Erev Va-Era 5769 Obama Rabbi Hillel Athias-Robles 23 January 2009

For many generations the Torah served as the historical chronicle of our people. As views on biblical accuracy and authorship changed with time to many, so did their approach to the text. For me, regardless, the Bible still maintains a connection to history.  It does so because, as our Sacred Myth, it encapsulates universal feelings, values, and experiences – some of which we may disagree with but many of which still keep us awed. Its stories have a voice that continues to engage with current events – and I see the situations they described as constantly being repeated throughout history.

The Unimaginable is Possible
In this week’s Torah portion, Va’era, we read about how Moses and his brother, wrapped in the decrepit shrouds of bondsmen, brazenly stepped into Pharaoh's palace...a palace standing magnanimous, built through the sweat and pain of Hebrew servitude. There Moses valiantly proclaimed those words which have echoed for eternity, resonating throughout history whenever someone has felt bereft of his or her liberty. Let my people go.   But leaping beyond the annals of ancient history stands a building, majestic in its whiteness, whose proud columns were also erected through the toil of slaves. These men, subjugated solely because of the colour of their skin, served as stonemasons, brick-makers, quarrymen and carpenters.  This week the whole world bore witness as to how one man, of the very same colour, walked regally into that building to herald a new era.

From the Exodus story we see that the unimaginable can easily become a reality. Moses, a man with a speech impediment who would normally be marginalised by others, through his eloquent orations has inspired humanity for generations. Moses, a man born into the humble shack of the enslaved, stood to face kings and a corrupt regime. I have always felt privileged that in my lifetime I have seen great historic landmarks which seemed to defy all possibility, (even if it's been through the telly) – the Perestroika, the Fall of the Berlin Wall, the End of Apartheid, and now, together with billions of people the world over, I have seen Barack Obama being sworn in as the first black president in America.  Who could have imagined it? As he mentioned in his inauguration speech – only 60 years ago in America his father might not have been served in a local restaurant, and now he stood to take the oath to become its leader, to take the reins of a fading nation and direct it to its future.

The Darkness of Night
The Israelites in Egypt were living through the darkest of night. Institutionally slaughtered, deprived of food and water, bound to a labour desensitised to the plight of the labourer, no one could see the light at the end of the tunnel. According to Jewish mystics, their spiritual unrest was such that, had they remained in servitude for a few more moments, they couldn’t have been rescued.  Nevertheless, when time seemed the gloomiest, bechatzi halailah - at midnight, they were redeemed, and marched out to become a great nation. At the end of his  inauguration speech, President Obama described his country as being in the winter of hardship, but together he enjoined his fellow citizens to stand up to face the icy currents and the storms that may come, and only then could they continue the journey towards a promising Spring.

Closure and Exposure

The crossing of a new threshold compels to a closure with the past. When the Hebrews wanted to sever their ties with Egypt, as usually happens when a people want their independence or a change in the status quo, they had to justify their position. An exposure was needed of the Egyptian ways, an explanation as to why Egyptian norms were incongruent with their ethos.

Many liberal individuals find difficulty when reading about the Ten Plagues which afflicted Egypt, about the suffering of innocent Egyptian civilians due to the erred choices of their rulers. Because of this, some have removed the plagues from their Seder service, and still others try to explain them away as natural phenomena. My approach sometimes is to read them allegorically. To me they can represent an exposure of Egyptian corruption, a reflection of their deeds, and not necessarily historical events. The Sages explained that the plagues were midah-keneged-midah, measure for measure. The Nile turned sanguine to remind the Egyptians of all the children’s blood which they spilt. Frogs burst forth from the water, entering Egyptian habitations and contaminating their food. This was because, according to rabbinic legend, the Egyptians would ask the Israelites to gather vermin and loathsome creatures with the sole purpose of humiliating them. Furthermore, according to Rabbi Simson Raphael Hirsch, the frogs prevented the Egyptians from enjoying their home, bed and board without being molested, just as they had denied their servants these basic commodities. And so continue the rabbis to explain all the plagues.

This necessity for closure and exposure which I have been talking about continues till this day. Only when the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa revealed the atrocities of yore were people able to put the past behind and create a united South Africa. In his few days in office President Obama has vigorously tried to do uncover and do away with the wrongs of old.  "For a long time now there's been too much secrecy in this city," the President said. "The old rules said that if there was a defensible argument for not disclosing some thing to the American people, then it should not be disclosed. That era is now over. Starting today, every agency and department should know that this administration stands on the side not of those who seek to withhold information, but those who seek to make it known." Words have been turned into action, and by now he has signed three executive orders and three memoranda on ethics and transparency. Secret prisons where detainees were held and tortured without any official government acknowledgment were closed, torture and rendition have been banned, and Guantanamo Bay is to close in a year.

Ethics and Responsibility

When a nation embarks on a new, radically different course, strong ethical guidelines are crucial to fill the vacuum of values which is automatically created with such a shift. After leaving Egypt, the Israelites needed a Torah to cement the principles under which this new nation would be forged. These ethical guidelines which President Obama is beginning to implement represent a first step in a similar process. In Ancient Israel, every seven years the King assembled the people and had the Torah read out to him, as a reminder that power must always be wedded to morality.  On a similar vein, the Prayer Service held the day after the inauguration opened with the words of the Prophet Isaiah:

 9  "If you do away with the yoke of oppression,
       with the pointing finger and malicious talk,
 10 and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
       and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
       then your light will rise in the darkness,
       and your night will become like the noonday.
 11 The LORD will guide you always;
       he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
       and will strengthen your frame.
       You will be like a well-watered garden,
       like a spring whose waters never fail.
 12 Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins
       and will raise up the age-old foundations;
       you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls,
       Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.

May this vision soon take form!

Even though I have been concentrating on the role of the leader, our Rabbis taught us an important message which must not be forgotten. As you probably know, Moses took a central role in the Exodus story. Yet when the Rabbis wanted to incorporate this narrative into the liturgical life of the community through the Passover Seder, something was missing. Moses. If you read through the Haggadah you will find no mention of his name (not even simply as Mo). Through this the Sages wanted to gives us an important message. Even though leaders have a prominent role in how we lead our lives, at the end of the day it comes down to us to create the reality we want for ourselves. What nation, what community do we choose to be? All of us, the people, are the foundation of society. For this reason, President Obama stressed in his Inauguration Speech the need for everyone to assume their responsibilities, to uphold the values of “hard work and honesty, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism.”  And this is a lesson which all of us here in the UK can take to heart. The task is in our hands to forge the world we want to see.

We have discussed the path necessary to revolutionise the impossible situation of society, the path necessary for a new, brighter tomorrow. We have mentioned how an element of hope is essential, a cheeky belief that the current wrong is not a must; how we have to disconnect from the mistakes and negativity of the past – yet exposing them for our own learning; and that if our new ways are to be righteous – ethics have to be our guiding light. Let us set off then on this holy pilgrimage, and I use the same closing words of Obama’s speech:
 
Let it be said by our children's children that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God's grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations.

I wish you all Godspeed!