Education: In it for the long haul

I felt ironically touched by a rhetorical passage in this past week's parsha, but not because of the impact it had, but rather, its failure to move, inspire, touch or make any indent whatsoever on the party who heard it. 

Imagine, for starters, a situation where people in the multitudes heard King's "I have a dream speech," shrugged, uninspired, and went on with their business. Or, after Churchill exhorted and galvanized the nation, "..we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches..," the people hit the streets calling for an immediate ceasefire, or even worse, sighed a sigh of despair, evoking no trust in their theretofore fearless leader. 

Nobody would have understood them more than Moshe Rabeinu, Moshe, our leader, who after offering the most inspiring national speech ever made, was shrugged off, and ignored. 

Could there have been a more inspiring speech for slaves who had never known freedom?

"I will free you from the labors of the Egyptians and deliver you from their bondage. I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and through extraordinary chastisements.
And I will take you to be My people, and I will be your God. And you shall know that I, Hashem, am your God who freed you from the labors of the Egyptians.
I will bring you into the land which I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and I will give it to you for a possession, I am Hashem.”

These were the very words of hope and inspiration that correspond to the cups of wine we drink on the seder night, words that were no more and no less than an anti-climax:

"But when Moses told the Jewish people these words, they did not listen to him; their spirits were depressed due to the toll of the hard work."

More than anything what I think this can teach us is that every attempt we have as people to make a positive impression on others, to help them, to bring a smile to their face, and easen their burden can have ripple effects we have no inkling of at that place and space in time. 

So, we're in it for the long haul, and as my father-in-law, R' Chaim Mangold, so beautifully said when I shared my thoughts at the Shabbat table: "Neither Churchill or King could have given those speeches were Moshe to have never planted the seeds of redemption, hope and faith." 

 

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