This morning, we heard some good news from Israel for the first time in a long time. The government announced that they had agreed a ceasefire with Hamas to secure the release of all remaining hostages. It's incredibly exciting news, but hearing it fills me with anxiety.
This week's parsha has a similar moment. Moshe comes to the Jews in Egypt and tells them that Hashem has heard their cries and will bring them from slavery in Egypt to freedom in the Land of Israel. Contrary to Moshe's expectations, the Jews believe him and start getting ready to leave. They go with him to Pharoah when he demands that they go free. However, there is a setback. Pharoah immediately asks: "Who is Hashem that I should listen to him?" Even worse, Pharoah tells the Jews that they are lazy, and that is why they request freedom. As such, he doubles their work by no longer giving them the straw to make the bricks. Instead, they must go out into the land and collect it themselves. However, even though this constitutes a significant increase in their workload, Pharoah commands the Jews to produce the same number of bricks as they did before and brooks no reduction.
Today, we stand on the cusp of our brothers and sisters in captivity, finally going free. The first group of three will be released (we pray) on Sunday. We hope and pray that this is finally the end of their servitude and captivity, that they will come home to their families, and they can finally begin to recover from what they have endured. However, there will likely be pitfalls before all the hostages are returned. We should prepare ourselves and not lose faith. We should hope and pray for the best but prepare ourselves mentally to find out that things have not gone as smoothly as we had hoped.
Finally, we should learn the lessons of the past two years. It was (in large part) Jewish disunity that made us vulnerable to the terrible attack that began this war. Instead of focusing on the future, we fought and vilified each other. Now is the time for us to fix that tendency. Whether you think this deal is a good one or not or whether you think it will lead to a good outcome, we should all accept that everyone involved is trying to do something good. They are trying to bring our captured brothers and sisters home. Reasonable people can (and do) disagree about the best way to do so, but we should all push back against the vilification of others. Israelis speak about having a way of thinking from 6 October. The thought that characterises that time is that I am right, everybody knows it, and my opposition is evil. Let's all leave that in the past. Only by accepting that we are one nation, one family and that we must look after each other and work together can we ensure that nothing like 7 October happens again.
Comments