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Moses Was Forbidden
To Succumb To Despair

RABBI MORTON F. YOLKUT

Special to The Jewish. News

T

he most depressing
and despondent point
in the story of the
enslavement of our ancestors
in Egypt occurs in the closing
scene of this week's sidrah.
Moses stands, alone and
depressed, with an over-
whelming sense of despair in
his heart. He had not wanted
to go back to Egypt. He felt
that his people would not
listen to him, that he was not
articulate, that Pharoah
would be recalcitrant, that it
was an impossible mission.
He tries to refuse the assign-
ment, but God is insistent.
So he went and , sure
enough, all his fears were
realized. The leaders who
were to accompany Mm to

Shabbat Shoot:
Exodus 1rI-6:1
Isaiah: 27:6-28:13,
29:22-23

Pharoah dropped out. one by
one. Pharoah did not listen to
him and promptly doubled
the work load of the slaves.
And then the slaves turned
on Moses and blamed. him for
having made their situation
worse than ever.
And so in despair he turns
to God and says: "0 Lord, why
have you brought trouble on
this people? Is this why you
sent me? Ever since I went to
Pharoah to speak in your
name, he has brought trouble
on this people" (Exod ;.s. 5:22).
Thus the lowest point in the
story of redemption <s reach-
ed. Moses is bitter, angry and
ready to quit as he ;sees the
tragic results of his
and hears the complaints of
the people.
God hears him. 1.7. n waits
until Moses has fir?.' lied his
lament and sends back to
resume the negotiatS , Ins. This
time Moses makes more
progress, and the ir.7.zt time
even more, until rec?mption
is finally accomplis:::nd.
After that great triumph,
Moses begins the second
great task of his liE a task
tougher than the first: the
task of taking Eg-.,,- 7t out of
the Jews, of making - of this
people a mature an.d self-
reliant community. This task
will take the rest of his
lifetime. It is a task tliat will

Morton F. Yolkut is
B'nai David.

of Cong.

test his patience and try his
soul time and again. There
are many moments when
Moses will be on the brink of
giving up.
And yet he never succumbs to
despair. He expresses his
frustrations, and then begins
again. The lesson that we can
learn from the life of Moses is
that a person, regardless of
his circumstances, has the
power to overcome despair.
Indeed, despair has never
been an acceptable quality for
the Jew. It contradicts
everything in which we
believe and every moment of
history that we have ex-
perienced. Despair and
Jewish existence are mutual-
ly exclusive. If our survival
has taught us anything, it is
that we need not despair.
"If I forget thee 0
Jerusalem . . ." was recited by
Jews who had seen their land
and Thmple destroyed, who
had been carried into exile
and who sat down by the
waters of Babylon and wept.
They wept but they did not
despair. And because they did
not despair there is a Jewish
state today.
We Jews are a people who
have always opted for hope
over despair. At the end of
each prayer service, we say Al
keyn nekaveh lecher, we hope,
therefore, Almighty God, that
you will help us create a bet-
ter world, regardless of how
horrible it may be this day."

NEWS

Volvovksys Get
Exit Visas

(JTA) Leonid Volvovsky, a
leader of the Soviet Union's
Jewish cultural movement
who spent 16 months in a
Siberian labor camp for
"slandering the Soviet state,"
last week received permission
to emigrate to Israel.
Volvovsky, 45, a computer
scientist, and his wife, Lud-
mila, a radio engineer, plan to
join their 19-year-old
daughter Kira in Jerusalem,
where she has been living
since receiving permission to
emigrate in November.
Leonid Volvovsky had first
been denied permission to
emigrate on the grounds that
he possessed state secrets.
Soon thereafter, he was
dismissed from his position at
the Moscow Research Insti-
tute of Complex Mechaniza-
tion and Automization in Oil
and Gas.

—

I 855-0480

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39