The Dignity of Difference p. 206
Rabbi Jonathan Sacks
“One of the most important distinctions I have learned in the course of reflection on Jewish history is the difference between optimism and hope. Optimism is the belief that things will get better. Hope is the belief that, together, we can make things better. Optimism is a passive virtue, hope an active one. It takes no courage to be an optimist, but it takes a great deal of courage to have hope. Knowing what we do of our past, no Jew can be an optimist. But Jews have never – despite a history of sometimes awesome suffering – given up hope”
Moses means that in all the locations mentioned by him here he had communicated what follows to the people, some in each location. In all of these locations, the people had angered God. Each time he reminded them that if it had not been for their sins they would have long since reached their destination. The 38 years that they were wandering in the desert they did not travel in a straight line, nor did they travel on well-marked routes used by desert travelers. Each time they arrived at a spot where they made camp Moses reminded them that the reason that they had still not reached their final destination was due to their having committed so many sins. The shortest route to Kadesh Barnea, the southern boundary of the Land of Israel, is only 11 days’ march away from Mount Chorev when traveling via Mount Seir. If they were still not in the Holy Land this was only due to their sins. The delay had been designed to make them have remorse and to return to God without mental reservations.
Why are these marches recorded here? In order to make known the loving acts of the Omnipresent: that although He had decreed against them to make them move about and wander in the wilderness, you should not think that they wandered and moved about without cessation from one station to another station all the forty years, and that they had no rest, for you see that there are here only forty-two marches listed.
Lo! this is as the bread of affliction, which our ancestors ate in the land of Egypt; let all those who are hungry, enter, and eat thereof; and all who are necessitous, come, and celebrate the Passover. At the present time we are here, next year we will be in the land of Israel. at the present we are servants, next year we will be free.
“Hope locates itself in the premises that we don’t know what will happen and that in the spaciousness of uncertainty is room to act. When you recognize uncertainty, you recognize that you may be able to influence the outcomes–you alone or you in concert with a few dozen or several million others. Hope is an embrace of the unknown and knowable, a alternative to the certainty of both optimists and pessimists. Optimists think it will all be fine without our involvement; pessimists take the opposite position; both excuse themselves from acting. It’s the belief that what we do matters even though how and when it may matter, who and what is may impact, are not things we can know beforehand...Or perhaps studying the record more carefully leads us to expect miracles - not when and where we expect them, but to expect to be astonished, to expect that we don't know. And this is grounds to act.
― Rebecca Solnit, Hope in the Dark
Rabbi Yoḥanan said: Anyone who prolongs his prayer and expects it to be answered, will ultimately come to heartache, as it will not be answered. As it is stated: “Hope deferred makes the heart sick” (Proverbs 13:12). And what is the remedy for one afflicted with that illness? He should engage in Torah study, as it is stated: “But desire fulfilled is the tree of life” (Proverbs 13:12).
Rabbi Ḥama, son of Rabbi Ḥanina, [disagreed]: A person who prayed and saw that he was not answered, should pray again, as it is stated: “Hope in the Lord, strengthen yourself, let your heart take courage, and hope in the Lord” (Psalms 27:14). One should turn to God with hope, and if necessary turn to God again with hope.
R. Johanan said: When you see a generation ever dwindling, hope for him [the Messiah], as it is written, "And the afflicted people thou wilt save." [II Samuel 22:28] R. Johanan said: When thou seest a generation overwhelmed by many troubles as by a river, await him, as it is written, "When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him;" which is followed by, "And the Redeemer shall come to Zion."
Hezekiah continued: I have received a tradition from the house of my father’s father, from King David, the founding father of the dynasty of kings of Judea: Even if a sharp sword rests upon a person’s neck, he should not prevent himself from praying for mercy. One may still hold out hope that his prayers will be answered, as was David himself when he saw the Angel of Destruction, but nonetheless prayed for mercy and his prayers were answered. With regard to the fact that one should not despair of God’s mercy, the Gemara cites that it was also said that Rabbi Yoḥanan and Rabbi Eliezer both said: Even if a sharp sword is resting upon a person’s neck, he should not prevent himself from praying for mercy, as it is stated in the words of Job: “Though He slay me, I will trust in Him” (Job 13:15). Even though God is about to take his life, he still prays for God’s mercy.
(18) I thought my strength and hope Had perished before the LORD. (19) To recall my distress and my misery was wormwood and poison; (20) Whenever I thought of them, I was bowed low. (21) But this do I call to mind, Therefore I have hope: (22) The kindness of the LORD has not ended, His mercies are not spent. (23) They are renewed every morning— Ample is Your grace! (24) “The LORD is my portion,” I say with full heart; Therefore will I hope in Him. (25) The LORD is good to those who trust in Him, To the one who seeks Him; (26) It is good to wait patiently Till rescue comes from the LORD. (27) It is good for a man, when young, To bear a yoke; (28) Let him sit alone and be patient, When He has laid it upon him. (29) Let him put his mouth to the dust— There may yet be hope.
