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January 7, 2005/Tevet 26 5765, Vol. 57, No. 19
Addicted to slavery
Torah study
SAMUEL M. STAHL
Parsha Va'ira, Exodus 6:2-9:35
Freedom means political and economic independence. But it also means having an unclear position in the social hierarchy. With freedom can come a sense of great uncertainty. Thus freedom, instead of bringing delight, can result in feelings of loneliness, isolation, and trepidation.
Such was the mentality of our enslaved Israelites in Egypt when Moses, in God's name, offered them their freedom. In delivering this hopeful message, he used the phrases that have become the basis for the four cups of wine we drink at the Pesach seder, as well as the fifth cup for Elijah: "Say, therefore, to the Israelite people: I am Adonai (cup 1). I will free you from the burdens of the Egyptians (cup 2) and deliver you from their bondage (cup 3). I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and through extraordinary chastisements (cup 4). And I will take you to be My people, and I will be your God. And you shall know that I, Adonai, am your God who freed you from the labors of the Egyptians (cup 5). I will bring you into the land which I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and I will give it to you for a possession, I Adonai." (Exodus 6:6-8)
Yet the Israelites were deaf to Moses's message. One reason was that they had become so accustomed to slavery and so conditioned to its supposed benefits that they were unwilling to consider a different way of life.
The Torah gives us an additional explanation for their unresponsiveness to God's promise of liberation: "But when Moses told this to the Israelites, they would not listen to Moses, because of shortness of spirit (mikotzer ruach) and difficult work (umei-avodah kashah)." (Exodus 6:9)
Not only were the Israelites physically depleted from "hard work," but they were also "spiritually exhausted." In short, they were "burned out." Rabbi Samuel Avigdor Cohen interprets this phrase as a description of their spiritual numbness. He explains that we fail to hear messages not only because we are overworked, but also because we are spiritually enervated (discussed in Likrat Shabbat (Tel Aviv: Hotzaat Sefarim "Reshafim," 1977), p. 58).
The Israelite slaves turned their backs on the possibility of freedom not because they had no physical strength. Rather they lacked the inner motivation and desire to be free. They were spiritually worn down. Slavery corrodes the souls of slaves, and eventually they become addicted to slavery.
I personally observed this phenomenon in my first congregation in the late 1960s, which was situated in a community with a significant black population that had once been segregated. Whenever civil rights workers approached these blacks with the possibility of improving their lot, they were apathetic and unmoved. Their reduced status, over the decades, had robbed them of the desire and the will to ameliorate their circumstances.
Similarly, victims of spousal abuse not only are overcome by fear, but also lack the motivation and drive to leave their abusers. A host of complex factors keep them locked in a sick marriage and prevent them from leaving it.
Another illustration is the case of employees who work for a cruel and domineering boss. Initially, fear prevents them from asserting their rights and demanding respect. In time, they come to believe that they are not worthy of a better work situation, and they accept the boss' harangues and denunciations.
Thus our tradition continually emphasizes the need for people to be free to prevent the dehumanizing effect of bondage on the human spirit. Rabbi Simcha Bunim once observed that the greatest tragedy of Egyptian slavery was that the Israelites learned to endure it. This is true today about those who become accustomed to modern forms of servitude.
In examining our own lives, we all need to be aware of the enslaving potential of burnout and prevent it by regularly performing mitzvot and savoring the blessings that result from doing so.
Samuel M. Stahl is rabbi emeritus of Temple Beth-El in San Antonio. Torat Chayim of the Union for Reform Judaism is at www.urj.org/torah.
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