We Were Born to establish an ideal world

The following are excerpts from Binyamin Kahane's ZT"L HY"D "shiur" Motzei Shabbat at the Center for the Jewish Idea in Jerusalem:

We Were Born to establish an ideal world


(by Binyamin Zev Kahane, z"tl)



At the end of "Parshat Shmot" we find a confrontation between Moses and
Aaron on the one hand and the officers of the children of Israel on the
other. On the one side stood Moses and Aaron who had been assigned by
Hashem to carry out a seemingly suicidal mission: to enter uninvited into
the house of the king, of the imperial, menacing kingdom of Egypt, and to
request that he let the Jewish slaves go free. In spite of the odds,
Moses and Aaron, with faith in Hashem, went and fulfilled their mission
completely. (According to our sages, all the elders that accompanied them
dropped out along the way because of fear, until Moses and Aaron alone
remained to face Pharaoh). And certainly Pharaoh rejected their request
out of hand. The problem was, not only did he reject their request, but
also in order to quell the "undesirable" excitement and expectation
amidst the Jews, he informed them that their work conditions would become
more severe. Not only would they have to keep up the stringent quota of
bricks they were now required to produce, but also they themselves would
have to gather the straw needed to make the bricks!

The Character of the (Jewish) Officers
Now entering into the picture are the "Officers of the Children of
Israel." From the verses in our parsha, and from the commentary of our
sages, we know that these were not essentially bad men; in the last
analysis, they only wanted to lighten the burden of the Jews. More than
this, they were prepared to bear the heavy burden for the sake of their
brethren, rather than hand over to the Egyptian taskmasters those who
were unable to fulfill their quotas. And for this reason, "The officers
were beaten"!! (Shmot 5:14) In fact, the officers were themselves sort of
communal leaders who apparently represented the Jews before the Egyptian
ruler.

As practical men who recognized the nature of the playing field, they
played the game, they did not believe either in "making noise" or in
revolutions. They were a kind of "workers committee" that wanted to
lighten, a bit, the harsh conditions, hoping for some improvement. In
their eyes, any noise, any demonstration, any meeting with Pharaoh that
was not carried out according to the rules of protocol, would be
destructive and damaging to the delicate work of many years.

Like a Bull in a China Shop
For this reason, the moment they heard about Moses and Aaron and their
results, they became very angry. They opposed them with fervor: You are
novices!! You are adventurers!! " May Hashem look upon you and judge, for
you have brought us into foul odor in the eyes of Pharaoh and in the eyes
of his servants, to place a sword into their hands to kill us!!" (Shmot,
5:21)

Among other things, we have a confrontation here between the old guard
leadership of the 'status quo' who wish to protect their achievements -
which although modest, were achieved through hard labor - and New Men,
who through their 'exaggerated' requests not only accomplish nothing, but
also even cause the destruction of earlier achievements. In the eyes of
the officers, Moses behaves like a bull in a china shop.

And in fact, reality proves that the officers were correct. Seemingly,
just after Moses and Aaron leave Pharaoh's presence, a harsh decree is
put upon the nation. And who suffers for this? Moses and Aaron? No, of
course not! The officers are the ones who suffer. They are the ones who
receive the beatings for the sake of the people who cannot fulfill the
impossible quotas. And all because of the irresponsibility of Moses and
Aaron.

The position of the officers seemed so correct, that even Moses himself
thought they were in the right. He had so little confidence in his own
opinion, that he sinned by showing a lack of faith in Hashem, by crying
to Him, "Why is evil happening to this people, why did You send me?!"

There is No Smooth Rebellion
And with all this...the officers were not right! The reason (and also the
lesson from this) is that there is almost never a revolution or change
where the first stages do not involve a loss of accomplishment! Sometimes
this is essential, for the ‘accomplishments’ of the past are
parenthetical; the arrangements of small-minded people, which though
successful for putting out fires, establish a dismal situation which in
themselves prevent any change. And sometimes, even in the case of true
accomplishments, we must know that in order to bring change, there is no
choice but to lose real accomplishments, at least temporarily. Because
there will always be one Pharaoh or another who will threaten that if we
don't sit quietly he will nullify our achievements, "and you will lose
out because of this." But if we give in to his threats, we will remain
captives in the hand of Pharaoh, we, our children and our children's
children...until the end of time.

Redemption - Or Slavery Under Improved Conditions
In conclusion, whoever wants to progress - and this is true in every area
- must take into account, that he will almost certainly find himself, at
least temporarily, losing some ground. Whoever is not prepared for this
will find himself, all his life, remaining in the straits of Egypt.
Whoever wants change needs to warmly thank the 'existing officers' for
their accomplishments, but say to them: now we are going further, we are
going to progress. It is possible that a part of your accomplishments, or
some of your accomplishments will be lost, either temporarily or
permanently. But this is the price to pay for reaching the greater and
ultimate goal. For we were not born in order to be slaves with improved
conditions in Egypt; we were born to be redeemed. We were not born to
live in villas in settlements surrounded by fences, like ghettos, with
improved mortgage benefits: we were born to conquer and rule all of the
land of Israel, free of the goyim and of our enemies. And if the price,
more or less temporarily, is the loss of economic or security benefits,
due to lack of participation on the part of the existing regime, or the
necessity of gathering our own straw to make bricks for a while, the
price is worth it. For we were not born to live with the status quo,
after the fact. We were born to establish an ideal world, as it was at
the beginning.