Now Is The Time Past Believing; The Child Has Relinquished The Reign (Robert Hunter & Phil Lesh - "The Eleven")

          Well, Covid arrived at our home. Despite being doubly vaccinated, despite a booster, despite mask-wearing, our son managed to contract Covid. He has remained quarantined in his room all week. Thankfully, no one else has expressed any symptoms and we have tested negative. When our son first complained about feeling congested, a sore throat, and chills, and then tested positive, both his mother and I wondered how did this happen? After a few minutes of wondering “how”; we both quickly realized that “how” no longer mattered. All that mattered was the fact that he is completely vaccinated with a booster and statistics, science, and all the empirical evidence indicated that his symptoms should not worsen, he should not require hospitalization and he should be feeling better shortly. So we monitor his symptoms and we continue to place our faith in science, empirical data, and God. 

          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 left Egypt. Pharaoh sent them out and they hurriedly departed. Three days later, B'nai Yisroel arrived at the Yam Suf, The Reed Sea,  along the Mediterranean coast. With Pharaoh's army behind them and the Sea in front, B'nai Yisroel was trapped. Eventually, the sea opened up, B'nai Yisroel crossed through and arrived safely on the other side. The Egyptian army was caught in the sea as its waters came crashing down. Out of joy and relief, B'nai Yisroel composed Shirat HaYam, The Song of the Sea. No sooner are they finished celebrating than they complained about the lack of water and food. God provided water and Manna. However, B'nai Yisroel still felt safe. Now they were attacked by the indigenous tribe, the Amalekites. Putting aside its hunger and thirst, B'nai Yisroel fought for its life and eventually won. The Parsha ends with God commanding Moshe to blot out the very existence of the Amalekites.

          From the time B’nai Yisroel complains to Moshe about the oncoming Egyptian army and Yam Suf that lies before them, to the lack of water, lack of food, and lack of meat, one could understand the entire Parsha as God testing B’nai Yisroel’s faith. With all the complaining, with the refrain of the people cynically asking Moshe if God brought them out of Egypt to have them die in the wilderness, or die on the banks of the Yam Suf; it is very easy to view these newly released slaves as not at all ready to engage in a covenantal relationship with God since they lack faith. However, the Midrash in Shmot Rabbah teaches us that Nachshon ben Aminadov, from the tribe of Judah, went first into the Reed Sea even before it split open. In fact, the waters didn’t open up until he was completely submerged. Only then did the waters open due to his faith. Only then did the rest of B’nai Yisroel follow.  The sea didn’t part because of Moshe’s praying on behalf of the people; it split because of one man’s Emunah, one man’s faith that taking the next step forward would ultimately prove to be the step that saved a nation.  As a result of Nachshon’s faith, the tribe of Judah would have dominion over Israel.

  Yes, we worried about our son dealing with Covid. As far as a test of faith goes, perhaps our test was the equivalent to Nachshon Ben Aminadov wading into the Reed Sea up to his ankles. I continue to be in awe of those who, like Nachshon Ben Aminadov is fully submerged before their faith is rewarded and their circumstances change. I am always intrigued by those who have the ability to keep faith under the most trying circumstances. Obviously, some circumstances are much more difficult than others. A family that must always contend with poverty, and homelessness, a family member with a terminal disease, anyone who must contend with the daily trauma of abuse, and war, or anyone who has managed to survive such trauma, all of these people have had far more difficult circumstances than I could ever hope to imagine.  I am struck by those who have faith in the decency and goodness of humanity when they themselves carry the scars of those impossibly difficult circumstances. When I speak to Holocaust survivors, I am in awe of those who struggled with and kept their faith in the idea of the fundamental decency of people, despite the pain they have experienced by the murder of a loved one at the hands of those who don’t want to co-exist. Just as we learn from Nachshon who kept his faith in God despite being fully submerged underwater, we can learn from those who kept their faith in spite of experiencing incredibly sad, painful, and gut-wrenching circumstances. Having that sense of perspective, helped us to manage the test in our faith. 

Peace,
Rav Yitz 

Please Forget You Knew My Name, My Darling, Sugaree (Robert Hunter & Jerry Garcia - "Sugaree')

