Facts?! Forget it. Faith!! & Friendship. South Sudan & Beshalach

Is faith like this image? The "fact" is that there is no image
on the right yet after 15 seconds it appears then disappears.

I am thinking about how some manage to continue to believe despite some “facts” that appear to contradict those beliefs. Atheist or believer, we all need to put our faith in someone or something if we are ever to achieve anything. It can be a business idea, or in a relationship with other people, another tribe or with a God that, as I understand Him, is engaged with his creation and therefore it would follow that He allows humans to butcher each other. I also think about how God as described in the Torah, with His Wrath and all, is a comfortable fit for a new age guy like me.

I have been thinking about how this relates to my fellow; fathers, brothers, mothers and children in South Sudan and to what they are going through.

It was on a starry night in Yogyakarta in 2010 that I was first introduced to their world. I heard a heart-warming story from an American Missionary, Bill Lowrey, about the wise and fearless leaders of the Nuer and Dinka tribes who brought peace to their people after decades of terrible fighting.  Rev. Lowrey’s told me about his “approach (which) drew on the rich wisdom of the indigenous Nuer and Dinka peoples, as he integrated their traditional peacemaking methods with modern theories of conflict resolution”. (1).

“One of the local rituals involved participants spitting into a gourd filled with water. When it came to Bill, he spat into it too. When everyone had spat, they splashed the water on each other. The spittle on the tongue is meant to be the coldest part of a person, and splashing it symbolized cooling off the hot bodies, charged with the ‘heat of conflict’. Bill asked the chiefs to tell stories they heard from their fathers’ mothers about how conflicts were resolved in the past. They sat opposite each other, divided by a rope representing the Nile, and discovered the wisdom of their respective ancestors was very similar. They told stories about what was done to them, and finally were asked what they ‘remembered’ for the future of their daughters’ sons” (2). At the end of the process “the Dinka and Nuer signed a covenant to end their tribal war and sealed it by sacrificing a bull, which signifies wealth for both of the tribes. By stepping over the bull, they publicly pronounced their commitment for a new peace (3)”.

It is heart breaking that the world’s newest nation is now facing further death and conflict, despite the traditional wisdom that ended the fighting there just over a decade ago.  One of my Facebook Friends has been personally affected with the loss of his brother in the fighting. I have no doubt that people there can list the “facts” of the conflict that explain their tribes’ perspective and the wrong doing of their enemies. I pray that somehow, despite the unimaginable difficulty involved, the facts and grievances of both sides can again be set aside.

In our Torah reading this week we read about events a bit further up the Nile. The Jews or Israelites had left Egypt filled with faith, embracing Moses and their invisible God, following them in to the wilderness. It is not long before they face the sea in front of them and enemies behind them. They are told to disregard the facts and keep going (4), miraculously the sea splits. Yet, a short time later, new facts emerge. They arrive in the Sinai desert (5) just as their food runs out (6). They don’t politely pray for food, instead they turn on Moses “we wish we could have died by the hand of God in the land of Egypt, when we sat on the flesh pot and ate our fill of bread”. Moses tells them that their faith will return when God will send fat birds for them to eat and manna from heaven. I think Moses is implying a criticism of them. It is only when you have a full stomach and lack for nothing do you believe that it was God who took you out of Egypt, just a few weeks earlier.

Faith, friendship and even coexistence require us to disregard some facts and focus on hope and faith. Of course, this is easier said than done, but perhaps the only way forward. My prayers are with all who suffer from violence and injustice, including those whose suffering is justified by the facts.

1)    https://www.tanenbaum.org/programs/peace/peacemaker-awardees/reverend-william-lowrey-sudan,
2)    As told me to by Rev. Lowrey, for more of the story as he told it to me, http://torahforsociallyawarehasid.blogspot.com.au/2011/02/embracing-unknown-and-alternatives-to.html
3)    Ibid, https://www.tanenbaum.org ..
4)    Exodus 14:15
5)    Exodus 16:1-18
6)    Rashi

Faith, Food, Flood & Money (Beshalach)

The following is written against the background of the tragic loss of life in the Queensland floods this week. In addition to the dead and missing is a massive loss of property, homes and crops affecting tens of thousands. Of course, we must all do what we can to help. In addition, the financial impact of the floods raises broader questions about faith as it related to money. 

Worrying about money and the all consuming pursuit of a livelihood often takes up so much head-space, there is very little capacity for empathy or altruism. Relax! “It is false for you, early risers, delayers of lying down, who eat the bread of sorrows, for indeed He will give those he loves sleep[1]”. Despite the obvious need for a balanced approach, like so many people, I find this very hard in practice. Faith in God’s providing for us seems an obvious solution. How do we reconcile faith with our experiences? 

Preoccupation with Providing 

The juxtaposition of two parts of the Exodus story, the splitting the sea and worry about food relates to the teaching that “A man’s sustenance is as difficult as the dividing of the Reed Sea”[2].

Those of us who have never worried about our next meal, or spared the impact of natural disaster can barely imagine this. With a secure job, food in the fridge and credit cards if not cash, we can afford to think about others’ needs. Still, financial insecurity can dull our sensitivity to the needs of others, or capacity to be inspired. The Jews, having just experienced the miracle of the splitting of the sea faced a situation where they had no food. They cried out, “Oh, who could have given us (the better option of) dying by the hand of God in the land of Egypt as we sat on the pots of meat, when we ate bread that filled us, as you have taken us out to this desert to have this whole congregation die in hunger![3]”.

