Strength in the face of the deluge of the deep dark chaos - Noah

It is 4 am and I can't sleep. Thoughts and worries rob me of much needed sleep.

Some of the flood of thoughts are personal and internal, combining with the troubles of others. 

Yesterday I learned about the death of a 60 year old spouse of someone in Western Sydney that I have known through work for many years. He died of COVID.

According to a tweet by BBC reporter (of Afghan heritage) Yalda Hakim, the 5th of October was “Day 17 of Taliban ban on girls returning to secondary school in Afghanistan. Millions of girls across the country continue to be confined to their homes, deprived of an education” . An assistant principal in Kabul told Yalda "Today most of our teachers were crying for their students, when are they going to start studying above grade 6?”

I have been thinking about the idea that there is an alternative reality to the ordered world many of us spend time in. There is something beyond experiences of delicious, sufficient food, prioritised to do lists, walking in nature and spending time with people we love or like.“In the beginning of God’s creation of heaven and earth, [He first created]  chaos and void, and darkness upon the face of the deep (1)”.

This chaos is not an event of the past but of the present. The energies of chaos and void, negation and destruction continue to lurk in the netherworld of reality and in the deep shadows of individual human hearts and subconscious minds (2). These forces pose an ongoing threat to burst out and submerge the world and our minds in a flood of destruction or upheaval (3). One role of the human being is to hold this chaos at bay and to actively work on creating all that is good, beautiful and nourishing (4).

Humans have often failed to contain the destructive forces. Many women continue to suffer sexual harassment. This is an ancient problem: “the sons of the powerful ones saw the daughters of man that they were good, so they took women from all that they chose” (5), including by force (6). The world was corrupted and filled with robbery (7). This ethical collapse was followed by a flood arising from the deep (as well as rain from above) and destroying everything (8).

Yet, as terrifying as the deep chaos is, we must resist the temptation to gather bricks and make towers (9) of false security. Police states preserve “order” with evil and harsh measures. Some of their rulers also create extra “security” for themselves in massive off-shore accumulations of wealth or other kinds of ‘towers’ to feed illusions of greatness and immortality (10).

Punitive self-talk mimics the tactics of the KGB by shaming and berating us every time a chaotic thought of self-doubt surfaces, arising from our dark shadowed subconscious. To overcompensate for the gnawing self-doubt and even loathing, some will display arrogant or narcissistic “bigness”, or hyper busyness.

But the chaos and “the deep” is not a fault but a design feature of creation and what makes us human. When we overcome or redirect misdirected desires or lusts this brings delight to our creator (11).

The floodwaters from the deep that brought destruction in the time Noah, represent the constant worries that threaten to overwhelm us. But as in the story of the flood, for those who responded appropriately with an “ark”, - wise or prayerful words for example- the waters raise the ark to a higher level representing the growth we can ultimately achieve prompted by the worries we might not have otherwise attained (12). Let us accept the chaos and shadows in ourselves and the inherent nature and realities of the world as the arena we are invited to play in and contribute to. Let’s add as much light, love, and learning as we can. 

 

Notes

 

 

1)     Genesis 1:1-2, my translation paraphrases the interpretation of Rashi.

2)     Soloveitchik, J.B. (1983) Halakhic Man, the Jewish Publications Society, p. 102

3)     Talmud Succa 53a-b

4)     Soloveitchik, J.B., p. 105

5)     Genesis 6:2

6)     R. Bachaya

7)     Genesis 6:11

8)     Genesis 7:11

9)     Genesis 11:3-4

10)  Leibowitz, Nehama (undated), New Studies in Bereshit- Genesis, Production Zion Ezra, p. 103

11)  R. Levi Yitchak of Berditchev in the name of his father in Kedushas Levi, Noach, p. 18

12)  The Chabad - Lubavitcher Rebbes, see for example this adaptation by Loshak, A. https://www.chabad.org/parshah/article_cdo/aid/5258597/jewish/When-Times-Are-Tough-Be-Like-Noah.htm

 

God’s Faith In Us Can Inspire Belief In Humanity - Rosh Hashanah Sermon

Recently I visited Grafton, in Northern NSW after leading Rosh Hashana (Jewish New Year) prayers in nearby Billinudgel. The local paper asked me for “words of wisdom or faith to share with the local community as we go through the unprecedented times of 2020"?