            According to the school calendar, winter break began earlier this week.  With my wife and son both off from school, we drove our son to his grandparents in Upstate New York. My wife and I continued our drive to New York City.  We planned to pick up one daughter who was also beginning her semester break from university and visit our other daughter. It was also an opportunity to visit my sister and my wife’s aunt. However, there were some clues that our time in New York City was going to be a bit different. ‘ My niece spent her final days of school attending “online” classes before her winter break. My sister spent her last few days of work online before her winter break. Several Broadway shows were canceled, Saturday Night Live was not live in front of a studio audience, but rather live before a skeleton stage crew. Sporting events were being canceled throughout North America.  As I walked around Manhattan, I noticed a curious sight. I kept seeing lines of people form. No, these lines were not in front of Madison Square Garden or Broadway theatres, these lines were on various street corners.  It turned out that the lines were of people waiting to get tested for Covid. Indeed, with the powerful resurgence of the Delta variant and the new arrival of the Omicron variant, the number of people becoming ill quickly grew and the number of people dying has started to increase as well. During this resurgence, the empirical evidence has been clear. Those who are fully vaccinated with a booster may contract Covid, but their illness is relatively mild with an extremely low chance of hospitalization and death. Those who are unvaccinated suffer a far worse fate with a 20%  increased chance of hospitalization or death. As I walked around New York and saw people standing in line for testing, walking into pharmacies for their vaccinations, I thought about those hundreds of thousands of people who died needlessly because they either waited too long to get vaccinated or they refused to get vaccinated. These people had names. They had families, They had friends. Their lives touched others’ lives.  Yet through ignorance, naivete, hubris, obstinancy, or procrastination, their awful choice turned each of these people into a statistic, into one number of the over 800,000 people who have died from Covid in North America.

           This week we begin the second book of the Torah; the Book of Exodus – Sefer Shmot, literally translated into “The Book of Names”. This second book begins with the Parsha Shmot. The first few verses essentially recount the ending of the Book of Genesis. Shmot re-iterates the names of Jacobs’ sons and the fact that Jacob and his sons came to Egypt. We are reminded that Jacob had already died. We are reminded that the next generation, Jacob’s sons (including Yosef) passed away. A new king assumes the mantle of power and does not know of Yosef’s great deeds. Instead, the new Pharaoh believed that this foreign population was tantamount to a fifth column. Therefore this tribe must be enslaved to prevent their uniting with Egypt’s external enemies. We read about the birth and growth of Moses, and his flight to Midian. We read about his becoming a husband, a shepherd, a father. We learn of his epiphany with the Burning Bush and God’s instructions plan to redeem B’nai Israel from slavery and Moshe’s role in the redemptive process.

          Considering, that this is a completely new Sefer, a new Book of the Torah and that the dominant theme of this new book is redemption from slavery and the national revelation at Mt. Sinai, why should the text be known as a Book of Names and why should it begin with a re-iteration of the names of Jacobs’ sons: V’Eilah Shmot  B’nai Yisroel Ha’Baim Mitzrayaima Eit Yaakov Ish U’Veito Ba’u- And these are the name of the Children of Israel who were coming to Egypt with Jacob, each man, and his household came, Reuven Shimon, Levi, Yehuda; Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin; Dan Naphtali; Gad and Asher. We don’t normally begin a new book with a conjunction, especially the conjunction “And”.  Instead of beginning the Parsha and the Book of Shmot with Eilah (These), the Parsha begins with V’Eilah (And these).  Based upon the Sefer Breishit's conclusion, the sons, along with Jacob, arrived in Egypt decades before (Gen. 46:8-30). Why do these opening verses repeat the concluding verses of the previous book? RaMBaN, (the great 12th-century Spanish doctor, commentator, and Halachist), and R’ Bachya (late 13th early 14th century Torah commentator), explain that the conjunction which begins the Parsha purposefully connects this new book to the previous book.  “B’nai Yisroel”, the term now used for the extended tribe owes their existence and their future existence to V’Eilah –“and these”…. these sons of Jacob, these sons who were “with Jacob” in his descent into Egypt. Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsh (19th Cent. Germany) explains that these twelve sons and their resulting twelve tribal families were intimately attached to Jacob, and this was the secret of Israel’s strength and survival in Egypt. Although each son had his own family, he remained connected and united with Jacob. Implicit to these opening verses we understand that the secret to B’nai Israel’s survival in Egypt as slaves: past, present, and future were connected through values and covenant of the name of Jacobs twelve sons, Jacob, and his father and grandfather, Isaac and Abraham. The strength of those connections, the strength of being connected to the past with an eye towards a hopeful and positive future kept B’nai Israel spiritually free despite physical hardship and bondage.

          The names explicitly mentioned, Jacob and his son’s, stood for something. Implicitly, these names stood for and symbolized a covenantal relationship with God. These names stood for inheriting a land, as well as making a great name for itself. For their descendants, the names gave them an identity, an identity that kept them spiritually free despite their physical bondage. Every one of the over 800,000 deaths due to Covid had a name, a life, and touched others' lives. Yet those who died needlessly because they refused to be vaccinated because they erroneously thought that their personal liberties were the issue, suffered from a form of enslavement.   However, there is another kind of slavery: slavery to misinformation, slavery to obstinancy, naivete, ignorance, that carries with it a very real possibility of becoming an unnecessary statistic, or another unnecessary death. Perhaps all the unavoidable deaths are the greatest tragedy of this Pandemic.  

Peace
Rav Yitz