Life has many challenges that are not easily resolved. While we think we have the solution, it can take a very long time and have a very uncertain end. Such is the dilemma that the Jews found themselves in during the end of the Egyptian period.
When Moshe came to Pharoah and demanded that he free the Jews for three days to worship Hashem in the desert, the Jews were at first energised. They believed that their prayers had been answered. They thought that they would finally be redeemed. Their enthusiasm brought them to an audience in front of Pharoah with Moshe. And then the train rolled off the rails. Pharoah refused to listen. He denied knowledge of Hashem. He said: "Why should I listen." Then things got even worse.
The plagues began, and the idea was that Pharoah would let the Jews go. Once again, and then again, and then again. He did not. Until after the tenth plague, and even then, he chased after his former slaves with an army to force them to come back. Progress is not linear. Progress is not simple. And good things aren't always unambiguously good. The assertion of the need for Israelite freedom doesn't necessarily engender the immediate end of slavery. Life is more complicated than that.
Current events give us a very similar feeling. On Friday, three hostages went free. By the time the first phase of the ceasefire finishes, 34 Jews will have left slavery, at the cost of over 1000 criminals and murderers with Jewish blood on their hands. Some celebrate the deal. Some reject it as a terrible trade. Most both think that it is deplorable and celebrate our brothers and sisters coming home.
Furthermore, Hamas has resumed parading the streets of Gaza with guns and claims of victory. Reasonably, Israelis can ask: "Is this what we fought, sacrificed, and died for?" Sometimes, that is the price of progress.
In Australia, we have also found that our problems have not ended. While politicians lined up to say that the ceasefire should bring an end to the continuous anti-Semitic protests we have suffered from for fifteen months (as though the war in Israel justified anti-Semitism here), the protests have not ended. Anti-semitism continues to rear its ugly head. And now we learn perhaps it is part of an international conspiracy.
It is easy to feel disheartened when we directly encounter the non-linear nature of history. It is easy to be depressed when things take longer than we want them to. It is easy to give up when our first (or twentieth) attempt doesn't work, or at least doesn't work fully. However, this is not an option. We must continue to struggle and fight for what we believe. We must continue to work for a better world. Above all, we must continue to hope for our redemption. Hashem promised the Jews that he would take them out of slavery. After each of Pharoah's rejections of Moshe's demand, it was easy to lose heart and hope. The Jews' mission was simple: don't. Don't lose your belief that things will get better. Above all, we should never stop acting on that belief. That way, when the time comes to take that lamb, slaughter it, and finally leave, you'll remember how to defy the set order of things and break loose.
The same is true for us today. None of us knows how this will end. None of us knows how long the blight of Jew hatred, whether here or in Israel, will last. None of us knows if it will get worse or better. None of us knows that our enemies will develop a sense of shame and disgrace. We do know that wars are not won; they are lost when the losing side decides it no longer wants to fight. Hashem's command to us, and the lesson of our history, is never to stop fighting. Never give up on hope. By maintaining our sense that we will endure and that this group of enemies will join the Egyptians, the Babylonians, the Greeks, the Romans, the Inquisition, the Nazis, and so many others in the rubbish heap of history, we ensure that it will be so. We win by outlasting them again. That is our mission.
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