I replied that people are doing it tough now; adversity can bring people together or divide us. In my Jewish New Year’s sermon, I acknowledged that there are plenty of reasons to turn on our fellow citizens. My Jewish tradition teaches us that God continues to have faith in humans, despite our many failings. We would do well to do the same. To continue to have hope in each other. To continue to be committed to doing our bit for our fellow humans. 

There are valid reasons to stop believing in our fellow humans. Yet, one of the greatest truths is that sometimes facts matter less than faith. Especially, when it comes to the question of giving up on our fellow humans.   

We are invited to believe in humanity, despite the evidence to the contrary, because the evidence is clear that 'suspending our disbelief' in each other is more likely to alleviate suffering and produce beauty than succumbing to despair. 

As Margaret Mead said, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”

I have spent the last 19 years of my life pursuing a dream of goodwill between Muslims, Jews, Christians, and others. Many people in the Jewish community supported me, but not all. I was characterised, by some, as a traitor to the Jewish people and patronised as a misguided 'useful idiot', one US newspaper writing of me “God grant him a speedy spiritual recovery” (1). Their criticism was based on the argument that I had failed to take into account the facts which appeared to prove that my task was futile. But I stubbornly stuck to my dream, not because I denied the facts of what was - I am well aware of these - but I don’t dwell on these facts. Instead, I am focused on the truth of what could be, and the facts supporting my approach as the best way to get there.  

It turns out I am in good company. The Torah called God, "a faithful God" (2)- "אל אמונה”. The Sifre (3) cryptically points out that this refers to “the God who had faith in the universe and created it.”

The Talmud tells the following story: When the Holy One, blessed be He, came to create man, He created a group of angels and asked them, “Do you agree that we should make man in our image?” They replied, “Master of the Universe, what will be his deeds?”

God showed them the future history of mankind. 

The angels, looking at the facts, advised against the creation of humans.  

God outstretched His pinky finger among them and burned them with fire. And the same occurred with a second group of angels. 

He created a third group of angels, and they replied, “Master of the Universe, the first and second groups of angels told You not to create man.... You did not listen. ...The universe is Yours. Do with it as You wish.” 

Then God created man. [Despite the facts].(4)

The existence of humankind is a demonstration of the fact that God has faith in Man. 

So let us be inspired by this faith, when we are confronted by the stream of depressing and truly distressing facts served up to us by various forms of media, and for many, tragically and painfully, closer to home. Still, let us say, yes, we know all this, but like God, we choose to continue to believe in humanity, because we know there are sparks of beauty waiting to be fanned into flames. 

Let us accept God’s gift of faith in us. Let us continue to have hope in each other and continue to be committed to doing our bit for our fellow humans. As Rabbi Tarfon said, "It is not your responsibility to finish the work, but you are not free to desist from it either." (5)

Shana Tova, and best wishes for Gmar Chatima Tova and a meaningful Yom Kippur.  

Notes: 

The key message of this talk was inspired by the writings of Rabbi Jonathan Sacks,  https://rabbisacks.org/faith-god-bereishit-5778/, and of Eleanor Gordon Smith in What’s the use in trying? 24, August 2020, https://ethics.org.au/whats-the-use-in-trying/ 

1. https://www.jewishpress.com/news/breaking-news/australian-rabbi-love-muslims-and-everything-will-be-ok/2014/08/24/ 

2. Deuteronomy 32:4

3. Sifre, Ha’azinu, 325.

4. Sanhedrin 38b

5. Pirke Avot 2:21

Resurrected Nihilist Graffiti Artists - Neither Expectation Nor Despair

I just spent Passover together with my family at home, including three adult-children who normally live overseas, sharing many formal abundant meals, playing board games, and walking in the local forest (still allowed in Australia) as expected. Actually, not quite as expected. I played fewer board games with my kids, slept later and had more naps than I had expected. On reflection, Passover with my family was both draining and joyful. I think having unrealistic expectations might have something to do with it. 