Real or supposed danger of hunger, makes all principals shaky, silences all better resolution and as long as a man is not relieved…from the crushing burden of the worry about his daily bread there is not place left for a complete realisation of the divine Torah[4]. It would seem that If we are to play any positive role we need to rise above this fear. 

Manna a lesson in Trust

To prepare Jews for a more trusting approach they are given the Manna, miracle food that falls from heaven, that will be “collected, day by day, to test them whether they will go by my Torah or not”[5]. The Manna will only be provided for one day at a time, can we relax after eating the last bit of food we have relying that God will provide for us tomorrow? Moses, may have added an extra rule to reinforce the lesson, “nothing can be left from one day to the next![6]” Instead, they must trust in God that tomorrow Manna will come down again...so if any is left it should  be thrown out of the tent[7]. 

The lesson is meant to carry on to future generations. It is expressed as a super-natural idea that anyone who fulfils the Torah, God will prepare his livelihood without bother just like those who ate the Manna based on the fact that one verse in the Torah about the Manna contains every letter in the Hebrew Alphabet[8]. More practically, we are told, “Whoever has food for today and worries about tomorrow is considered one of those will little faith[9]”.

Be Prepared

Yet, the Queenslanders who did “worry about tomorrow” are probably better off than those who did not.  I suggest that there is a difference between worrying and planning or preparing for risk. In fact, we are taught that being prepared for the future is far better than those to whom could be applied the verse “you will not believe in your life[10]”, this is the one who own no fields and buys their bread from the baker, from Friday to Friday[11].  We are taught that “we do not rely on miracles[12]”.  Rabbi Yehoshua said a person should learn two laws in the morning, two in the evening and occupy himself with his work the who day, (if he does this) he is considered as if he fulfilled the entire Torah[13]

To prepare, is to play one's part in the natural order that God created and through which God works. To worry is to express a lack of confidence in the benevolence of God.

Acceptance After/Optimism before

Paradoxically, when we suffer or catastrophe strikes we say “whatever God does is for the best”, or “It is not in our hands to grasp the (reason) for the suffering of the righteous or the  tranquilly of the wicked[14]” yet when we look to the future we are meant to do so with confidence and trust in God.  It life was supposed to make sense, this would be a major problem. Yet, we give our trust and faith to people we love.  This is why when teenagers accused their parents with “you don't trust me”, the parents feel defensive. Trust is not just earned, it is given as a gift, like a compliment or an affirmation, a suspension of disbelief.

Money

Not only is worrying seen as a lack of faith, money itself is seen negatively. “How do we know that money (כֶּסֶף Kesef) is synonymous with shame? Because the word in Aramaic for Shame is (Kisufa כִּסוּפָא ) [15]” and “Why is it called a coin (Matbeahמַטְבֵּעַ )? Because one sinks (טוֹבֵע To-Vay-Ah) in it”[16]. Regardless of the pitfall of money the reality of the place of money in our world is recognised in our tradition. “A poor man is considered as if he were dead[17]”.  Charity, giving away our money is also seen as having the power to redeem us.   

Conclusion

The devastation in Queensland reminds us of the natural forces that can sweep away our possessions in moments, we need to respond with compassion for the victims and awe at the mystery and tragedy of God ways. Our capacity to empathise  is greater if we can trust God that we will be ok and are not worried about our own vulnerability.

Money can destroy us, but it can redeem us. We are simultaneously supposed to work as if it mattered, and sleep as if it won't, because in the end it does and it doesn't. 

May the Almighty and the Merciful watch over the souls of those who lost their lives, heal and help those who suffered loss and grant success to the efforts of the rescuers and carers.

---

[1] Psalm 127:2

[2] Talmud, Pesachim 118a, discussed by

[3] Exodus 16:3, It’s hard to imagine that the Egyptians were so generous with their slaves menu. This particular complaint may have been from the Jewish overseers of the slaves (Ohr Hachayim )

[4] Samson Raphael Hirsch, on Exodus 16:2

[5] Exodus 16:4

[6] Ohr Hachyim on Exodus 16:19

[7] Ibn Ezra on Exodus 16:19

[8] Baal Haturim 16:16, similar to Rabbi Shimon Ben Yochai, in Mechilta.

[9] Rabbi Elazar Hamodaii in the Mechilta

[10] Deuteronomy 28:66

[11] Talmud, Menachot 103b, see Rashi, quoted in Aryeh Kaplan (1992), Handbook of Jewish Thought Volume 2, p.303, Moznaim Publishing, New York

[12] Talmud Pesachim 64b, with slight variation Zohar 1 111 & 112.

[13] Mechilta

[14] Pirkey Avot (Ethics of the Fathers, 4:15)

[15] Bamidbar Rabba 14:22

[16] R, Avraham of Slonim, quoted in Rosmarin, R. (2000) Mamma Used to Say – Pearls of Wisdom From the World of Yiddish, p. 199. Felheim Publishers New York 

[17] Talmud Nedarim 7b