רבי אמי כי מטי להאי קרא בכי (איכה ג, כט) יתן בעפר פיהו אולי יש תקוה אמר כולי האי ואולי רבי אמי כי מטי להאי קרא בכי (צפניה ב, ג) בקשו צדק בקשו ענוה אולי תסתרו ביום אף ה' אמר כולי האי ואולי רבי אסי כי מטי להאי קרא בכי (עמוס ה, טו) שנאו רע ואהבו טוב והציגו בשער משפט אולי יחנן ה' [אלהי] צבאות כולי האי ואולי
“Let him put his mouth in the dust, perhaps there may be hope” (Lamentations 3:29). Rabbi Ami said: A sinner suffers through all this punishment and only perhaps there may be hope?
“Seek righteousness, seek humility; perhaps you shall be hidden on the day of the Lord’s anger”(Zephaniah 2:3). Rabbi Ami said: All of this is expected of each individual, and only perhaps God’s anger may be hidden?
“Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish justice in the gate; perhaps the Lord, the God of hosts, will be gracious” (Amos 5:15). Rabbi Asi said: All of this, and only perhaps?
ההולך במדבר ואינו יודע מתי הוא שבת מונה שבעה ימים מיום שנתן אל לבו שכחתו ומקדש השביעי בקידוש והבדלה ואם יש לו ממה להתפרנס אסור לו לעשות מלאכה כלל עד שיכלה מה שיש לו ואז יעשה מלאכה בכל יום אפילו ביום שמקדש בו כדי פרנסתו מצומצמת ומותר לילך בו בכל יום אפי' ביום שמקדש בו:
Rav Yoseph said: Is there one who goes before his time and dies for no reason? The Gemara answers: Yes, like this incident of Rav Beivai bar Abaye, who would be frequented by the company of the Angel of Death and would see how people died at the hands of this angel. The Angel of Death said to his agent: Go and bring me, Miriam the raiser, i.e., braider, of women’s hair. He went, but instead brought him Miriam, the raiser of babies. The Angel of Death said to him: I told you to bring Miriam, the raiser of women’s hair. His agent said to him: If so, return her to life. He said to him: Since you have already brought her, let her be counted toward the number of deceased people. Apparently, this woman died unintentionally. Rav Beivai asked the agent: But as her time to die had not yet arrived, how were you able to kill her? The agent responded that he had the opportunity, as she was holding a shovel in her hand and with it she was lighting and sweeping the oven. She took the fire and set it on her foot; she was scalded and her luck suffered, which gave me the opportunity, and I brought her. Rav Beivai bar Abaye said to the Angel of Death: Do you have the right to act in this manner, to take someone before his time? The Angel of Death said to him: And is it not written: “But there are those swept away without justice” (Proverbs 13:23)? Rav Beivai said to him: And isn’t it written: “One generation passes away, and another generation comes” (Ecclesiastes 1:4), which indicates that there is a predetermined amount of time for the life of every generation.
Future Tense – How The Jews Invented Hope
Rabbi Jonathan Sacks
...Human beings are the only life form capable of using the future tense. Only beings who can imagine the world other than it is, are capable of freedom. And if we are free, the future is open, dependent on us. We can know the beginning of our story but not the end. That is why, as He is about to take the Israelites from slavery to freedom, God tells Moses that His name is ‘I will be what I will be.’ Judaism, the religion of freedom, is faith in the future tense.
Western civilization is the product of two cultures: ancient Greece and ancient Israel. The Greeks believed in fate: the future is determined by the past. Jews believed in freedom: there is no ‘evil decree’ that cannot be averted. The Greeks gave the world the concept of tragedy. Jews gave it the idea of hope. The whole of Judaism – though it would take a book to show it – is a set of laws and narratives designed to create in people, families, communities and a nation, habits that defeat despair. Judaism is the voice of hope in the conversation of mankind.
It is no accident that so many Jews are economists fighting poverty, or doctors fighting disease, or lawyers fighting injustice, in all cases refusing to see these things as inevitable...
Judaism is a religion of details, but we miss the point if we do not sometimes step back and see the larger picture. To be a Jew is to be an agent of hope in a world serially threatened by despair. Every ritual, every mitzvah, every syllable of the Jewish story, every element of Jewish law, is a protest against escapism, resignation or the blind acceptance of fate. Judaism is a sustained struggle, the greatest ever known, against the world that is, in the name of the world that could be, should be, but is not yet. There is no more challenging vocation. Throughout history, when human beings have sought hope they have found it in the Jewish story. Judaism is the religion, and Israel the home, of hope.