Drash, January 31, 2009 – Parshat Bo – Susan Schneider Haikus: Locusts, darkness, death hope and faith in God Pharaoh stubborn – does not change from slavery to freedom We can overcome we need to believe God helped redeem us There are 3 more plagues We still have issues and kvetch take the gold and the silver Be thankful and praise no more being slaves Jews must remember how God brought us from slavery New year. Must be free So many of the prayers in our siddur are remembering what God did for  us, praising God, thanking God, expressing our love to God – over and  over and in many different ways – we keep affirming our God – in our  lives and in the lives of our ancestors. You can open the prayer book  to any page and likely find a passage or prayer saying that “From  Egypt You redeemed us, from the house of bondage You delivered  us…” (Page 104 – Nishmat) Page 106 –  Yishtabach You shall ever be praised in heaven and earth,  our Sovereign, the great and holy God. Songs of praise and psalms of  adoration become You, Adonai our God and God of our ancestors, praises  that acknowledge Your grandeur, your glory, your might, your  magnificence, your strength, your sanctity and your sovereignty.  Now  and forever, acclaim and honor are Yours.  Praised are You Adonai,  Sovereign of wonders, crowned with adoration, delighting in our songs and psalms, exalted Ruler, Eternal Life of the universe. We say these words to honor God, to show our gratitude and praise God. Is it God that needs to hear these words, or is it us? Do we  need to say these words to remind ourselves of what God does for us? To remind us of God, to affirm to ourselves that God is here and doing  wonders. I try to imagine our history – what it was like as slaves in Egypt – for  hundreds of years – to be in bondage. God did not hear our cries for a  long time. God did not redeem us for a long time. We did not see God’s wonders for a long time. Did the Israelites pray to God, cry out to God, beg God during those days? Did they perhaps pray and  plead for the first 1 or 2 hundred years and then give up? Did the Israelites hearts harden to the idea of redemption? Did we have faith all along?  Did we maintain hope? A few parshiot ago – in Shemot – we learn of Moses’ birth and his early adult life. In Exodus 2:23 (page 325), it says, “A long time after that, the king of Egypt died." (In Egypt when a new King gets his  throne, he celebrates by granting amnesty and freeing slaves. The Israelites thought they may be freed but it did not happen –  thus the  intensity of their misery.) The Israelites were groaning under the  bondage and cried out; and their cry for help from bondage rose up to God. The commentary says that they were not crying out to God. They  were groaning in their misery, with no certainty that anyone would hear them. God responds to the Israelites because God sees their suffering. God remembers God’s covenant and takes notice of the  Israelites. God sees that even in their suffering, they show compassion to one another. There must have been some sense of hope and yearning. The overriding theme in today’s parsha, Bo, is God’s omnipotence. The  signs or plagues or wonders are meant to prove to Pharaoh, all Egypt  and the people of Israel that Israel’s God reigns supreme. It  discusses the last 3 plagues – locusts, darkness and killing of the  first-born. The theme of remembrance also recurs, as well as the importance of teaching to further generations about how God saved the Israelites. Our story is so powerful – showing God’s role in our redemption. I am  always struck by the concept of “hardening of the heart”. Was it fair for God to harden Pharaohs heart? Commentary says that Pharaoh  hardened his own heart for the first 5 plagues and it was not until the 6th plague that God hardened his heart – Pharaoh's character has become his destiny. With his hardened heart, he was not able to  remember – he was stuck in his own sense of his power and did not have the awareness of God’s power. But ultimately – the persistent  hardening of Pharaoh’s heart results in the Israelites redemption.   Part of the power of the plagues was to show the Israelites the power  of God, to show them that God led us to redemption – not Pharaoh  allowing us to leave. Would our story have been different if Pharaoh  let us go, if we were powerful and free in Egypt, if we had not suffered? In chapter 11 – God tells Moses that God is bringing on the last  plague – and with this plague – Pharaoh and the Egyptians will finally let you go. Before the last plague happens – chapter 12 says that God  says to Moses and Aaron to mark this month as the beginning of the months of the year – and then goes further to explain how to mark it and rituals of the pesach offering, and remembering:  – “for on this day  I brought your ranks out of the land of Egypt.” So, a few things come to mind when studying about this portion. I recently read a novel in which one of the characters was a Baal Tshuvah and was constantly feeling guilty – trying to make amends for  the Israelites making of the golden calf – how we all feel guilty and  try to make amends by showing God at all times that we have complete  faith, and would never do such an act again. In our prayers we  reassure God of our love and commitment. We remind ourselves of all  that God has done for us.  