In messages from my Christian colleagues at Together For Humanity I heard about how their families have been celebrating Easter, with sweet-filled coloured eggs and “Easter trees” as usual, but challenged by the absence of physically participating in the normal church services. 

With both of these special times just behind us, I think it is a good time to think about how we deal with unmet expectations. On one hand, it is useful to recognise that many of our expectations can become like an undefined implicit ‘contract’ between us and family members, life or God. The trouble is that neither our family members nor God have ever agreed to deliver everything that we think “should happen”. When this reality sinks in, at whatever level of loss, there is a temptation to swing to the opposite extreme and fall into despair and declare “our bones are dried out, and our hope is lost...” (1).

That last sentence is part of one of my favourite Passover texts: the prophet Ezekiel’s account of the resurrection of a valley of dry bones (2). As a teenager, I first engaged with this story at a talk by the late Lubavitcher Rebbe. The Rebbe spoke movingly about our responsibility for each other’s spiritual life. He referred to the part of the story where the prophet was instructed to speak “the word of God” to the dry bones and in response to the word the bones came to life. 

The Rebbe passionately implored his followers to reach out to Jews whose relationship to Judaism was dead and had completely dried up (3), to inspire them with the word of God (4). A few days later I remember looking at a High School basketball court and thinking about how some of the players, estranged from their Judaism, might be those 'dry bones' and my responsibility for my fellow Jews to speak the word of God to them. My sense of responsibility has evolved since then, but it continues to be fired with a belief in the great human capacity for change, despite the evidence that people often choose not to change much at all.     

There is some debate whether the dry bones story is just a metaphor, and if it was non-fiction, who were the people whose bones were in the valley? (5). I am particularly interested in the opinion that the dead had been a group of people who desecrated the holy temple walls with drawings of insects. Their implicit, very dark message was that human life was meaningless. Human life, their grafiti argued, was as transient as that of short lived insects, who have no bones and thus leave no trace after their death (6). One feature of despair is that one can never be disappointed again, because one expects the worst. Of course, despair also means abdicating all responsibility to do anything that could alleviate suffering and improve things. 

The resurrection of these very same individuals was a repudiation of their nihilism and an affirmation of hope. Human life can be meaningful and beautiful. Ezekiel's words still inspire me and others millenia later, as does Abraham Lincoln’s speech at Gettysburg (7). Lincoln asserted in that brief talk in 1863 that “the world will little note, nor long remember what we say here”, yet his powerful words about sacrifice and “government of the people, by the people, for the people”  still moves people today.     

At a time when humans are confronted by our mortality, and how that highlights the animal-like struggle for survival, it is important that we not lose sight of our capacity to be sublime. Some will not rise to the occasion, and this is to be expected, but others will. Contrary to the defeatist views of the insect themed graffiti artists, the human spirit can soar to high places, even in difficult times. Hope is not a denial of the reality of death and disappointment, it is the deliberate decision to forge on despite pain, because a better future, although not certain, is possible.  

Notes

1.     Ezekiel 37:11
2.     .Ezekiel 37:1-14.
3.  Talmud, Sanhedrin 92b
4. Schneerson, Rabbi M. M., - the Lubavitcher Rebbe (1986), https://www.chabad.org/therebbe/article_cdo/aid/2511571/jewish/Dry-Bones-Before-and-After-A-Call-to-Shluchim.htm
5.  Sanhedrin, ibid.
6. Maharsha commentary to Sanhedrin 92b.
7. This amazing 271 word speech is so short I will include it here in my notes:“Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth. http://www.abrahamlincolnonline.org/lincoln/speeches/gettysburg.htm 

Journeys of Failure and Anger, Determination and Vision - Maasei

“You are always so happy”, the smiling bald Christian man with the glasses said to me. While it is true that I generally tend to be cheerful and even joyous, I also often struggle with feelings of sadness, anger and fear, though I did not tell him that . As I reflect on that, I remind myself that these feelings are an integral part of journeys toward realizing bold visions.  

