Summary
The prophet Jeremiah describes how people sometimes live life like horses in a cavalry charge, going through the motions and doing what they think they ought to because everybody around them is doing the same thing. They just charge on, not really thinking. Many of us live life this way. How can we avoid this?
Charging through life?
Picture the scene: the cavalries of two armies charging headlong towards one another, with swords upraised, bracing themselves for impact. But what’s in it for the horse? They look left and right and see their fellow horses charging ahead, and so they do the same. But they are charging towards destruction. The riders have made a conscious decision to fight in the army, but why are the horses doing this?
In Jeremiah chapter 8 verse 6, the prophet Jeremiah describes how people sometimes live life like horses in a cavalry charge, going through the motions and doing what they think they have to because everybody around them is doing the same thing. We just charge on, not really thinking.
Many of us live life this way. But how can we avoid this?
Stop to think
The Mesilat Yesharim, one of our great ethical works, written by the Ramchal, Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto, says the only way out is to stop and think. We need to stop for a moment and think about where we are headed, what life is about, what our purpose is.
In last week’s parsha, Shemot, we read about the enslavement of the Jewish people and how Moses arrives on the scene to begin the process of redemption. This week’s parsha, Vaeira, continues with the events of the Exodus, though the people are still very much enslaved. We read at the end of last week’s parsha that the people initially welcomed Moses with open arms, but after his first encounter with Pharaoh, Pharaoh responded by making things worse for the people. He said: “Make the work harder for them and let them not turn to false ideas.” (Shemot 5:9) Pharaoh saw the people were starting to question their status as slaves, and he was worried about this emancipatory mindset.
The Mesilat Yesharim says Pharaoh knew that the way to prevent the people from thinking about freedom and the important things in life was to make them so busy they didn't have time to think. And that, says the Mesilat Yesharim, is really when the yetzer hara – the evil inclination – thrives, when we are so busy we can’t even stop to think. We become enslaved to the wrong path in life; we can’t get our priorities straight or lift our heads up to see the bigger picture. We live life like the horses in the cavalry charge.
Pharaoh’s strategy worked: we read at the beginning of this week’s portion that by this stage, after Pharaoh had made the work harder for them, “they did not listen to Moses because of shortness of spirit and because of hard work”. Their spirits were low, they couldn’t see the big picture anymore because things were too hard and they couldn’t stop to think.
Find the space to foster our faith
The lesson that Rabbi Luzzatto gleans from this is that the only way to real freedom from the enslavement of our day-to-day lives is to have the time to stop and think. It’s about finding faith and creating a connection to G-d, despite the difficulties and challenges we may be facing; to find our inspiration in Him. That is the beginning of the process of stepping out of the cavalry charge and seeing the broader picture.
Let us look at what Pharaoh was trying to stop them from doing, and then learn what we can do to create that positive connection with G-d. Pharaoh said: “Let them not turn ‘bedivrei sheker’ – to false ideas.” Various commentaries explain that bedivrei sheker means “words of emptiness”. What are these “words of emptiness”, these false ideas?
According to the Midrash, the people at that time had inspiring writings that they used to read on Shabbos. Of course, Shabbos had not yet been given to them as a mitzvah – but until Pharaoh increased their workload to the point where they could not rest, they did in fact have time off on Shabbos, which they used to read these inspiring writings. Rav Yaakov Kamenetsky, one of the great rabbinic thinkers of the 20th century, says this inspirational reading was from Psalms. We know that the Psalms were authored by King David, except for 11 chapters which, according to the Gemara, were authored by Moses – from psalm 90 through psalm 101.
Every Shabbos we say psalm 92: “The song for the day of Shabbos”. But if we look through that psalm, we find no further reference to Shabbos. Rather, the psalm refers to the problem of the flourishing of the wicked and the suffering of the righteous. It says, don’t be distressed by the flourishing of the wicked, because they flourish like grass, which comes and goes quickly. But the righteous are like the cedar trees; they take a long time to flourish but they are there forever – not only in this world, but in the next world as well.