We praise, praise and praise some more. The Israelite behavior in going from slavery to freedom could have  been a little better. There was lots of complaining, and forgetting  what God did for us, even betrayal and even saying it would be better to go back to Egypt and slavery and not be redeemed. The Israelite nation needed some collective t’shuva – returning to God.  It is not easy to change the mentality of a people – the bitterness and hardship  gets ingrained into their whole beings. Fear can be very strong and  can seem to overpower any sense of hope and faith in good things to  come. Ever since Obama won the election, I have been in a good mood. I have  been feeling positive and hopeful, and empowered. At Thanksgiving time, all of the relatives talked about it. The positive energy was  infectious. The pride was infectious. The sense of amazement that a  black man could become president made us feel good. The sense of  amazement that Obama had this quality about him, this strength, that  he could make us all feel this way. I really bought into the “hope  and change” attitude.  It has been a big topic of conversation at  dinners, parties, work, even with strangers in the airport.  Obama has  inspired me.  So much so, that I decided to go to the inauguration. I wanted to be part of his history, to share in the collective positive  joy and pride. It was quite an experience – feel free to ask me about  it at kiddush – but what is amazing is that every time I talk about it, I still feel the high, the positiveness, the energy of the collective  public that support him – the sense of awe at such a good leader that  can make us feel this way. I can’t help but make some comparisons to the “redemption” of America,  or at least Democrats. We went through hardships of losing jobs,  losing money, losing faith in our country, etc.  And then came the feeling of change. There was a beautiful rendition of Sam Cooke’s song, “Change is gonna  come” sung the day before the inauguration. Some of the verses to his song “a change is gonna come:” I was born by the river in a little tent. Oh and just like the river  I’ve been running ever since.  It’s been a long time coming.  But I  know a change gonna come, oh yes it will. It’s been too hard living  but I’m afraid to die ‘cause I don’t know what’s up there beyond the  sky. It’s been a long time coming but I know a change gonna come. Oh  there been times that I thought I couldn’t last for long, but now I  think I’m able to carry on.  It’s been a long time coming, but I know  a change gonna come. This song seems to to sum up the message of hope and change. Hope is a powerful thing. It can make scary situations seem brighter. It can change negative to positive; it can make you keep trying even when you are failing. It can keep you believing in  goodness, in God – even when it may seem like God is not there. The  power of hope can overcome a hardened heart.  Hope can make you see a  situation with different eyes.  Hope leads to faith. I will close with a prayer found in our siddur, written by Jules Harlow. (Page 32 of the siddur) Daily you renew our souls, restoring us as you redeemed our ancient  nation Israel from slavery to freedom, from sorrow to triumph,  blessing our people with the springtime of its life to be renewed by  all of us each year. Healer of our wounds, holy God, do not abandon  us to enemies who threaten, to tyrants who deny Your sovereignty.  Into Your care we commit our souls, now as in the past, sustained by  Your truth, embraced by your love, inspired with hope for the future  by Your faith in us.  Beloved are You, Redeemer of the people Israel,  whose faithfulness in ages past assures our future too. Be hopeful and positive and keep reminding yourself of all that God  does for us – especially in times of hardship. I have always been bothered by the message in the Charlie Brown  cartoon – when Charlie Brown tries to kick the football and Lucy keeps  picking it up and Charlie falls on his back.  How depressing – he keeps  hoping and having faith that this time Lucy won’t pick up the ball. Does Lucy represent Pharaoh – maybe her heart became hardened and she  can’t help it anymore? Does Charlie represent the Israelites – keeping  his faith? Does Charlie represent God keeping faith in us?  Should I  change my attitude about this, and see it as a positive message – that  Charlie Brown doesn’t give up. Life happens – it is out of our control – but how we approach life is in our control.  Shabbat Shalom.