Spirituality
Torah Portion/Synagogues
Stubbornness Should Be Avoided
Shabbat Vaera:
Exodus 6:2-9:35;
Ezekiel 28:25-29:21.
T
he Torah portion continues
the saga of Moses, demanding
the liberation of the children
of Israel from Egyptian slavery. We
see this confrontation between Moses
and Pharaoh in a vivid, dramatic
encounter.
There sits the absolute dictator of
Egypt upon his throne. Standing
before him, with no earthly power,
with no worldly resources, is the
would-be liberator of his people.
Every time God inflicts one of the
plagues upon Pharaoh's people, the
ruler summons Moses to appear
before him and he says, "Take the
children of Israel out; let them wor-
ship their God." After the plague
ceases and time elapses, "Pharaoh
hardens his heart" and refuses to
allow them to leave. Plague after
plague is heaped upon Pharaoh. Each
Irwin Groner is rabbi emeritus of
Congregation Shaarey Zedek.
dimension.
time, he promises that he will release
Like all virtues, the qualities of
the slaves, then he hardens his heart.
consistency and constancy must be
Pharaoh has gone down in history
observed in a proper measure; when
as the symbol of a king who constant-
carried to excess, they can be destruc-
ly changes his mind. When he is
tive and injurious. Life isn't simple
unchallenged, he oppresses the slaves.
and there are times when we should
When plagues come upon the people,
and when we must change our minds.
he promises to free the Hebrews. He
To be rigidly consistent, to be
is a weak ruler; he is inconsistent. He
unmoved and unmoving means that
vacillates. He may be the emperor of
we can, on occasion, be a
Egypt, but he is a slave him-
source of anguish to our-
self to expediency, to the
selves and to others. We are
stress of the moment.
morally bound to differenti-
Vacillation is a human
ate between consistency and
frailty. The English essayist
sheer stubbornness.
Joseph Addison once
There is a Yiddish word
observed that nothing makes
for this stubbornness. The
a person so contemptible, -so
term is okshun — someone
demeaned in the eyes of the
who has made up his mind
world, as inconsistency.
and that is the end of the
When we succumb to this
matter. Neither storm nor
fault, we are perceived as
RABBI IRWIN
earthquake can shake him
being opportunistic, coward-
GRO NER
from
his stubbornness. He
ly, or dishonest.
Specia 1 to the
is
highly
opinionated and is
The Talmud gives sound
Jewis h News
completely unbending.
advice about this matter. It
We must avoid vacilla-
says, "Let thy yay be yay. Let
tion, but, on the other hand, we must
they nay be nay." This sermonic
shun stubbornness. A Chinese
exhortation could end at this point;
proverb declares, "He who constantly
but like any challenging truth, it
wants to be happy must change." Our
needs to be viewed in more than one
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1/ 7
2005
54
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thoughts, our emotions change as a
result of circumstances and new
insights, as a result of our own per-
sonal growth. New experiences
change our perspective, change our
response.
Change is the law of life and we
need to cope with and respond to
change. Of course, vacillation is a
great human weakness. We must ful-
fill our commitments; we must be
true to our word. But we have a
responsibility of equal nature to
aspire to greater levels of awareness,
of sensitivity and of faith. May that
growth bless our lives now and
always. ❑
Conversations
Can you cite some historic
examples and some personal
ones when tragedy ensued
because people were determined
to resist all change for the sake of
a rigid and unyielding consisten-
cy. Discuss spiritual and human
ways in which we could be grow-
ing and developing.
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