By Ezra N. Rich
This Jewish Thought of the Week is dedicated in memory of Miriam S. Rich, z”l, on the occasion of her 95th heavenly birthday earlier this week on January 4. This spring, her great-granddaughter, Miriam B. Rich, will celebrate her Bat Mitzvah at Temple Beth Tzedek.
As we begin Shemot, the Book of Exodus, this week, many in the Jewish world feel that, like our ancestors, we find ourselves in a different situation than where our last book ended. While we wish to put the toothpaste back in the tube, as Israel recalibrates after two painful years of war, it seems that the evil unleashed on that dark Simchat Torah of Oct. 7th has gained an unnerving foothold globally, with growing acceptance of Jew-hatred in many troubling forms.
While we read the Torah in synagogue each week, different elements of the text resonate with us based on current events, our stage of life, and many other factors. In the case of Shemot, we are familiar with the overall story of the Exodus as we retell it annually around the Seder table every Pesach (Passover).
Yet, one verse we might miss at the start of this epic take is: “But the more they were oppressed, the more they increased and spread out, so that the [Egyptians] came to dread the Israelites” (Exodus 1:12).
Spiritual Grit
It is in passages like this that we can draw perspective and strength. In his work Studies in Spirituality, the late Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, z”l, emphasizes, “The worse things get, the stronger we become. Jews are the people who not only survive but thrive in adversity. Jewish history is not merely a story of Jews enduring catastrophes that might have spelled the end for less tenacious groups. It is that after every disaster, Jews renewed themselves. They discovered some hitherto hidden reservoir of spirit that fueled new forms of collective self-expression as the carriers of God’s message to the world.”
My late grandmother, Miriam S. Rich, z”l, (1931-2008) imparted to me the importance of knowing where one came from to know where one is going. While change and admitting mistakes are difficult, I increasingly feel compelled both to embrace our sacred history and to acknowledge that more will be required of me to live and transmit our Jewish values than was the case just a few years ago. As the Sage Ben Hei Hei teaches us in the Mishnah (Pirkei Avot 5:23), “According to the labor is the reward.”
Our Namesake
Jewish history is full of tragedies and an improbable ability to continue our sacred mission. Rabbi Sacks’ eloquence, which continues to inspire us five years after his passing, puts our ability to move forward in perspective:
“Where did it come from, this Jewish ability to turn weakness into strength, adversity into advantage, darkness into light? It goes back to the moment in which our people received its name, Israel. It was then, as Yaakov (Jacob) wrestled alone at night with an angel, that as dawn broke, his adversary begged him to let him go. ‘I will not let you go until you bless me,’ said Yaakov (Gen. 32:26).”
“We may be tired and on the brink of exhaustion. We may find ourselves limping, as did Yaakov, yet we will not let our adversary go until we have exacted a blessing from the encounter. This turned out to be not a minor and temporary concession. It became the basis for his new name and our identity. Israel, the people who ‘wrestled with God and man and prevailed” (Gen. 32:28), is the nation that grows stronger with each conflict and catastrophe.”
Together, we will forge ahead. The Jewish people will overcome adversity once again, as we have so many times before.
Ezra N. Rich is the Secretary of the Buffalo Jewish Federation. This Shabbat, he is honored to lein (chant) his Bar Mitzvah Torah portion of Shemot at Temple Beth Tzedek.
