This World The Jewish Values Network Rabbi Shmuley

Rabbi Shmuley’s Musings

by 04/11/2011

Rabbi Shmuley’s Musings

 

Passover: Human Limitation and the Quest for Balance

 

The Jewish nation was born on Passover in a classic confrontation between good and evil. What relevance does this ancient tale of an enslaved nation seeking its freedom have for contemporary America where we already, thankfully, enjoy political liberty?

 

In Christianity, which is a dualistic religion, evil is a straightforward concept. Good and evil are two sides of a coin. Good comes from G-d, evil from the devil. But how does Judaism – which lacks the concept of a fallen and rebellious angel – explain evil?

 

Maimonides, Judaism’s greatest thinker, says that good is the perfect medium between two extremes. All extremes are bad. Never disciplining your child will spoil him. But being overly critical will equally cripple him.

 

Pharaoh is the quintessential example of evil because he know no boundaries, being always guilty of overreach. He declares himself a deity. He tramples on the rights of an innocent nation and enslaves them. Egyptian culture is likewise built on the imbalance of always trampling on established boundaries. The Egyptians seek to gain eternal life by defying death with enormous pyramids where the Pharaohs may bring their worldly possessions with them into eternal life.

 

The word ‘Egypt’ in Hebrew, Mitzrayim, translates as ‘boundaries,’ with the Egyptians forever seeking to erase them.

 

While personal destruction is found in overreach, greatness is found in voluntarily submitting to limitation. George Washington was declared by his nemesis King George III to be the greatest man in the world when he voluntarily resigned his commission as Commander-in-Chief of the Continental army in December, 1783. Earlier the Roman general Cincinnatus had done the same in 458 BC when he was called to serve as dictator to save the republic against invasion, but quickly retired to his farm as soon as the danger was removed. Ronald Reagan is remembered as a greater leader than Margaret Thatcher because after eight years he left the presidency (true, there were term limits) while Thatcher had to be pushed out by her own party. She had rescued Britain from economic decline but she didn’t know when to exit.

 

This theme of voluntarily submitting to limitation and circumscribing our own lust for power is one of the principal themes behind Passover.

 

Pharaoh and the Egyptians seek to override divinely mandated limitation. 

 

The punishment therefore is in kind. Each of the plagues is designed to circumscribe Egyptian power.

 

The punishment for limitless ambition is limitless fear. Fear is the emotion that most checks our reach. The Egyptians are terrorized by rivers of blood, their dreams and thoughts are haunted by the never-ending din of croaking frogs, their very person is violated by a plague of lice, their soaring reach to the heavens is frustrated by a sky that pushes back with hail and fire. Wild beasts are unleashed against them. They lose their mastery over the animal kingdom.

 

Limitless ambition finds its match in the plague of darkness where they are met by limitless imagination. We all fear the dark because, without the definition of light, there is no check on our imagination. It easily spills over into terror and paranoia.

 

The plague of the first born, death itself, is the final check on our overreaching ambition where we encounter a force that cannot be overcome.

 

Conversely, Moses and the Jews are too self-effacing and must learn to transcend their natural limitations and stand up for themselves. They must learn to find balance.

 

When G-d appoints Moses deliverer of the Jews he initially refuses the mission. He is unsure of himself, lacking the confidence of leadership. G-d must persuade and cajole him. He must learn to stand up to the tyrant Pharaoh and wear justice as his cloak.

 

Likewise, the Israelites themselves must learn to cast away a mentality of subjugation and stand up for themselves as free men.

 

The Zohar says that wisdom is acquired in finding balance. A rewarding life is discovered in the internal balance between intellect and emotion, promotion of self versus fitting into a group.

 

Religion demands finding balance between our submission to G-d, on the one hand, and our legitimate right to be individuals with needs, on the other.

 

The lesson of Passover is important for a modern generation which has lost its sense of balance. Democrats and Republicans vilify each other rather than embracing the majesty of a system designed with checks and balances.

 

Money is a blessing, without which we cannot feed our families or welcome guests. But lacking balance it quickly spills over into soulless materialism.

 

In marriage we have a right to seek happiness. But we must accommodate the legitimate desire of our spouse to seek the same.

 

In finding balance we discover a life of blessing.

   

‘Rabbi Shmuley’s Musings’ is a stream-of-consciousness series of Rabbi Shmuley’s thought on major Jewish themes, designed not to be finished ideas but to inspire thinking on the part of the reader. Please feel free to think allowed and comment.