These thoughts were sparked by a poem titled ‘What am I for?’, by a thoughtful Poet named Mirriam Hechtman, that was presented at the Social Justice summit at Bondi beach (1). Her question inspired me to articulate what it was that I was 'for', instead of the default angry expression of what I might be against. However, what she was inviting us to do was more complex than that; she told us how she tapped into her anger, but turned it around to articulate a vision of what “she was for”, as part of an “Australia reMADE” project (2). Her anger is part of the fuel for her inspiring vision.

In my own work, my anger motivates me alongside my hope . I am angry about how Muslims are demonised. I was disturbed to read a Muslim mother write “When a seven year old boy in my son’s class tells him doesn’t belong in Australia because he is Muslim, it breaks my heart to see the confusion and pain on his face” (3). Hatred and demonisation of Jews also makes me angry, as do other forms of bigotry. Ill conceived decisions that detract from school student’s ability to learn to reject prejudice frustrate me. All this anger can sometimes drain me, but like Mirriam, I usually turn it around so that it energises me instead. The first step in compassion is to be present with the pain, the second is to take action to alleviate the pain of others, or oneself (4). 

At the same social justice summit, I heard from Andrew Kuper. Andy founded LeapFrog Investments in 2007. Now, in 2019, LeapFrog’s companies serve 157.4 million people across Africa, Asia and Latin America, with products such as a service to send money overseas at a cost of 2% instead of over 15% and quality pharmacies. They also support 122,518 jobs (5). He told us that, in his experience, failures were the most productive times, that galvanised his team, and that times success were the most dangerous. With Together For Humanity recently having been awarded a $2.2 million dollars by the Australian Government, it is time for me to be a little afraid about the risks of opportunity, and then to turn that fear into carefully considered action.

My thoughts are drawn to the Torah reading this week that records all of the 42 journeys of the Jewish people through the desert (6). The text opens with a statement that “these are the journeys of the Israelites as they left [slavery in] Egypt”. It then mentions each place twice, eg. "they travelled from Livna and camped in Risa. [Then] they travelled from Risa and camped in K’hailata" (7). The verses consist of what appears to be a mind numbing list of trips. Yet, I think it offers some wisdom about our own journeys of affirming and working toward a vision.

The repetition of the names of the places they stopped reflects the reality that the journey to success is iterative, as Andy Kuper argued in his talk. The stops along the way are therefore also journeys in their own right (8). Each place is not just a stop along the way, but both the destination of the last journey and the start of the next. Every time we got delayed in the desert can be thought of as a “journey” like all failures and setbacks that can take us a step closer to where we seek to go.

Another approach to setbacks along our journeys is to appreciate any support we are fortunate to receive. I know some people battle alone, so I give thanks for the many who have helped me in a wide range of ways, advice, a listening ear and practical support like donations.

One explanation of the listing of all the journeys compares this recount to the reminiscing of a father whose child had been ill and had to be taken to a far away place for treatment. On their way back the father would point out to his child what happened on their way, here your head hurt etc. (9). The religious purpose of this list is to draw the attention of the Jew to the expressions of fatherly love shown to us during these journeys and this will lead to wholehearted worship of God (10). Gratitude for past support, from humans or from God, can also strengthen our resolve in our service to our fellow man.

Another perspective relates less to the greatness of God and more to the virtue of the people. God wanted all the journeys to be recorded in order to praise the Jewish people, who had followed him blindly out of their familiar surroundings, through the desert where nothing grew (11). This is also relevant to our remembering our own past courage and how we have tackled the obstacles behind us as we consider those still ahead of us.

