eDvar Shabbat Parshat Yitro 5786 – Levers that Lift the Spirit
“He doesn’t make much of hate,” writes Matti Friedman in his forthcoming Out of the Sky. He’s talking about Enzo, a husband and father of three, who parachuted back into Nazi-occupied Europe in 1944. “Zionism is a positive vision for Enzo, not a response to animosity or a last resort.”
Staying positive. It’s rare today. Like an endangered species. Negativity is all too available. Yes, it’s often urgent. Particularly when confronting harm. Some may say, grave circumstances can ill-afford positive visions. But this week’s portion of Torah has a different take, when it makes an invisible God, an audible God at Mt. Sinai.
The better known of the Ten Commandments prohibit violence and taking God’s name in vain. But they begin with a positive vision, affirming belief in God, honoring parents, and treasuring Shabbat.
It’s the second commandment—forbidding idols—where my attention is drawn this year. It deals with both negative and positive. Those who hate and those who love. “Visiting punishment onto the third and fourth generation to those who hate me, while showing kindness to thousands of generations to those who love me and adhere to my commandments.” (Ex. 20:5-6)
Just as evil hates exposure, negativity dislikes being ignored. The best way to vacate it is to attach your life to something positive that’s larger and more lasting. Idols are tools, primary instruments of the evil inclination. You diminish them not by wrestling with them. But rather by attaching yourself to God. When you do, they have no business in your head. Laughed aside, they need to find work elsewhere.
Enzo came to Zionism later in life, as a family man. He depicted it as “A revolution of the soul. A lever to lift the spirit of man.” Matti—who will be with us at KI on March 26 for his Boston Book Launch—writes of how dearly missed he was by Israel’s founding Prime Minister. Ben Gurion said, “There was no replacement for Enzo. There wasn’t another like him.”
Let’s each do our share to preserve and protect the positive. In so doing, may we retain the capacity to dismiss negativity and prove that it’s still possible to take hold of levers that lift the human spirit.
A sweet Shabbat to you.
Rabbi William Hamilton
PS – In addition to my weekly Shabbat message, I’ve started a new email series filled with nourishment that will speak to your head and your heart, setting the tone for worthier Jewish living for you and those around you. Join me by signing up here and get it straight in your inbox next week.
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