lack of water and food. God
provides water and Manna. However, B'nai Yisroel is still not safe. Now they
are attacked by the indigenous tribe, the Amalekites. B'nai Yisroel must put
aside its hunger and thirst and fight for their lives. They do, and they are
victorious. The Parsha ends with God commanding Moshe to blot out the very
existence of the Amalekites.
Underlying
the miracles and wonders of B’nai Yisroel’s departure from Egypt: the cloud by
day, the pillar of fire by night, the splitting of the Yam Suf, and the Manna;
is the portrayal of B’nai Yisroel and the damage wrought by centuries of
slavery. They cry out when stuck between the Egyptian army and the Yam Suf. They
cry out after their song of joy for water and food. They are hesitant to move
forward and they actually think that life was better in Egypt than whatever
they are about to immediately experience and face in the decades to come. Amid
the spiritual, psychological, and emotional damage of centuries of slavery;
there are the vestiges of something very different. B’nai Yisroel displays moments of greatness,
profound faith, and trust in God. ChaZaL, the Talmudic Sages, consider the very
act of leaving and following Moshe to be an act of profound faith and courage: “R’Eliezer
said: When Moshe said to them ‘Arise and Go Forth’, they did not say: ‘How can
we go forth into the wilderness when we have no sustenance for the way? But
they had faith and followed after Moshe.” Yes, they complained, groused, expressed
skepticism and yearned for Egypt, but when push came to shove, they left, they
entered into the water, pitched their tents and they packed it all up.
Perhaps
we, the descendants need to be reminded that it is not a straight line from
slavery to freedom. It is not a straight line from leaving Europe to arriving
in New York or Toronto and suddenly life was simple and terrific. The courage
they are ancestors displayed occurred when doubt crept in when they complained
but they didn’t stop moving forward. The same holds us as we embark on the
paths of our lives. Our lives are not a straight line. The transition from one
phase of life to another is full of fits and starts. However perhaps the less
we learn, the less we teach our children is to have the courage to face the future,
to face the unknown and keep moving towards it with a supreme faith that we
have the tools to deal with the future.
Peace,
Rav Yitz
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