It is written that our future march toward redemption, perhaps in our own time, will mirror these ancient miraculous journeys, as history is repeated, and we make our way in the modern “deserts” and difficult contexts (12). A metaphoric interpretation of the stations of these life journeys include going from “Marah” (13) (literally 'bitter [waters]'), which represents destructive misinterpretation of sacred texts. The subsequent journey from there to a place with “twelve springs and seventy palm trees”, symbolises a shift towards correct understandings, which quench our spiritual thirst (14). The journey from “refidim” (15) represents moving away from laziness and a slackening of determination, on to Sinai, representing the Torah (16). Another journey is from a place called “Graves of Lust” to “Courtyards” (17), which represents a shift away from lust, to an attitude that sees our mortal lives as less important and temporary forecourts, in comparison to eternity and the afterlife (18).  The sheer quantity of journeys necessary to get from the lowly state of Egypt to the elevated situation of the promised land is significant. To shift our consciousness is not so much a once off leap to a higher plane, but a series of steps and changes (19).

1)     https://plus61j.net.au/panel-picks/inspiring-dreams-paths-passion-jewish-social-justice-summit/

2)     https://youtu.be/jFeK9h6lBqM

3)     Jones, K, (2018), Step Up, Embrace the Leader Within, Busybird Publishing, Victoria, Australia, p. 9.

4)     Gilbert, P. and Choden, (2013), Mindful Compassion, Robinson, London, p.xxv.

5)     https://www.leapfroginvest.com/people/andrewkuper/

6)     Numbers 33:1.

7)     Numbers 33:21-22.

8)     The Chida, Nachal Kedumim, cited in Torat Hachida, parshat Maase, 2, p. 244. See also Likkutei Sichos Vol. 2, p. 348.

9)     Rashi on Numbers 33:1.

10)  Gur Aryeh ad loc.

11)  Seforno and Alshich (who goes into far more detail than Seforno)  on Numbers 33:1.

12)  Micah 7:9, כימי צאתך מארץ מצרים אראנו נפלאות, Abarbanel who adds the phrase the “desert of nations”, Bris Avarham, cited in Chida, p. 226, 6.

13)  Numbers 33:9.

14)  The Baal Shem Tov in Degel Machne Ephraim.

15) Numbers 33:15.

16)  Rabbi Klonymos Kalman Halevi Epstein, (student of Rabbi Elimelech of Lizensk) in Maor VShemesh (?), interpreting רפידים as hinting to ריפוי ידים.

17)  Numbers 33:17.

18) Chasam Sofer on Maasei with an allusion to Pirkey Avot 4:16,  and Maor Vshemesh (?).

19)  R. Yaakov Yosef of Polnoye, in Toldos Yaakov Yosef, Maasei, p. 424.

Masculinity and Faith. Sara Denounced to Abraham for laughing in Vayera

Toxic masculinity is on our radar, manifesting in sexual harassment, rape, aggression and chauvinism. I wonder about the nature of non-toxic masculinity. What is it exactly? Is it realistic to have faith that men will express their masculinity in healthy ways? I don’t know how to answer my first question. The answer to my second question is to suggest that the question itself is flawed, because realism is not very useful in deciding whether to have faith in men. Faith in men requires a positive choice to believe we can get it right, despite some of the evidence.

The Torah’s teachings about the role of men often seem at odds with modern perspectives about gender roles. Perhaps the most controversial concept is the idea of a man as the “head of the household”. God declared to Eve representing all women, that “he will rule you” (1). Perhaps that was a prediction of how men would wrongly fully dominate women rather than a prescription of how things ought to be. Yet, there is some evidence that God seemed to think that men are rightfully in charge of women. When the barren Sarah laughed about a divine promise that she would bear a child at an advanced age, God complained to Abraham about his wife’s laughter (2). Is this not an expression of Abraham’s “headship” of his household?!

The passage in which God appears to speak to a husband about his wife’s alleged misbehaviour has been on my mind this whole week. It linked in my mind to the image, circulated on social media, of actor Adam Sandler putting his hand on the leg of Clare Foy, an actress sitting next to him during an interview. In the widely circulated image, Foy looks uncomfortable. (I must mention that I had not seen the rest of the tape until later, nor was I aware that Foy released a statement that: “We don’t believe anything was intended by Adam’s gesture and it has caused no offence to Claire.” Regardless of the facts in the Sandler-Foy case too many men behave in entitled ways toward women. Does this verse not imply that God regarded Abraham as Sara’s boss and therefore complained about his wife to him?!

