If you have been watching the news with anything like the frequency of the average person in the U.S. over the past few weeks, you may rightly be feeling overwhelmed. The urge to despair is strong for those of us who believe that the most recent election results are catastrophic for human rights, civil rights, and social welfare in the U.S.
Times like this require us to look inside of ourselves for the inner strength that we can call upon in order not to despair. In Jewish tradition, as philosopher Moshe Halbertal puts it, “the opposite of despair is commitment, not hope.”
Hope may be understood as a peak moment in life; the end result of slogging up a mountain peak for the view we know is only visible up there. It does not take the place of the commitment required to get oneself up that mountain. It’s a commitment not only to personal fitness, but to communal welfare, and in these days of the ultra competition of Late Stage Capitalism, this can be quite the subversive idea. Each person matters. If we don’t all get there, it means nothing if I get there.
We know that archaeologists have discovered evidence that ancient peoples didn’t leave the wounded or disabled behind, but valued each human life for what it could offer to the well being of the whole. If, then, there is no such thing as linear progress in human development, there is one more reason to immerse ourselves in the wisdom tradition of our people to find support for our own time. And sure enough, this week in our parashat hashavua we find another passage that we might celebrate as rather subversive, for today:
The chief of Abraham’s household has come to the ancestral family home in Ur to seek a partner for Isaak. Rivkah seems to fit the need in every way, and Abraham’s representative seems to assume that as long as the family agrees, Rivkah will go with him. But their response is far more respectful of her:
וַיֹּאמְר֖וּ נִקְרָ֣א לַֽנַּעֲרָ֑ וְנִשְׁאֲלָ֖ה אֶת־פִּֽיהָ׃
And they said, “Let us call the girl and ask for her reply.” (Get 24.57)
You may not have expected support for women’s rights in an ancient text that too many have slandered and twisted until it is a cudgel used to enslave and persecute – but that is not its true nature. Torah is far more human than the average person using its words to hurt someone. That’s the uniquely Jewish insight that you can only gain from joining in a community that immerses itself in Torah – not looking for justification but for light, and not hoping for magic potions but needing a moment of reprieve from fear.
To approach these frightening days as a Jew is to be supported by a culture that has certain expectations of you and for you: first, that you do not “doomscroll” every day, but take Shabbat off. Second, that you answer your personal need for community support by joining in Torah Study, the source of our people’s communal and emotional strength. And third, because when we are together we are able to strengthen each other’s commitment to getting up that mountain together, to enjoy the occasional sunny moment of hope.
We who reside in Portland Oregon know better than to sing that “the sun’ll come out tomorrow,” because we know that when winter arrives, it rains nearly without ceasing. We who are Jews know better than to simply sit and hope for the best, because it could be a while. Better to stay focused on the small actions that fulfill our commitment to our Jewish path, and thus nurture and sustain us as we look out for each other.
Now is a time to wait, and watch – and immerse yourself in community study.
Torah for the 21st Century by Rabbi Ariel Stone 