We have to look at things with a long-term perspective. If we were to plant two seeds in the ground, a grass seed and a cedar tree, the grass would start to grow much quicker. So, too, the wicked sometimes flourish, whereas the righteous person seems to wither in the short-term; but we have to look at life with a fuller perspective, taking into account not just this world, but also the next world.
Rav Yaakov Kamenetsky says that it was during this time, when the people were enslaved and suffering in Egypt and were looking to Moses for inspiration, that he penned the words of this psalm to uplift their spirits.
Take time out for prayer
This relates to prayer as well. According to the Ba’al HaTurim, one of our great commentators from the Middle Ages, the word yish’u in Pharaoh’s words: Ve’al yish’u bedivrey sheker, “let them not turn to false ideas”, appears only in one other place in the whole of Tanach, and in that context (Shmuel II 22:42) it is talking about the people praying to G-d and not getting answered. What is the connection between these two verses? The Ba’al HaTurim says it is to teach us that when one prays to G-d, one has to be honest. The key to prayer is that it must come from the heart; it has to be sincere, not just going through the motions while our mind is elsewhere. It means having a spiritual and emotional connection to our Creator.
Of course, we pray to G-d and sometimes he grants our request and sometimes He does not. He hears our prayers even though things may not turn out the way we would like, just as parents sometimes do not give a child what the child asks for because it isn’t good for the child. Even though the request was not granted, the child is still secure in the knowledge that there is a loving parent who is listening and taking note of the request.
Real prayer should have the power to uplift and transform us, to give us a chance to see life from a different perspective, outside the cavalry charge. We pray three times a day, Shacharis, Mincha and Maariv; at each stage in the day, we have the opportunity to step out of life and connect with G-d. This is why, when we step into the Amidah prayer, we take three steps back and then three steps forward: symbolically, we are taking three steps back out of our lives, and then three steps forward into G-d’s presence. These moments give us the opportunity to have the clarity, tranquillity and peace of mind that come with knowing that G-d is in charge and, no matter what happens in the end, He is a loving father and we can connect with Him. Prayer gives us a broader perspective.
Take time out for Torah learning
The yish’u of our verse relates not just to prayer but to Torah learning. The Midrash connects the word yish’u in the verse with the word sha’ashu’im found in psalm 119, where King David writes: “Were it not for Your Torah which is my delight (sha’ashu’ai ), I would have been lost in my affliction.” As we know, King David had a very hard life. He had many enemies – King Saul who didn’t want him to take over the kingship; his son Absalom who rebelled against him. He suffered family tragedies as well. In this verse, King David is saying that what got him through the challenges and difficulties, what gave him a sense of perspective, joy and inspiration, was learning Torah. That, too, enables us to take a step back. Each person can find something to learn according to their own level, to get out of that cavalry charge of life, see the broader perspective and get a sense of inner peace and tranquillity. In prayer, we talk to Hashem; when we learn Torah; He talks to us.
Pharaoh was saying, I do not want them praying or learning. Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch comments that Pharaoh said they must not turn to “words of emptiness”, because Pharaoh is coming from an anti-Torah, anti-G-d position. Pharaoh was saying, this is nothing, this is empty and therefore do not let them turn to such nonsense. But we know that prayer and Torah study are real and can uplift us and transform our lives.
G-d gave the Torah for all times and it is indeed relevant in all generations. But in today’s day and age especially, the Torah and its message seem even more relevant. The way that people are rushed and pressured, the cavalry charge is all the more apparent. The Torah provides the formula to enable us to step back from life and see a much bigger picture.
Through faith, prayer and learning Torah we can see things from a much broader perspective. We can step out of the rush of life and get a sense of inner tranquillity. More importantly, we can ensure that we are on the right path, that we are not just charging aimlessly but are actually leading a life of purpose, according to G-d’s will.
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