Perhaps not. Both Abraham and Sarah both responded with laughter to God’s promise that Sarah, aged 90, and Abraham aged 100, would have a child together (4). Both of them were deserving of reprimand (5) because they doubted God’s promise based on the available evidence, of their advanced age and the impossibility that a birth could occur. God chose not to reprimand Abraham at that time because to do would detract from the celebration of a significant history altering act that Abraham was engaged in at that time. Circumcising himself which symbolised that men can constrain their sexual drive and commit to doing so as part of an overall covenant with God (6). There is a precedent that proves the principle that God would not distract from celebration of a great moment with punishment when a sin occurred around the time the Ten Commandments were given, but there was no punishment or reprimand (7).

Abraham had ample justification to be sceptical about a miraculous birth, and a covenant to transcend human frailties. This is expressed in him falling on his face (8). God hints at a reprimand by telling him “but indeed Sarah will give birth!” Have faith! (9)

Sara is keen on evidence based approach. According to one interpretation her laughter was not about God’s impossible promise, but in surprise to her body changing suddenly into a younger version of herself, losing her wrinkles and suddenly having her period. This is what upset God. This looking for evidence and only when it is presented belief follows (10). If we want our society to work, we need to believe despite some evidence to the contrary that we can make it work.

When God reprimanded Sarah, through Abraham, it was intended for both of them. For Abraham indirectly and for Sarah directly (11). In this interpretation the question about Sarah’s laughter is not about male position, but about a delicately delivered lesson about faith at a particularly tricky time. This removes one more Biblical excuse for male chauvinism. Based on available evidence, many men will continue to relate to women appallingly. However I choose to put aside that evidence and keep my faith that men can and will learn to relate to women as equals, with care and respect.

1. Genesis 3:16
2. Genesis 18:9-14
3. http://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/2017/10/30/claire-foy-responds-to-adam-sandler-s-constant-knee-touching_a_23260633/
4. Genesis 17:15-17
5. Midrash Hagadol, cited in Osnayim Latorah, p. 121, (thanks to Chayim Lando for drawing this to my attention) and Akedat Yitzchak 18:1
6. Akedat Yitzchak 18:1
7. Exodus 24, as explained in Vayikra Rabbah 20, cited in Akedat Yitzchak 18:1
8. Genesis 17:17 as interpreted in Akedat Yitzchak 18:1
9. Genesis 17:18-19 as interpreted in Akedat Yitzchak 18:1
10. Ohr Hachayim on Genesis 18:12-13, drawing on Midrash, Talmud, Bava Metzia, cited in Torah Shlaima p.761, 154.

Messiah, Facts, & Hope: a Jew’s conversation with Shia Muslims. Shlach

Photos by Ahsan Nader Photography
https://www.facebook.com/AhsanNaderphotography

There is a difference between the presentation of ‘facts’ and the truth.

Standing behind the Messiah’s cream and green birthday cake at a Shia Muslim Mosque in Sydney, University student, Ali Safdari, questioned the prospects for a redeemer being able to pull humanity out of the ‘unjust mess’ it is in. He cited several facts to support this bleak assessment, all of them true. He put a challenge to a range of speakers from different faith perspectives to explain the “promised redeemer” in this context.

One speaker, Shaykh Hamid Waqa, a Shia Muslim Sheikh with an American accent, a Christian father and Jewish mother who studied in Iran, explored the range of perspectives within Shia Islam toward the Madhi-Messiah. Some were content to do nothing more than pray for the redeemer. Others on the very fringe believed they could force the hand of God by increasing injustice in the world thereby hastening the Madhi’s arrival. A third group believed that increasing justice will hasten his coming. He also talked about the importance of being ready for the Mahdi and the risk of people simply not being prepared to follow the redeemer when he appeared.

