Labor and Leisure

Bo

Exodus 10:1-13:16

Précis: God sends the 8^th and 9^th plagues, locusts and darkness and alerts Moses that the 10^th and final plague will follow. God instructs Moses on the institution of the Passover. Then, the final plague, the death of all of the first born, is wrecked on Egypt. The Israelites, accompanied by the “mixed multitudes,” leave Egypt, carrying with them the “spoils of Egypt” given to them by the Egyptians. The parasha ends with another recitation of the laws regarding Passover.

Ex. 12:11: “This is how you shall eat it: your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it quickly.”

            Rabbi Joshua Heller, writing in the JTS Chancellor’s weekly d’var torah (1/31/04) notes that the evening before Passover, which we read about in this week’s parasha, reveals a very interesting insight about labor and leisure. On the night of the seder, even the poorest reclines as he eats, a sign of wealth and leisure. But we also eat Matzah, the “bread of affliction,” a sign of poverty if ever there was one!

            In this verse the Israelites are commanded to feast while a holocaust against the first born of Egypt is in process. The Hebrew word translated as “quickly”  (“b'hipazon”) can also mean “in distress” or even in a panicked haste. This is a case of severely mixed signals: feasting during a time of death, living luxuriously but fearfully.

            This tension between labor and leisure remains an issue of great importance in our modern world. The United States may be the most powerful and richest nation in human history, but it increasingly appears that we attain our leisure only through hipazon. While we may finish everything at the leisurely seder, for many of us during the rest of the year dinner is all too often eating leftovers instead of a family dinner.

            We live in a time of economic uncertainty. The effort to support a family a generation or two ago now requires the labor or two (or more!) wage earners. In addition, as Rabbi Heller notes, a key characteristic of a slave (eved) is that he is always available for the work of his master. How true this is for so many of us today, who are summoned by email and text messages on a 24/7 basis by their employers. And finally, college graduates are today burdened with huge debt, with expectations of lower earnings and perhaps a lower standard of living than their parents.

            One message of the seder’s dichotomy is that  while we may be surrounded by signs of physical comfort, we can still be enslaved. As Rabbi Heller concludes, “Slavery is living one's life in hipazon, in a hurry, in concern, even though one might be living well, surrounded by the financial spoils of Egypt.”

            How we can live lives with less uncertainty and with more confidence should be an important issue to consider in the months leading up to our own seders.

Don't Forget Aaron's Key Role

Va’era

Exodus 6:2 - 9:35

Précis: God reiterates His intention to free the Israelites from bondage and to create a covenant with them. Moses goes back to Pharaoh to seek release of the Israelites. Pharaoh refuses and we see the first seven of the fabled plagues: blood, frogs, fleas, beetles, cattle disease, boils, and hail. Pharaoh relents after each plague begins, deciding to let the people go, but then God “hardens Pharaoh’s heart” and he refuses to allow them to leave.

Ex. 6:12–13 “But Moses appealed to the Lord, saying, ‘The Israelites would not listen to me; how then should Pharaoh heed me, a man of impeded speech?’ So the Lord spoke to both Moses and Aaron in regard to the Israelites and Pharaoh King of Egypt, instructing them to deliver the Israelites from the land of Egypt.”

            Rachel Farbiarz has written (MyJewishLearning.com 1/15/12) about Aaron’s role as the intermediary for Moses, given Moses’ speech impediment. She notes that Aaron’s role was of critical importance to the mission to save the Jews from slavery and to lead them towards Sinai. Aaron’s role is not limited to being an intermediary between Moses and Pharaoh; he also (and of equal importance) serves as an intermediary between Moses and the Israelites. We know that Moses was raised as Egyptian royalty, and we can assume Aaron toiled as an Israelite slave himself.

            Moses could (and did) feel righteous indignation when observing a taskmaster abusing a Hebrew  slave, but he could not understand, in his heart of hearts, what slavery was all about, having not experienced it personally. Aaron on the other hand had personal knowledge of the tribulations imposed on the Israelites, and so Moses could use Aaron’s experience to cross the divide between the Israelites and himself.

            There is an interesting parallel we might consider. American Jews have largely been raised, like Moses, in a privileged set of circumstances. We have the ability to advocate on behalf of our Israeli brothers and sisters, yet we cannot  feel in our own heart of hearts the depth of emotion and the trauma caused by constant wars and threats of war they feel. The Moses/Aaron partnership shows that it is imperative for us to form strong and close coalitions with Israelis, both professionally and personally, and to remember that while we cannot feel precisely what Israelis feel, we can and must serve as their forceful advocates to others.

            Finally, American Jews of my generation have grown up with little, if any, direct experience of Anti-Semitism. In recent years, and especially last week, Jews of France experienced a renewal of Anti-Semitism not seen since before the Shoah. While we cannot feel in our own heart of hearts what our French Jewish brothers and sisters feel, we can and must advocate on their behalf and support them in any way we can.