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January 29, 1999/12 Shevat 5759, Vol. 51, No. 18
Have faith, not only in God, but in self
Torah Study
RABBI SHLOMO RISKIN
Beshalach/Exodus 13:17-17:16
What does it mean to have faith, the kind of faith that God and the Bible call on us to have? Conventional wisdom would suggest that it means total and unremitting trust in God. However, a strange dialogue between Moses and the Almighty in this week's Torah reading would seem to contravene this commonly accepted definition of faith.
Pharaoh decides to go after the Israelites, whom he now believes he never should have allowed to leave Egypt. The Israelites, smitten with fear of the marching Egyptian armies, cry out to God and rail at Moses: "What have you done to us, taking us out of Egypt? Is this not the very thing we told you in Egypt, saying, 'Let us be, and we will serve the Egyptians, for it is better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness' " (Exodus 14:11-12).
Moses then comforts the people, urging them on, encouraging them to have faith in God: "Have no fear! Stand by, and witness the deliverance which the Lord will work for you today; for the Egyptians whom you see today you will never see again. The Lord will battle for you; you hold your peace" (Exodus 14: 13-14).
But God is not satisfied with Moses' lesson in faith. "Then the Lord said to Moses, 'Why do you cry out to me? Tell the Israelites to go forward' " (Exodus 14:15).
According to Rashi, God is saying, in effect: "This is not the time for prolonged prayer." Rather, this is the time for action.
God is imparting a critical lesson to the Israelites in this passage, providing a dramatic transformation of the pagan concept of faith.
It is not by accident that this chapter begins with God telling Moses to, "Tell the Israelites to turn back and encamp before Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, before Baalzephon (the god of the North, a huge idol); you shall camp facing it, by the sea" (Exodus 14:1-2).
The pagan gods demanded blind devotion, even to the point of child sacrifices; they expected absolute faith in their ultimate power. According to the pagans, the only important act of human beings is to propitiate the gods through offerings and sacrifices. World events were believed to be effectuated by the gods, not by humans.
The first important message of the drama of the Egyptian experience was to demonstrate the supreme power of the one true God of Israel and the universe. The Israelites believed in God and in God's covenant with every fibre of their beings.
But they had yet to understand that Jewish faith expects not only faith in God but faith in self; faith in our ability to act meaningfully, in our power to begin the process of redemption, in our responsibilities to repair ourselves and our society. This is the fullness of the message of Torah and its recipe of commandments; this is the Divine expectation - that we function not like cattle, not like beasts of burden, but as God's partners in perfecting the world.
So stuck were the Israelites in the former primitive nation of faith that they weren't even capable of responding to Pharaoh's armies. After all, the Egyptians had suffered a severe physical and traumatic defeat as a result of the ten plagues. Pharaoh commands only 600 chariots with chosen crews. But there were 600,000 Israelite men! Why did they not think of organizing an army and fighting back?
And so, when Moses confirms the Israelites' concept of faith by saying that they ought be silent and watch God do battle, the Almighty must correct him. If indeed the Israelites are to be God's partners, they dare not stand silently by and wait. Much to the contrary, they must act.
Having faith means doing what has to be done, in the physical, spiritual and ethical realms. Only after we have done whatever we can, have we the right and duty to faithfully rely on God.
God works through human actions in the process of redemption. We must believe in ourselves as well as in God.
Rabbi Shlomo Riskin is the spiritual leader of the Jewish community in Efrat, Israel.
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