Do you remember the 1972 film, The Candidate? It was a pretty good flick, starring a
young Robert Redford as Bill McKay, an idealistic young lawyer. The California Democrat Party tapped him for
an impossible senate race against a popular Republican incumbent. Redford’s character had neither political experience
nor aspirations, but the Democrats needed someone to enter the
race. So the party’s leaders talked McKay
into running, and they assigned handlers to usher him through his losing
election. But McKay, during the
campaign, listened to the voters and shifted his positions to tell the public
what they wanted to hear. His popularity
rose to where, on Election Day, he effected a miraculous upset and unseated his
opponent.
The most memorable
line in the movie was the very last line spoken. I remember it vividly, even though I was only
15 when I saw the film. After Redford’s
character’s victory, he turns to his handlers and says: “What do we do now?”
One of my favourite
columnists mentioned the film, and Redford’s final line in the script, this
week to make a point of the current US Presidential election circus. I smiled at the memory of the movie, less so
about the invoking of its protagonist actually getting elected and then not
having a clue what to do next, regarding current events.
But What do we do
now? also comes to mind when I think
about the cycle of Torah readings.
This week our
portion is Pekudei, the final reading in Shemot, the book of
Exodus. The book contains 42 chapters,
the final three of which are contained in this week’s reading.
As I’m sure I’ve
mentioned before, the name Exodus is the Greek word for ‘exit.’ The world knows this biblical book as Exodus
because it’s most important theme is Yetzi’at Mitzrayim – the departure
of the Israelite people from the Land of Egypt.
But the climax – the crossing of the Red Sea – takes place in the 15th
chapter. There, in parashat
Beshallach, we read the Song of the Sea with great joy and ceremony.
And then, the book
continues for 27 more chapters. Those
chapters document the What Do We Do Now.
They are full of instructions for creating a worthy religious shrine and
equipping its priests. Look, not to
sound sacrilegious but…after the excitement of the book’s first fifteen
chapters most of the text is something of a letdown. Oh, there are a few high points yet. Moses’ ascent of the mountain to receive the Tablets
of the Law. (More exciting, I’ll
concede, than the typical visit to one’s doctor to receive a new script for tablets.)
And things get exciting when, in Moses’
absence, the people backslide ‘just a bit’ and engage in a little idol-building
with a little orgy to mark the occasion.
So yeah, it’s not as if the next 27 chapters are nothing but dry prose. But let’s be honest: most of the really good stuff – Moses’
calling, his encounters with Pharaoh, the Plagues, the crossing of the Red Sea –
is behind us by then.
And that, my friends,
is a good metaphor for Real Life.
The excitement over,
the rest of life kicks in. There will be
highs and lows. But few moments in the
life of an administration in Washington will be as exciting as the campaign to
see who gets to be President. If the
Presidency were as exciting as the campaign, as crisis filled, the
historians would be forever thinking of it as a failed presidency.
There have been exciting
moments since Yetzi’at Mitzrayim. But
the reality of life for the people Israel after the exodus, is the drudgery of society-building.
And then, after the wars of conquest, it’s
the drudgery of state-building.
This weekend, we’re going to have a
Beit Din for three candidates for conversion to Judaism. Those of you who are Jews by conversion,
surely remember your Beit Din interviews and all the excitement the preceded
them. And then? The rest of your life as a Jew. Navigating the sometimes-petty politics of
Jewish life. Giving to Jewish causes. Making the service where the rabbi drones on as
he is now, the centerpiece of your week. Continuing to study and learn. Perhaps it is an exaggeration to call this
drudgery, but it certainly isn’t the high drama of the process culminating in
the Beit Din.
One can apply the metaphor to so
many other experiences in life. After
the excitement of the wedding, settling down to housekeeping, struggling with
the household finances, and kids. After
the excitement of the overseas move, the long process of trying to figure out
which way is up in the new country. As
we journey through life, we find many exciting moments, followed by long
periods of routine. But the exciting
moments define the longer period.
In the same way that the exodus – that exciting process by which
the enslaved Israelites were freed from Egyptian bondage – defines the book
whose theme, by weight of the text, is really about working out how to live
with one another, and with their G-d.
The excitement is over. What do we do now? What do we do??! Now we get on with the business of living. Shabbat shalom.
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