Shabbat Forshpeis
A Taste of Torah in Honor of Shabbat
PARSHAT BESHALAH
ZEIT NICHT ME-YA-AISH
NEVER GIVE UP NEVER DESPAIR
JANUARY 17-18, 2003/ 15 SHEVAT 5763
In this weeks portion Moshe (Moses),
finding the Jewish people surrounded on all sides, beseeches God for help. God responds "Ma titz-ak (similar to tza-ak) eilaiwhy do you cry out to me?" (Exodus 14:15)
Rav Yosef Dov Soloveitchik, of blessed memory, distinguished between the terms tza-ak and za-ak. Tza-ak is an expression of angst. Here the suffering person cries out in pain and does not offer any plan to alleviate his plight.
Hence, in our portion God turns to Moshe and says, this is not the time for mere anguish. It is a time for action. Tell the Jewish people to go forward. (Exodus 14:15)
Indeed, the term, which translates the plea into a concrete plan, is the word za-ak. Here the person crying out is prepared to respond to the challenge with a commitment to act on behalf of the oppressed.
For example: when Mordechai and the Jews faced annihilation in Persia at the hands of Haman, the Megillah uses the term za-ak (va-yiz-ak) and Mordechai cried out. But it is a cry with the intention to act. (Esther 4:1) Mordechai leaves home and goes to the midst of the city. He directs Esther, and ultimately the Jews, to stand up and fight the decree.
Although it worked in the Purim story, it is often the case that people are unable to translate cries of pain into cries of action because they give up, they lose hope. The word tza-ak is also similar to the term tza-ak, to laugh. In the Hebrew language the guttural letters ayyin and chet often interchange rendering tza-ak and tza-chak the same.
What this linguistic similarity teaches is that no matter how bleak the situation, no matter how dark the circumstances, no matter how profound the tears, laughter is not far away. One should never give up.
The second of our three patriarchs is called YitzchakIsaac, which literally means will laugh. He was given this name, because his parents, Sara and Avraham (Abraham) laughed when told that, at their advanced age, a child would be born to them. The commentators ask why was he called Yitzchakto laugh in the future tense? He should have been called tza-chakhe laughed.
It can be suggested that Yitzchak is in the future tense because it refers not only to him but to the totality of Jewish history. Yitzchak was born against all odds and through his birth the covenant with Avraham and Sarah continued. So too would his descendants face innumerable challenges, time and again be counted out, but in the end prevail.
The message is that tza-ak (to only cry) leads to za-ak (to cry with the intent to act) if one does not despair. In other words, tza-chak is the conduit through which tza-ak can be translated into za-ak.
Sometimes when one looks at a child, it is difficult to know whether the child is laughing or crying. On many occasions I have sat with people in grief and been struck by the quick mood changes. Often it was difficult to discern whether what I was witnessing were tears of laughter or of sorrow.
Perhaps the association in the Hebrew language between the words for laughing and for crying can also teach a lesson about conquering despair. No matter how bleak the situation, no matter how dark the circumstances, no matter how profound the tears, laughter is not far away. One should never give up.
In the words of the Hasidic master, no matter the challenge, no matter the odds, zeit nicht me-ya-aish never give up, never despair.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Avi Weiss
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