Frogs Against Apathy
Motti Wilhelm
Rabbi and Executive Director at Chabad Center for Jewish Life - SW Portland
While Israel defends sustained attacks on seven fronts, the greatest threat to our people and mission remains unchanged: apathy toward the sense of mission and purpose itself.
When our enemies attempt to claim our holy sites, erase our history, and deny our identity, they awaken our soul, inspire Jewish pride, and deepen our connection.
Simply put, antisemitism is one of the greatest forces that fans the Jewish flame.
Apathy, however, remains a far more insidious and significant threat to our people. In a world where what matters most are fashion, notoriety, or the value of one’s portfolio, the flame of Jewish identity struggles for oxygen.
Soon, “I don’t know” becomes “I don’t care.” We become self-absorbed and self-assured and cease seeing ourselves in the context of our mission, people, and the design of the Creator. What follows is a self-invented set of values, morality, and meaning.
The Torah’s most famous antisemite, Pharaoh, is characterized in the prophets as a self-assured and self-obsessed crocodile who touts, “The Nile is mine, and I made myself.”
When confronted with Hashem’s command to set the Jews free, he simply says: “I do not know the L?rd, nor will I let Israel go.” In other words, “I don’t know, and I don’t care.”
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It was this type of indifference and unwillingness to see context that gave way for Pharaoh to drown baby boys in the Nile and bathe in their blood.
Our sages teach us that the plague of frogs was specifically sent to shake Pharaoh out of his indifference. Of all plagues, the frogs have the least to do with the human condition. Generally speaking, they are neither harnessed for human benefit nor pose a threat to humankind.
By swarming out of the Nile and entering Egypt’s palaces, they were sending a message that we are, after all, all part of one system, made by one Creator for a singular purpose.
The frogs moved Pharaoh from saying, “I don’t know the Lord,” to asking Moshe to “Pray to the Lord.” Through them, he saw an organized, interdependent universe with a Creator at the helm. They awoke Pharaoh from indifference and paved the way towards redemption.
As Israeli soldiers defend Israel on seven fronts, the American Jewish community must "unleash the frogs," and remind the world that, after all, we are all part of a universal system, created by the one Creator who imbues each of us with a unique yet interconnected sense of purpose. If we can awaken the world to sense its soul, we will cease needing to fight with our bodies as well. Like the message of the frogs, when we recall that we are all connected and unified by design, we can crack open the gates of a deeper consciousness which sets us all free.
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For a full exposition on Pharaoh's worldview and the importance of the plague of frogs, see Likkutei Sichot Volume 21 Vaeira 2 Likkutei Sichot Volume 21, Vaeira 2, and the English?Fear the Frogs?
5 years IT Security. Business Strategy.
1 个月Disagree. Compli(?)ity is one thing & agen(?)y is another. Pharaoh was an Agent. Those that sat & watched Jews get hauled off during WW2 were merely compli(?)it. Vit la différence, s'il te pla?t. CCP agen(?)y today is somebody in Oregon, for example, like Chen Tianqiao, a member of the CCP, who owns 200,000 acres. Compli(?)ity, by contrast, belongs to the likes of Tina Kotek, the Oregon Gov who let that land grab go through. Maybe Kotek is an Agent, too, but that's more of a tall order.
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1 个月Brilliant concept. So true for most of us. Thank you.