The range of views about the Messiah or Moshiach in Judaism is interesting to consider alongside those of Shia Muslims. I was raised within the Chabad movement which has put a huge emphasis on hastening the coming of the Messiah and preparing for it, actively and urgently (1). Despite our tradition teaching that the Messiah might come in a generation that is completely guilty, I have never heard anyone suggest this was a good way to hurry things along. On the other hand, many Jews are certainly more comfortable with a passive stance toward the Messiah.
 
At my brother’s wedding on the Sunday prior to the interfaith panel, I chatted with my father’s cousin. He made the argument that the Torah’s complete silence on the Moshiach and  afterlife, both of which are not mentioned at all in the Torah itself, is tied to Judaism’s focus on justice in this world and our life on earth. We are not content to allow injustice to fester because we hope for a better world in the afterlife or when the redeemer comes. It is our task to make things right, here and now. 

The Talmud relates: When Rav Zeira happened upon scholars who were engaged [in calculating the date of Moshiach's arrival], he told them, "I beg you! Do not postpone it ... for it has been taught, 'Three things come when the mind is occupied otherwise: Moshiach ...(2)"  Being too focused on Moshiach, according to this teaching is not appropriate.

For me the Messiah is not just about the future but about living with hope right now that the world as it is at present is not final. That a world in which the strong does not harm the weak, represented by the image of the “lion lying with the lamb” (3) is possible. I suggested that although there is some value in young people “maintaining the rage” and being dissatisfied with the world as it is, it is important to see the half of the cup that is full. The relative freedom we enjoy to express whatever views we hold and follow our religious beliefs and the realization, at least in part, of Martin Luther King Jnr’s of dream with the US having a black president that was unimaginable only a half century ago.

Hope can be difficult. One of the great insights from the East is not to be too attached to one’s hopes and as a result one is seldom very disappointed. Yet, Judaism demands hope. The Spies Moses sent to report on the Promised Land to the freed slaves in the desert sinned with one dispiriting word, the word “but” (4). Although they brought back lots of accurate information, they also included one hope destroying word. “We came to the land to which you sent us, and it is flowing with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. But, the people who inhabit the land are mighty, and the cities are extremely huge and fortified, and there we saw even the offspring of the giant” (5). They also sequenced their “facts” in such a way that the positive part was first and out of the way so that the ‘bottom line’ appeared to be the hopelessness of the situation (6).

I concluded my talk at the Mosque with the following reflection: “The emphasis on the Moshiach motivated a lot of activism. I can confidently say that if not for the Jewish belief in the Moshiach, I would not be standing here today. I would not have gone out of my comfort zone in New York with my family to move to Australia. I certainly would not have founded an organization called Together For Humanity that brings together Muslims, Christians and Jews to teach young people about respect for differences. It is only because we were raised to hasten the coming of the Messiah. It is because I had learned to refuse to accept a flawed world that I was driven to meet all of you. For this I am very grateful”. 

Notes:
(1) The Talmud (Shabbat 31a), states that one of the four questions a soul is asked when facing the Heavenly Court is: "Did you yearn for the Salvation?" The Talmud states: When they bring a person for judgment, they will ask: "Did you deal faithfully in business? Did you set aside fixed times for Torah? Did you try to have children? Did you anticipate the redemption?"
(2) Talmud, Sanhedrin 97a
(3) Isaiah 11:6
(4) Rabbi Yitzchak Arama, in Akedat Yitzchak, cited in Lebovitz, N., New Studies in Bamidbar, Abarbanel goes further in his analysis of the Hebrew word, “Efes” אפס that can be translated as “but”, but can also be translated as “nothing” and indicating lack or cancelation such as “is there no more, a man?” in Samuel II 9:3, or “there is no more money” in Genesis 47:15. The spies are therefore saying that everything good they said about the land “is as it if as never been, it is all nothing and emptiness because the nation is strong”
(5) Numbers 13: 27-28
(6) Abarbanel, he points out that the sequence was the opposite of their terms of reference given to them by Moses, in which the first two questions were about the people of the land and only then did he ask two questions about the produce of the land (numbers 13:18-20), but in the answer these are reversed for effect.